Gallot finalizes contract to become UL System president

By Piper Hutchinson
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — More than two months after he was offered the job, Grambling State University President Rick Gallot has signed a contract to become president of the state’s largest university system. It ends weeks of uncertainty after Gov.-elect Jeff Landry expressed concerns with Gallot’s hiring.

Gallot will took over the nine-school University of Louisiana System, of which Grambling is a member. His assumed his new position on January 1.

Negotiations with Gallot hit the rocks last month when word broke that current UL System President Jim Henderson had finalized his contract Dec. 16 to take over Louisiana Tech University. Gallot had yet to been offered a contract to replace Henderson, despite both being offered the jobs on the same night.

It was later learned, Landry, a Republican, expressed concerns he had not been consulted filling the UL System president’s job with Gallot, a former Democratic state legislator from Ruston. The governor-elect’s comments sparked rumors that he was displeased with Gallot’s appointment.

“I’m not opposed to anything,” Landry said. “I want to be able to meet with the board, and with Rick, to make sure the direction that they want to steer the system is the direction that people of this state believe the system should be directed.”

“When you got a change of governorship – a new governor comes in – he’s taking a new direction, and he or she should be afforded the respect to visit with those folks to make sure that they all align,” Landry said.

Gallot said in a statement Saturday issued on December 30 that he had spoken with Landry.

“I had a great conversation with Gov.-Elect Landry where we discussed our shared goal of making Louisiana a better state and improving our higher education enterprise,” Gallot said.

Gallot is being paid $475,000 annually, with a housing allowance of $54,000, an auto allowance of $24,000 annually or the use of a state vehicle. Henderson’s final salary as system president was $522,000. He held the position since 2017. Henderson will earn a salary of $450,000 at Louisiana Tech, plus additional $132,000 compensation from the Louisiana Tech University Foundation.

Three of the state’s four higher education systems will be run by Black men for the first time. LSU President William Tate, Southern University System Dennis Shields and Gallot are all African American.

This article originally published in the January 8, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.