BATON ROUGE - In a plan released Monday night, Southern said worst-case-scenario budget cuts could effectively close the institution.

Because of the dire budget situation in Louisiana, Governor John Bel Edwards has asked state colleges and universities to submit proposals on cutting spending. The state currently faces a $750 million midyear budget deficit, and an estimated $1.9 billion deficit in the next fiscal year.

Southern said a reduction of the proposed $4,583,840 would "{signal} the closure of the institution due to less than baseline operations." There would be no summer school in May, June, July and August 2016 and faculty and stafff positions would be eliminated along with 200 courses. The Law Center would also cut staff and programs, the university said in an outline.

A Board of Regents spokesperson told News 2 that there are "no discussions" to close Southern at this time. Southern University spokesperson Henry Tilliman released a new statement Tuesday which removed any language about closing the school, and apologized for sending what he said was a "draft" statement Monday.

Earlier in the day, LSU announced how it would handle a 32% reduction.

Lawmakers will decide how to swing the ax in a special legislative session in February.

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