3 March 2025
By Piper Hutchinson
Contributing Writer
(lailluminator.com) — The Northwestern State University Faculty Senate is calling on President Jimmy Genovese to apologize for racially insensitive remarks he made to Natchitoches Mayor Ronnie Williams at a Black History month event.
Genovese told Williams, who is Black, “he ought to be ashamed” to take a front-row seat at the event “with white people being present,” according to Crystal Ellis Luter, who said she sat next to Genovese at the event.
The Feb. 17 event was a ceremonial swearing-in of U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, a Baton Rouge Democrat whose congressional district includes Natchitoches. Fields officially took office in early January.
Luter, a local nonprofit executive, who is also Black, shared details of the exchange between Genovese and Williams on her Facebook page.
After receiving numerous reports about Genovese’s comments, the NSU Faculty Senate met on Tuesday (Feb. 25) of last week and unanimously approved sending a letter to the president, calling on him to make a public statement accepting responsibility for any damage his comments have done to the university’s reputation and his resolve to speak with more care.
“We are disappointed that your remarks have normalized this behavior as part of our campus culture, disconnecting us from the values of integrity that we exemplify as educators, professionals, scholars, and students,” the letter reads.
In a statement to the Illuminator, Faculty Senate President Frank Serio said he believed the comments were intended and received as a joke.
“I do understand that does not absolve him of responsibility for how his words were perceived by others who heard them, but I do think the intent matters,” Serio said.
Genovese did not respond to a phone call seeking comment, and Northwestern State spokeswoman Leah Jackson did not reply to an email request for the president prior to presstime. Williams also had not responded to requests for comment.
According to the letter, Genovese’s comments have impacted recruitment efforts, which he has said is among his main goals as president.
Luter wrote in her post that even if Genovese’s remarks were truly a joke that didn’t land well, it was still a racist joke.
“A racist joke comfortably and confidently told to a Black man in a room full of Black people,” Luter wrote.
Genovese clinched the job last year after Marcus Jones, the university’s first Black president, abruptly left the job. Shortly after, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry endorsed Genovese for the position. Jones has declined to comment on his reasons for leaving. Genovese is paid substantially more than Jones was, despite having no higher education experience.
Before taking the job, Genovese was a state Supreme Court Justice. His seat has now been filled by Cade Cole.
While Genovese started the role amid intense faculty skepticism as a result of the political maneuvering surrounding his appointment, he reportedly had begun to win over faculty and students as he settled into the job.
This article originally published in the March 3, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.