How will Gov's race effect LSU and its sports?

I see it like this. Both these candidates want Louisiana higher education to get better. They both have basically the same platform on this; increase research funding, increase admission standards at the higher end colleges, make higher education money and resources more stable to encourage growth. I like Jindal's plan for higher education in Louisiana. One concern I have about him goes back to his days as President of the U of L System. When Jindal came on board, two groups of schools in that system were going in two different directions, and that he would have to turn around the failing group to strengthen the overall system.

Well, that didn't happen. While Jindal was there, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. The good universities in the ULS, Louisiana Tech, Northwestern State, ULL, and SLU, all got noticeably better and reached new heights of achievement. The troubled universities in the ULS, Grambling St., Nicholls St., and ULM, all went straight to crap. GSU finally got a clean audit last year for the first time in half a decade. ULM produced a clean audit a few years back, but the school still has several outstanding debts and, despite several million dollars in new construction on that campus, ULM has a long way to go to return to respectability. Nicholls State is now in bad shape, an Internet buddy of mine tells me the campus is in horrible shape and several key facilities are in dire need of renovation or replacement. But at least they are financially stable, as far as I know.

Now I know Jindal did not create these problems but inherited them from his predecessor. That said, I think he could have done more to help the ailing universities in the ULS, instead of just concentrating on making the good schools better and passing the problems at GSU and ULM on to Sally Clausen, the current ULS president. And if he were just going to give up on the bad schools, at least save the taxpayers some money by recommending closure of those two universities. But of course, that would be a nasty political fight.

It's a fight that needs to be fought though. Louisiana has way too many four-year colleges. This state of 4.5 million people has 14 public four-year colleges, more than Florida, a state with four times our population. I don't know who needs to be cut, but we need to come up with a plan that provides better geographic balance and a more equitable distribution of funding and special programs to the universities. Even though I'm a north Louisianian, and I know this might at first hurt some areas economically, at least two of the colleges among the northern schools (LSUA, LSUS, NSU, GSU, La. Tech, and ULM) need to be cut, maybe three.

Also, let's not be afraid to compete head to head with U of Texas-Austin, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, and other outstanding universities in our region for students and research dollars. Instead of only having special academic programs these other universities do not have, let's try to get all the programs they are known for and make ours better.

Also, while I plan on voting for Jindal, I have no fear of Blanco focusing attention on ULL at the expense of LSU or the rest of the UL System. In fact, it will be quite the opposite. Because her husband is a big dog at ULL, she will feel great pressure to avoid even the appearance of impropriety or conflict of interest. She will avoid getting involved in higher education matters if at all possible.

Besides, I do not see ULL ever threatening LSU. The voters of this state have repeatedly, since the 1880s, everytime the issue has been brought up, voted to keep Louisiana higher education a "one-flagship" model. Contrary to the fit-pitching of our Ragin' Cajun friends, Louisiana is hardly the only state to have this model, other states such as Ohio, West Virginia, New Jersey, Arkansas, and Tennessee also have a "one-flagship" model, and states with the "two-flagship" model do not necessarily out perform states like ours (case in point, Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin are top notch universities that outperform South Carolina and Clemson or Kansas and Kansas State on a regular basis). Louisiana's system can be just as competitive as Texas'. The reason it hasn't has nothing to do with how our system is set up.

Besides, if, for some strange reason, Louisiana did a complete about-face, and chose to go to a"two flagship model," to preserve geographic balance and the traditional two school mission of one school being a liberal arts/humanities college and one school being an agricultural/technical college, it is more likely that Louisiana Tech in Ruston, not the school in Lafayette, would be chosen as the "agricultural and technical" college to complement LSU.

Boy, that would make them Ragin' Cajuns enraged!

 

Raymond Blanco would be a thorn in LSU's side should his wife win. He and his cronies from Lafayette have no love for the flagship university status of LSU. The morning after the election MS Blanco attended mass at the catholic center on campus at ULL. I would caution any tiger fan from supporting her without some thought of LSU's future for the next 4 years. Not a happy thought.

 

I've seen Ray pulling his strings and excerting his influence or his wifes influence.

 

A lot of good information.

Thanks

 

What did Edwards do for LSU?!?!?!? Walk around campus sometime and look who's name is on several buildings. CEBA and the LSU Union are 2 examples.

 

Blanco would be a disaster for LSU. Neither her or her husband are big fans of LSU.

 

I am aware that the name goes on the plaque automatically but if the project does not have the support of the current administration, it will most likely not go through. The union was built in 64 but it had major renovations done under Edwards. Edwards' contribution to LSU was more than buildings, he was very active in helping out with the Masters Program in Public Administration.

As for Long, alot of his assistance was achieved through unethical means. For example, he "urged" the State to pay LSU about 10x more for the land that the current State Capital than it was worth so they could get the money they needed to build new buildings.

 

Jindals' wife is a student at LSU...