(Yet Another) Name Thread

[CajunFun]

The only thing that LaTech has on UL is that tier I status.

Yeah, but how long will that last? First of all, Tier "one" is now over 75% of major universities, it has little meaning any more.

Second, as we have success in various academic and athletic areas (yes, people who have looked at the numbers carefully have found a strong correlation with athletic success, at least for public universities), the perceived advantage of LTU will disappear.

Third, LTU may not really qualify for Tier 1. They "exaggerate" a lot, and we're catching them at it more and more. My favorite was a meeting they had with other Louisiana universities, and someone pointed out that they brag about their low student-teacher ratio, and also brag about high per-faculty research funding. Problem is, for the first you need more faculty, for the second you need fewer-- and the numbers didn't stack up when you compared them.

The LTU representative was crawfishing and sputtering like crazy when our people pointed it out.

[Ragin9221]

You understand that your argument is flawed because UL could never officially become University of Louisiana. It will always be University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Second what does academics have to do with athletics? We are just trying to become known as Louisiana athletically, not academically.

[Ragingolfer]

Then it should be an easy thing to achieve for ULL

[CajunDreDog]

Saying

I'm not a troll
I'm not a troll
I'm not a troll

Makes you a troll...good day

Y'all stop feeding him.

[CajunFun]

Tulane then. The point is that quality of education is more important.

Tulane isn't higher ranked because of the quality of education. There are no reliable rankings for instructional quality.

Tulane is higher ranked because of popularity: the people who vote on the rankings think it's better, mostly because it's very exclusive in its admissions, which is because the students perceive it as a better school, which is because the people who vote think it's better...

You get the idea.

My main point is that so much of 'rankings' of higher ed have nothing to do with the core industries, not undergrad instruction, not graduate production, not research. Consider that in research funding, UL now surpasses Tulane.

[Turbine]

Then it should be an easy thing to achieve for ULL

Not so easy ... ULL doesn't exist.

[CajunFun]

Then it should be an easy thing to achieve for ULL

Who is ULL?

And what does being a ragin' golfer have to do with being a Ragin' Cajun? Seems to me the second one is an achievement.

The first one is pretty much a failure...

[Ragin9221]

As a person who graduated in education, I do believe that the quality of an education is more important.

[Just1More]

Ok I am not trying to troll you. It appears the media is doing a good enough job of that, but when it comes to rainking universities there is the gold standard us news and world reports. Sure their are others, but whatever metrics they use La Tech is superior, at the end of the day and hating on me can not change that fact. I admire your fans passion and say with out a doubt you are the 2nd most passionate fanbase in la.
Trying to use diversity in an argument when it really comes down to admission standards is not a good metric. In that case could you make a case that SU and GSU are not more diverse?
Edit: if you take the top 70% of any univeristy of course they will rank higher

Where did you go to college? I'm not flaming you. I just want to know where you attended and/or graduated?

[HoustonCajun]

Ok I am not trying to troll you. It appears the media is doing a good enough job of that, but when it comes to rainking universities there is the gold standard us news and world reports. Sure their are others, but whatever metrics they use La Tech is superior, at the end of the day and hating on me can not change that fact. I admire your fans passion and say with out a doubt you are the 2nd most passionate fanbase in la.
Trying to use diversity in an argument when it really comes down to admission standards is not a good metric. In that case could you make a case that SU and GSU are not more diverse?
Edit: if you take the top 70% of any univeristy of course they will rank higher

I understand what you are saying. However, the thing is, USN&WR is what you are using as the gold standard for educational matters. It is a highly subjective rating that is not based purely on academics, but on such things as percentage of alumni giving, faculty to student ratios, opinions of the university by outside professors, etc. LA Tech is a Tier 1 National University under USN&WR. It used to be the top 150 universities were in Tier 1. That was expanded to the top 200 and Tech is tied with UNC Charlotte at 200. UL is ranked 210, I believe, and is considered a Tier 2 National University under USN&WR.

