(Yet Another) Name Thread

[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.

[dumbfounded]

Actually, as per the Louisiana Legislative Auditor, the NET assets of the UL Foundation as of June, 2013, was $126,976,936 which INCLUDED endowments of $82,455, 065. Louisiana Tech Foundation , same reporting period, had NET assets of $48,703,419 including endowments of $25,290,665.

[Oiler]

UL, La Tech, and LSU are all public universities whose primary mission is to educate the "masses". Nobody outside of the state of Louisiana thinks any of us are "premier" universities. LSU is full of Texas residents that were not academically qualified to get into UT or A&M. Still, people in Baton Rouge think LSU rates up there with the best in the nation. Its laughable really. Getting into a whizzing match over whether UL or La Tech is the most academically elite is even more laughable. We're both way down the list of the nation's most prestigious universities. Believing otherwise only shows one's naivety.

[Turbine]

UL, La Tech, and LSU are all public universities whose primary mission is to educate the "masses". Nobody outside of the state of Louisiana thinks any of us are "premier" universities. LSU is full of Texas residents that were not academically qualified to get into UT or A&M. Still, people in Baton Rouge think LSU rates up there with the best in the nation. Its laughable really. Getting into a whizzing match over whether UL or La Tech is the most academically elite is even more laughable. We're both way down the list of the nation's most prestigious universities. Believing otherwise only shows one's naivety.

You just made his day, he is really pimping Tulane.

[duggie85]

UL, La Tech, and LSU are all public universities whose primary mission is to educate the "masses". Nobody outside of the state of Louisiana thinks any of us are "premier" universities. LSU is full of Texas residents that were not academically qualified to get into UT or A&M. Still, people in Baton Rouge think LSU rates up there with the best in the nation. Its laughable really. Getting into a whizzing match over whether UL or La Tech is the most academically elite is even more laughable. We're both way down the list of the nation's most prestigious universities. Believing otherwise only shows one's naivety.

And anyone who thinks you're a Cajuns fan is dumb@zz.

[RiverRanchMan]

Hi, I'm a new poster and live in lafayette. I have worked at several universities across the state, and just wanted to give you my non flaming opinion on using Louisiana or UL.
For me I have never opposed ULL using UL for athletics. The problem I have is academics which for an university is inherently linked. This state is currently home to 3 tier 1 universities. Those universities are Tulane, LSU, and La Tech. None of those schools have a regional identifier and two of them using Louisiana in their name. I think that it shows bad on our state for a school without a tier 1 ranking to use the full state name. It is about academics and state prestige, not on some grand plan to hate on ULL.
In fact if ULL was to break the tier 1 rankings I would have no issue calling it UL and if the became higher ranked than Tulane I would call the BLU (the best university in Louisiana) but until such time I can not get behind it.
If I was an Acadiana legislator I would introduce a bill at the legislator that stated that all tier 1 universities that maintain that ranking for x years has the ability to change their official name to include the Louisiana with no regional affiliation. I bet you could get full support for that, and then it would be up to the students and administration to achieve that goal.
TL;DR: ULL has to improve academically to become UL. And once they do, which it appears they are on the right path, then they can become UL. Until then I don't want an academically inferior university using Louisiana without a regional identifier.

I must say, this was an entertaining read. I guess if La Tech gets busted down to a Tier II university, it should refer to itself as UL-Ruston.

[NOLACajun]

Washington Monthly College Guide 2014 rankings of Louisiana colleges:

Tulane 62
UL 172
LSU 185
La Tech 233
UNO 269

No other Louisiana universities made the list.