New Orleans, Louisiana (Gentilly; 6400 Press Drive) · Founded 1956 · Knights and Lady Knights (called the Black Knights until the mid-1980s)
“Where Champions Rise — a small public HBCU in Gentilly that lost everything to Katrina's floodwater and rebuilt itself, trailer by trailer, dorm by dorm.”
Official SUNO upload of the full May 9, 2026 spring commencement at the UNO Lakefront Arena, keynoted by Louisiana Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson.
Amazon Prime's 'The College Tour' episode featuring students from all five Southern University System campuses, including SUNO — an up-close look at the New Orleans campus for prospective students.
Civil rights activist and former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives; a New Orleans movement legend.
New Orleans civil rights activist, CORE leader, and namesake of the Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard corridor.
Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter and film composer (per SUNO's own alumni page).
First African-American dean of both Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and the University of Mississippi School of Law.
Member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 100 in eastern Orleans Parish since 2016.
Louisiana state senator (per SUNO's alumni page); also served in the Louisiana House.
Civil rights attorney and activist (per SUNO's alumni page).
HIV/AIDS activist and social worker.
Early African American physician.
The idea for SUNO took shape in the 1940s, when Black New Orleans leaders began pushing for a public college their children could actually attend. Louisiana's segregation laws barred Black students from most of the state's public universities, so families had to leave the city for higher education. The effort was led by attorney A.P. Tureaud, the civil rights lawyer who spent his career suing Louisiana's segregated school systems. It took more than a decade of pressure before the state acted: on September 4, 1956, the Louisiana Legislature passed Act 28, establishing Southern University's New Orleans branch unit. The same legislature created LSU New Orleans (now UNO) that year — twin births in a segregated city, one for Black students and one for white ones. Southern's main campus had itself been founded in New Orleans in 1880 before being moved to Baton Rouge in 1914, so the branch was in some sense a return.
On September 21, 1959, SUNO began its initial year of operation on a 17-acre site at the edge of Pontchartrain Park, a subdivision of primarily Black single-family homes. It opened with a freshman class of 158 students, one building still under construction, and a faculty of 15, offering ten courses in four disciplines: Humanities, Science, Social Science, and Commerce. Southern president Felton G. Clark asked Emmett W. Bashful to open the campus as dean. Bashful later wrote: 'The one building under construction was hardly near completion; the faculty had been only partially recruited; no office space was then available on campus; and it was expected that classes would begin sometime in September.'
On November 8, 1960, Louisiana voters adopted Amendment 26, which declared that SUNO should remain an extension of Southern University. The amendment was aimed squarely at precluding any move toward independent status for the New Orleans campus. For the next decade and a half, SUNO would operate as a branch under Baton Rouge's control rather than its own master.
In May 1963, SUNO held its first commencement, awarding baccalaureate degrees to 15 graduates. Four years after opening its doors with 158 freshmen and one unfinished building, the campus had produced its first class of degree-holders. That small first class set the tone for a school built around working-class New Orleanians climbing toward a credential.
By the fall of 1964, SUNO's enrollment had grown to 1,300 — nearly tenfold in five years. That same year, in January, Virginia Cox Welch, a white high school teacher, filed a federal lawsuit (Civil Action No. 14217) against the Louisiana State Board of Education. The litigation resulted in SUNO being opened to all students regardless of race or color, ending its legal status as a whites-only-by-custom Black branch.
The Health and Physical Education Building — nicknamed The Castle, a 1,200-seat arena that still hosts Knights basketball and volleyball — opened in 1974. That same year, the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 created the Board of Supervisors of Southern University, fashioning the nation's only historically Black 1890 Land-Grant university system. SUNO, Southern Baton Rouge, and Southern Shreveport became its three campuses.
In 1975, management of SUNO transferred from the Louisiana State Board of Education to the newly created Board of Supervisors under Article 8, Section 7 of the 1974 constitution. The new constitution designated SUNO a full campus of the Southern University System, creating parity with Baton Rouge and Shreveport. The old legal name — Southern University and Agricultural & Mechanical College New Orleans Branch Unit, used since 1956 — was retired.
Dr. Emmett W. Bashful, who had opened the campus as dean in 1959 and became vice president in 1969, was named chancellor of the New Orleans campus in 1977. He led SUNO for a decade, until 1987, and became the school's defining figure. The Bashful Administration Building on the Park Campus carries his name. He was the man who turned a one-building branch into a real university.
