Academic news from this morning

I am anxious to see the comparison of research in the UL system. UNO had been growing their research but our last two years and future are just crazy.
Our Foundation numbers were growing too but haven’t seen this years. I’ll look.

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Originally Posted by CajunFun

There are some here (fortunately, a small minority) who think we exist to play sports. And one reason that I keep hammering on academics is because I have come to realize that the number of people who read here, but do not post, vastly exceed those who post; and those who post and understand, vastly exceed those who miss the point.

So when we talk academics, and why UL exists, we are not shouting into an empty cave. It just feels like it sometimes.

There are so many schools in the country who started with big-time sports, and only focused on academics later... you get the feeling they think that academics is a veneer to their sports programs, when the reverse should hold. And at those schools, those initial, disordered priorities created their foundational culture, resulting in alumni, supporters, and politicians who don't really buy into what is critical, what is essential.

UL is doing it right.

Athletics will grow, but the small minority will never be satisfied, because nothing less than total domination, every play, every game, every sport, every year, will keep those people happy. You can see the same attitude at most of the P5 schools.

But once you realize that those are the priorities they hold, you can see how absurd it all is. No one can always win at athletics.

Integrity, vision, and academic excellence, however, can be constant & permanent things.

I am very grateful athletics will never be our #1 priority, nor even our strongest suit.

Again, we're doing it right.

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The mission of the university is to educate the populace. No one on this board will disagree. It is the priority as it should be.

People disagree with academia, such as yourself, with the vital role that athletics plays a part in the growth of athletics.

Would you agree, that in the south, academic reputation is largely equated to the success of athletics? That the t-shirt fans equate academic success with on field performance?

Athletic success is a much easier path to advertise the university and student experience than academic prestige. Academics takes decades of behind the scenes work in order to achieve the perception of “high academic status”.

The university isn’t here to support athletics. Instead athletics is the number one marketing tool for a university to recruit the most talented and brightest future students.

Everyone who pays attention to academics knows that LSU has a marginally better academic reputation than UL. But the common folk think LSU is an IVY and UL is a juco/commuter school. That has everything to do about athletic success.

Perception is reality to many folks.

The university isn’t here to support athletics. Instead athletics is the number one marketing tool for a university to recruit the most talented and brightest future students.

I disagree. The brightest and most talented students overall could care less about athletics.
They are usually attending the university which has the best reputation for their field of study and future job.

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Originally Posted by lafman1

The university isn’t here to support athletics. Instead athletics is the number one marketing tool for a university to recruit the most talented and brightest future students.

I disagree. The brightest and most talented students overall could care less about athletics.
They are usually attending the university which has the best reputation for their field of study and future job.

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Are you saying that UL doesn't have bright and talented student-athletes?

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Originally Posted by cajun4life

The mission of the university is to educate the populace. No one on this board will disagree. It is the priority as it should be.

People disagree with academia, such as yourself, with the vital role that athletics plays a part in the growth of athletics.

Would you agree, that in the south, academic reputation is largely equated to the success of athletics? That the t-shirt fans equate academic success with on field performance?

Athletic success is a much easier path to advertise the university and student experience than academic prestige. Academics takes decades of behind the scenes work in order to achieve the perception of “high academic status”.

The university isn’t here to support athletics. Instead athletics is the number one marketing tool for a university to recruit the most talented and brightest future students.

Everyone who pays attention to academics knows that LSU has a marginally better academic reputation than UL. But the common folk think LSU is an IVY and UL is a juco/commuter school. That has everything to do about athletic success.

Perception is reality to many folks.

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So many of you insist that we need big-time athletics to succeed. So riddle me this, Batman:

How is it that we are already succeeding?

I remember a friendly, but animated, disagreement with a UL administrator who was insisting to me that we have to have big-time athletics to succeed.

I replied that I know of an academic area, at a public university, that was succeeding without big-time athletics.

He wrinkled his nose in doubt, and asked me, Where?

I pointed at him and said, "In your area." He didn't take it well.

But it was true. He and his people were succeeding -- like gangbusters -- even though we didn't have big-time athletics.

So in response to your comments about public attitudes and perceptions, let me offer a few questions:

Do you think we should try to change those attitudes?

Do you think, as I do, that in fact it is our mission to change those attitudes?

Well, do you think that UL is capable of changing those attitudes?

And if not UL, can you name another school in the South who even has an interest in trying to change them?

With great apologies, I will never agree with those who equate t-shirts with success.

The Bhagavad Gita contains one of my favorite quotes: "Better one's own path, though imperfect, than another's well-made."

I don't want UL to be as good as LSU, or Florida, or even Texas, UNC or Virginia.

I want us to be better.

And if some of you folks would stop waving your pom-pons for a minute and look around, you would see that we are on track to be better. We are blazing a different path forward, we are re-thinking what a university is, what a university does, and what a university could do.

UL has the potential to grow into more than colleges who simply surrender their ideals, and pander to the opinions of an ill-educated public.

And once you consider that possibility, why would we strive for anything less?

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Originally Posted by lafman1

The university isn’t here to support athletics. Instead athletics is the number one marketing tool for a university to recruit the most talented and brightest future students.

I disagree. The brightest and most talented students overall could care less about athletics.
They are usually attending the university which has the best reputation for their field of study and future job.

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Which equates to the top what 3% of an incoming freshman class. Plus the true academically gifted students are going to elite institutions.

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Originally Posted by JMV JustMyView

Are you saying that UL doesn't have bright and talented student-athletes?

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Student athletes weren’t part of the discussion.

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Originally Posted by cajun4life

Which equates to the top what 3% of an incoming freshman class. Plus the true academically gifted students are going to elite institutions.

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Exactly.

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Originally Posted by lafman1

Student athletes weren’t part of the discussion.

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In post #13 You said: The brightest and most talented students overall could care less about athletics. I then asked you this: Are you saying that UL doesn't have bright and talented student-athletes? Answer the question! I personally know plenty of bright and talented students that absolutely care about athletics.

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Originally Posted by lafman1

The university isn’t here to support athletics. Instead athletics is the number one marketing tool for a university to recruit the most talented and brightest future students.

I disagree. The brightest and most talented students overall could care less about athletics.
They are usually attending the university which has the best reputation for their field of study and future job.

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Nobody attends a school they never heard of.