UL is a Top 377 University by Princeton Review and LA Tech is not. UL is a Rockefeller Institute of Government Top 100 Public Research Univesity and is a Top 10 fastest growing R&D University with more than double the research of the entire UL System schools including LA Tech. LA Tech is not. UL is a Carnegie Nationally Ranked Research University with a RU/H (Research University/High Research activity) rating, similar to Ole Miss, Auburn, Baylor and Alabama. UL is the only university in Louisiana designated a National Science Foundation Research Center. LA Tech is not. UL's endowment is triple LA Tech's. UL's enrollment is almost double LA Tech's. UL has nationally ranked PhD's in Computer Science, Engineering, Business and Nursing. UL and LA Tech have the same selective admissions.

The real test of Tier 1 is not USN&WR, but Doctoral I ranking by the SREB. Both UL and LA Tech are Doctoal II universities.

If you are dragging UL down to ULM's level and saying we are the same because we share the UL name, keep in mind that ULM is a USN&WR Regional University, with no research, no endowment, and only its Pharmacy School to hang its hat on with dwindling resources and declining enrollment. They should not even be in this discussion and should not even carry the University of Louisiana name.

There is no argument about LSU. Tulane is a private university and should have no presence in this discussion.

So, I would take exception to your statement that LA Tech is a superior academic university. You can use the USN&WR ranking all you want and certainly LA Tech uses it to flaunt their believed superiority over us. LA Tech is hanging on to that Tier 1 ranking by the skin of their teeth at #200. It is currently based on 2012 criteria. The next time it is update with 2013 information, they may not make it. We are close enough and improving in the subjective matrics that they use and just might achieve that ranking. Even if we do, it does not change what I have stated. It only serves to create the perception that a university is academically superior because of its Tier 1 rating. Many universities are calling for a ban to USN&WR because it is meaningless, provides misleading information, and is created as an income generator for the publication company. As I stated, Doctoral I thru SREB is the standard to go by and we are a lot closer to achieving that than LA Tech is.

Your suggestion about the Acadiana legislators introducing legislation dropping the city tag if we are a Tier 1 university has some merit, however USN&WR Tier 1 should not be the criteria for reasons already stated. Only LSU, UL, LA Tech and UNO (I believe) are considered National Universities with significant research. UL should be allowed to drop its city tag because of its academic achievements and National ranking. Neither ULM nor any other UL System school should be eligible to do so.

[Turbine]

Tulane then. The point is that quality of education is more important.

Tulane is private, not eligible for your original test guidelines.

No one is debating that quality of education is a very very important factor.

The point is quality+quantity is a formula that creates a higher tide.

It raises the ship to a higher level overall because it trumps quality alone.

Comparatively there are 5,000 individuals left home with no higher education in the lower enrollment school.

Increasing the overall enrollment has Tier costs, but representing the State with the nickname Louisiana, isn't one of them.

jmo

[Just1More]

Ragingolfer,
Your initial post stated that you don't believe UL is qualified to go by "UL" because we're not Tier 1. Were LSU and Louisiana Tech "Tier 1" institutions when they were originally named? No. One of the missions of eliminating the regional tag was to put our academics in the next gear. You probably know nothing about the growth in the area, including academics at UL in the 70s and 80s, but the name opponents did not fight the name on the basis of a lack of qualifications. It was purely a "Hey, it will hurt me if they get something more than me". The regional tag held UL back over a period of many years - not because I said so - because other institutions told us so. We attempted the exclusive use of "UL" (and got it approved through the same channels anyone and everyone else would have had to) and it had only to do with selfishness that we were ultimately denied.

Another problem in this state - and even Tech knows this - we have always been on the short end of the stick even when we do attempt to add another academic feather in our cap. Our computer science program was spectacular. LSU didn't even have a program. Under the exact time the state was under a reduction of program duplicity, LSU goes after a PhD in computer science, telling the ignoramuses in our legislature that their program was different because of the different computer platform being used.

You may have even been around when UL was threatened for our research initiatives. We were told that we are supposed to be an affordable regional university, as per "the charter". That charter also covered how many horse and buggies we could own.

This state is backwards. And one of the biggest mistakes ever was attempting to place a 4 year college in every zip code. The one thing it did, besides keep every one of them fairly unimpressive on the regional/national level, was to produce a political infighting system that works hard to disallow progress. UL has ample differentiators to stand apart from other state universities. It is ridiculous that we aren't "UL" by law. But, no doubt, by allowing it, it will result in an image improvement, that will also result in benefits to UL. And we all know that can't be had in this state.