On September 8, 1981, a federal consent decree — an out-of-court settlement between the State of Louisiana and the Justice Department over segregation in higher education — ordered SUNO to add nine academic programs and provided funds to upgrade campus facilities. It was the first major court-driven investment in the campus, and it broadened what a small commuter school in Gentilly could offer.
Emmett Bashful stepped down in 1987 after three decades of service to the campus. Dr. Dolores R. Spikes, who would soon become president of the entire Southern University System (1988–1996), led the New Orleans campus briefly in 1987–1988. Dr. Robert B. Gex then took over from 1988 to 1997, steering the campus through the 1990s.
On November 14, 1994, Civil Action 80–3300 produced a desegregation settlement among the United States, the State of Louisiana, the governor, the Board of Regents, and the LSU and Southern boards of supervisors. Effective through 2004, the settlement let SUNO retain its open-admissions status and its classification as a Four Year-V institution, with a path to Four Year-IV status by adding undergraduate programs and graduate programs in specific areas.
The chancellorship turned over fast around 2000: Dr. Gerald C. Peoples served 1997–2000, Dr. Press L. Robinson briefly in 2000, then Dr. Joseph Bouie Jr. from 2000 to 2002. Bouie was dismissed two years into his tenure, per later reporting — a detail that made his return as the school's 10th chancellor in 2025 all the more remarkable. Robinson returned to lead again from 2002 to 2005.
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina's levee breaches sent floodwater 10 to 15 feet deep through SUNO's Park Campus. All 11 buildings were completely damaged; the school's physical plant had to be replaced, not repaired. Damage estimates reached $350 million — the most of any college in the region hit by Katrina. The flood nearly ruined the university's valuable African art collection, and Hurricane Rita's storm surge hit what Katrina had already drowned. SUNO finished its fall 2005 semester on its sister campus in Baton Rouge, operating classes out of Southern University.
Interim chancellor Robert B. Gex announced that spring classes would begin January 17, 2006, on the university's undeveloped north campus, in about 400 FEMA trailers housing classrooms, the library, and a dining hall, with living trailers for up to 300 students and staff. The North Campus opened February 14, 2006. Dr. Victor Ukpolo became chancellor in 2006 and would lead the rebuild for a decade. Enrollment, projected to collapse to as few as 1,200, came back above 2,000 — but 19 academic programs were cut, including English, physics, and mathematics. The board reoriented the survivors around community development, business, urban affairs, and job training, and SUNO began offering entire bachelor's degrees online for the first time.
In January 2007, SUNO decided to build dormitories for the first time in its history. Before Katrina, the school had been strictly a commuter college, but with whole neighborhoods of New Orleans uninhabitable, administrators concluded the only way to bring students back was to house them. The decision marked the end of SUNO as a commuter-only school.
By fall 2008, enrollment had climbed to 3,105 — near pre-Katrina levels. The Board of Regents reinstated the undergraduate degrees in English, History, and Mathematics that Katrina had stripped away. New degrees in Public Administration, Health Information Systems, and Child Development & Family Studies reflected the post-storm city. The School of Social Work's Master of Social Work program, under founding dean Millie McClelland Charles, hit capacity at 150 students with a waiting list. The Information Technology Center opened on the developing Lake Campus.
On August 17, 2009, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced more than $32 million in FEMA funding to rebuild four educational buildings: Old Science, New Science, Multipurpose, and the Clark education building. Total FEMA public assistance obligated for SUNO passed $92 million, with earlier funding already renovating the cafeteria, Health & Physical Education, and maintenance buildings. It was the largest federal rebuilding commitment the campus had ever seen.
In January 2010, SUNO's first residence halls opened — the physical end of its commuter-only era. Students who had been living in FEMA trailers, or commuting from gutted neighborhoods, finally had dorms of their own. The opening was the most visible symbol that the campus had survived Katrina as a residential institution rather than just a set of classrooms. A 699-bed student and faculty housing facility followed, funded by a $44 million low-interest federal loan secured with former U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu's help after Katrina; the loan was later forgiven. Landrieu returned to deliver the 2015 commencement address at the Kiefer Lakefront Arena in honor of that work.
