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S u n d ay, n ov e m b e r 16, 2025
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Optimism continues in UL president search
Committee names, meeting dates still unknown BY MEGAN WYATT and ASHLEY WHITE Staff writers
STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Ben Berthelot, president and CEO of the Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission, welcomes guests to Lafayette during The Great Acadian Awakening at Vermilionville in Lafayette on Oct. 14. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission are considering a $1 per year lease to build an indoor sports complex.
Agreement sought for indoor sports facility
Convention commission would lease land from UL for $1 per year BY CLAIRE TAYLOR
Staff writer
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The Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission is seeking a $1 per year lease for five acres of university property at Cajun Field on which to build an indoor sports facility. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is facing financial difficulties that recently forced faculty and staff layoffs as well as other budget cuts. UL would receive only $1 a year for the indoor sports facility property under a
Tuesday. The university already is Cajundome under fire for signing a 55year lease in 2020 with the Louisiana National Guard for which it is receiving no rent. The National Guard . t sS began construction in Ocs e gr tober on an 83,000-squareon C . foot readiness center on W Congress Street across from the Cajundome, surprising many residents and Cajun Field officials who knew nothing Staff map of the plan. Berthelot said they’re proposal being considered, trying to finalize an agreeBen Berthelot, president ment this month or next for and CEO of the LCVC, said the indoor sports complex, Proposed indoor sports complex
estimated to cost around $40 million to build. Negotiations, he said Monday via email, are going slower than anticipated because of the change in leadership at the university. The Board of Supervisors for the UL system, Berthelot said, may need to approve the deal. The board unanimously approved the National Guard lease, minutes of a 2020 meeting show. In 2023, a Lafayette
ä See FACILITY, page 7A
Pope’s roots reunite a family
Staff writer
toine’s waitstaff, they rushed over to Alverez with a chorus of greetings. They exchanged hugs, laughter, wide smiles, names. Once they finally sat, Ann Carrera turned to her cousin Kat Beaulieu
A month and a half after Gov. Jeff Landry asked the federal government to send 1,000 National Guard troops to Louisiana, there has been no word from the state or President Donald Trump’s administration about when or whether that request will be approved. People familiar with negotiations around the deploy- Landry ment say it is still likely to occur, but it may have stalled due to the federal government shutdown. Last month, Landry said he hoped troops would arrive in New Orleans ahead of Thanksgiving. New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said she expect- Kirkpatrick ed the guard to arrive for the Bayou Classic football game and remain in the city through Mardi Gras. But on Friday, a Pentagon spokesperson
ä See FAMILY, page 6A
ä See GUARD, page 5A
Staff writer
PAGE 6B
No word on possible Guard deployment in Louisiana BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN
BY DESIREE STENNETT
WEATHER HIGH 84 LOW 58
ä See SEARCH, page 7A
Movement expected but shutdown may have slowed things, sources say
From branches separated a century ago, cousins finally meet in New Orleans
Ellen Dionne Alverez sat quietly at a circular table in the 1840 Room at Antoine’s Restaurant and waited, preparing to meet a long-lost part of her family for the first time. Alone and facing the private dining room’s open door, the native New Orleanian, raised Pope Leo XIV in the 7th Ward, was still with quiet anticipation. What would these Chicago cousins be like, these friendly ladies who had contacted her — seem-
After nearly three months with no public movement on finding a permanent president to lead the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the board that oversees the campus made some progress this week. The University of Louisiana system board announced Thursday that its members would create a presidential search committee, though names of the committee members and meeting dates are still unknown. Still, the board’s decision Kolluru to hold a search led to some optimism from faculty and state lawmakers after initial reports that the board planned to forgo a search and install Vice President of Research Ramesh Kolluru as president without input from faculty, students or others. The board instead named Kolluru as interim president while they said they will search for a permanent one. Leah Orr, president of the UL Faculty Senate and head of the English department, attended Thursday’s meeting in person and said she was glad to hear a search will happen. Still, she noted the lack of open discussion — the UL system board spent an hour in a closed-door executive session that they
STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
Cousins Ann Carrera, Kat Beaulieu, Ellen Dionne Alverez, Camille Basak and Cindy Oliver have dinner together at Antoine’s Restaurant and discuss their relationship to Pope Leo XIV in New Orleans on Wednesday. ingly out of the blue — after she herself learned of her own surprising genealogy? Alverez, through her father’s side, was a cousin to Pope Leo XIV. They were, too. And then, minutes later, the four women walked in. Drowning out an introduction by An-
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101ST yEAR, NO. 139