Yeah, I can't believe if you were in BR looking to name an award " to recognize the best newly published African American writers from across the country" that you would pick Ernest Gaines. Even though he's a great Black American author and he's from Louisiana, New Roads no less-they should not have considered him due to his ties to Lafayette and UL. What thieves ... How could he have been complicit in such pilaging?
Seriously, props to Mr Gaines and his realtionship to UL. I fail to see any big deal about naming an award after him. It appears to be fine with him and I seriously doubt if a group in New Orleans, Atlanta or Memphis had chosen him as the namesake for such an award (for which he would be no less deserving-except for the proximity of his birthplace) the same allegation would be made.
Newscopy saw it. LINK
However, your style gets Mr. Gaines a little more play/pub
CONGRATS!! I get to take off a day next week so I can go see my God-baby graduate from Teurlings on MONDAY NIGHT. I still feel like blasting a nasty-gram to their President for that one!!! Mine's going to be a brand-spankin'-new RAGIN' CAJUN next year. What about yours??
It's a pattern.
State has no interest in baseball. UNO makes the CWS... BAM! State has to have a team.
State has no interest in men's basketball. UL has a Top-10 team... BAM! State has to have a team.
State has no interest in women's basketball. Tech wins an NC... BAM! State has to have a team.
State has no interest in softball. UL has a Top-10 team... BAM! State has to have a team (not to mention our coach).
And it goes for academics, too.
UL has a PhD in Comp Sci? State has to have it.
UL has a research park? State has to have one.
UL develops Francophone Studies? State says they have the same thing.
UL focuses on Cajun studies? State begins hiring faculty in Cajun studies.
UL gets a PhD option in Rhetoric? State has to duplicate it.
UL has one of the largest US nursing programs? State ramps theirs up.
UL has one of the best architecture departments in the South? State tries to shut it down.
UL's English PhD outperforms State's, in graduates/faculty, in graduate employment? State tries to shut it down.
UL hires one of the top people in the world in biofuels? State scrambles to develop their own program.
UL develops LUMCON at Cocodrie? State uses their political clout to grab control of it.
UL develops the concept of a management center for disasters? State duplicates it.
UL and ULM begin excavating at Poverty Point? State jumps in the middle with both feet (and screws it up, too).
UL hires a string of top-notch writers (John Kennedy Toole, James Lee Burke, Ernest Gaines)? State tries to usurp them all.
It even goes to the little things. We use "Geaux", they copy it. We write "Hot Boudin," they claim they originated it. I even remember when we came out with t-shirts for USL where the "L" was the state of Louisiana, and within weeks, State was making exactly the same thing with the letters reversed.
But what has State generated that is innovative? That's easy.
Nothing.
The most important measure of a University is the level of innovation, of intellectual activity, of pioneering courage.
Which is why, despite State and BR's vastly larger funding and political clout, Lafayette and UL are beating their fat butts all over the place.
Lafayette is booming again with high oil prices. BR is still building somewhat because of Katrina.
We need to get I-49 finished to New Orleans so BR won't even be a dot on the map for people coming from the North to New Orleans. Lafayette will leave BR in it's wake when that happens.
Oh, and to be honest? National Wetlands Center, Picard Center and NIRC Primate Center were all supposed to go to State.
State turned down the primate center (I understand in the '60's, they also turned down an offer from the state to get into computer science). So we got them both.
As for NWRC and Picard, State played so many political games with the two centers, they both came to UL and asked if they could move over here.
And we duplicated Insurance & Risk Management. That one's gotta sting. G. Frank Purvis, a loyal State alum, donated a lot of money to create a program in Insurance & Risk Management at State...
...with which our beloved flagship did squat. So he came over to UL, raised and gave a lot of money, because he knew we'd do it right.
Again, that's gotta sting.
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