In January 2011, Governor Bobby Jindal asked the Board of Regents to study merging SUNO with the University of New Orleans under the University of Louisiana System. On March 14 the Board voted 9–6 to back the merger plan; Senator Conrad Appel filed SB 183 and Representative Jim Tucker filed HB 537 to execute it. Students, faculty, alumni, and Gentilly neighbors protested for months, packing Board of Regents and House committee hearings with emotional testimony. On May 18, 2011, Tucker pulled SUNO from HB 537 for lack of support, and Appel removed SUNO from SB 183. The campus lived.
Dr. Victor Ukpolo stepped down June 30, 2016, after more than a decade leading the post-Katrina recovery. Dr. Lisa Mims-Devezin, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a SUNO alumna who had taught at the school since 1993, became interim chancellor and then chancellor. She had built the university's health information management systems program and won the Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Faculty award in 2009.
2019 was the hardest year since Katrina. The regional accreditor placed SUNO on financial probation over a reported $7.7 million deficit, and the school began furloughing employees. In December, interim chancellor Dr. James H. Ammons Jr. — the former Florida A&M president and North Carolina Central chancellor — announced that all intercollegiate athletics would be suspended after the spring 2020 semester to restore fiscal health. The cruelty of the timing: SUNO's women's track team had just won a national championship, and the school had produced many All-Americans.
In December 2021, SUNO announced its accreditation had been reaffirmed for another 10 years — SACS had lifted the probation in late summer 2020 after the deficit's root causes were fixed. Basketball and volleyball were set to return the next school year, funded partly by a mandatory $100 student fee. Ammons credited the comeback to budget discipline, telling the Louisiana Weekly the university now had 'the financial resources that we need to support our mission.'
On January 20, 2022, SUNO reinstated its athletic program and was invited back into the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference alongside Oakwood and Wiley, effective July 1; NAIA approved the membership April 10. On October 29, 2022, basketball returned to The Castle after a three-year hiatus — both the Knights and Lady Knights won, beating North America University and Clinton College. During the same homecoming week, SUNO cut the ribbon on the Southern University at New Orleans Museum of Art (SUNOMA), home to a major African American art collection gifted by Dr. William Bertrand.
Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett delivered the keynote at SUNO's 2025 commencement ceremony. Then, on August 1, 2025, Dr. Joseph Bouie Jr. — SUNO alumnus, former Louisiana House member (2014–2020) and state senator (2020–2025) who chaired the Legislative Black Caucus — was appointed the 10th Chancellor. It was a homecoming with an edge: Bouie had previously served as SUNO chancellor from 2000 to 2002 before being dismissed. 'SUNO raised me — actually, it saved my life,' he said on his return. Homecoming 2025 ran under the theme 'Knights on the Bayou: Legacy Reawakened.'
At the May 9, 2026 spring commencement at the UNO Lakefront Arena, Louisiana Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson delivered the keynote. SUNO celebrated 25 student-athletes among the graduates — including Jordan Harris, McKenna Harris, Devin Daniels, and Caleb Williams, the 'Founding Four' of the inaugural 2022 class that relaunched Knights athletics from scratch. Athletic director James A. Matthews III framed the program plainly: 'Athletics was the door. Education was always the destination.' The School of Nursing was nominated for a 2026 Nightingale Award that July.
The crosstown Gentilly rivalry. Both are New Orleans HBCUs, both compete in the HBCUAC (NAIA), and both were devastated by Katrina — Dillard took six to ten feet of water plus fire damage, SUNO up to fifteen. The basketball matchups at The Castle carry the weight of two schools that rebuilt side by side. No trophy name could be verified.
New Orleans' third HBCU and another HBCUAC foe. Xavier and SUNO recruited from the same neighborhoods and weathered the same storm — Xavier's buildings flooded five to eight feet while SUNO's went under entirely. The rivalry is geographic and cultural as much as athletic. No named rivalry game could be verified.
Not an athletic rivalry so much as an existential one: born the same year (1956) as LSU New Orleans, SUNO spent 2011 fighting a governor-backed plan to merge the two schools. Students, faculty, and alumni defeated the merger in the legislature. The two campuses remain a mile apart in Gentilly.
Still digging this up — check back soon.
Greek life at SUNO is confirmed by the school's own materials: the 2024 chancellor's report notes campus tours stop at 'the historic black Greek organization plots,' and Delta Sigma Theta's Epsilon Chi chapter is active with a SUNO student serving as chapter president. All nine NPHC organizations are reported present on campus per GreekRank's SUNO overview, but only the DST chapter name could be verified from an opened source — the remaining Divine Nine chapter names remain unverified.
Still digging this up — check back soon.
The Health and Physical Education Building, nicknamed The Castle, opens as a 1,200-seat arena. It still hosts Knights and Lady Knights basketball and volleyball and anchors homecoming events like the Coronation.
After Katrina, SUNO assembles a temporary campus on undeveloped land it owned at 6801 Press Drive: roughly 400–450 FEMA trailers holding classrooms, the library, a dining hall, and living quarters for up to 300 students and staff. Classes resume January 17, 2006; the North Campus formally opens February 14, 2006. It later becomes the permanent Lake Campus.
With the Leonard S. Washington Memorial Library's first floor wiped out, SUNO stands up a virtual library, and eight schools — including Tufts, Lehigh, Swarthmore, and the University of Missouri — adopt the library through the American Library Association's Adopt-a-Library campaign to rebuild collections.
Secretary Napolitano announces $32 million to replace the Old Science, New Science, Multipurpose, and Clark education buildings, pushing total FEMA public assistance for SUNO past $92 million. Earlier FEMA money renovated the cafeteria, Health & Physical Education, and maintenance buildings.
In January 2010, the first dormitories in school history open, ending SUNO's commuter-only era. A 699-bed student and faculty housing facility follows, funded by a $44 million low-interest loan secured with Senator Mary Landrieu's help — later forgiven.
The Information Technology Center opens on the Lake Campus, anchoring the new north-side development with modern computer labs and multimedia classrooms to replace what Katrina took.
In December 2013, the FEMA trailers are finally decommissioned with the opening of a new multipurpose complex — nearly eight years after Katrina. The first floors of the pre-Katrina Park Campus buildings remain inaccessible even years later.
Construction moves forward on a dedicated College of Business and Public Administration building, planned to include a $3 million business incubator for New Orleans entrepreneurs — tying the campus to the city's small-business recovery.
On October 27, 2022, during homecoming week, SUNO cuts the ribbon on the Southern University at New Orleans Museum of Art (SUNOMA), housing one of the country's most prolific African American art collections, gifted by Dr. William Bertrand. Katrina had nearly destroyed the university's African art holdings; SUNOMA is their resurrection.
After athletics' three-year suspension, The Castle throws open its doors October 29, 2022, for the return of Knights basketball. Both teams win their openers, and the arena is back to full homecoming duty.
Chancellor's reports describe a growing Park Campus student-life core: the University Center (UC) with the Knights Dining Hall and bookstore, the Millie M. Charles School of Social Work auditorium hosting summits, and the campus-wide 'Where Champions Rise' identity push under Chancellor Bouie.
Older administrators appear in SUNO handbooks (e.g., Dr. David Adegboye, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, and Dr. Donna Grant, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, in the 2019 handbook) but current titles were not re-verified, so they are not listed as present-day leaders. Coaches: Destinie Smith (women's basketball head coach, 2025–26 season) and Coach Washington ('Coach Z,' volleyball) appear in SUNO athletics coverage.
Appointed August 1, 2025. SUNO alumnus; former state senator and House member; chaired the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus.
Hired 2021; recruited the first post-hiatus rosters over social media during COVID and built the relaunched program around graduation — 25 student-athletes graduated in 2026.
Guided the School of Social Work into one of the South's most recognized programs; the school is now named the Millie M. Charles School of Social Work.
Former head of alumni affairs turned university spokeswoman; she walked the flooded campus in boots, gloves, and a mask right after the waters receded and described the smell as indescribable.
Received the 2006 NSF Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring for work through the PESMaCT and LAMP programs boosting minority STEM students.
SUNO feels like the school New Orleans built for itself: overwhelmingly Black (93% of undergrads in Fall 2023), heavily low-income (63%), and historically full of working adults taking night classes toward a degree. Katrina turned a commuter school into a residential one out of necessity, and the campus still carries that second-chance energy — small classes, personal attention, and a mission statement that names upward mobility outright. With 30+ registered student organizations and homecoming week running church services to step-shows, it's a full HBCU culture on a Gentilly footprint.