Louisiana vs State

[Turbine]

.....Who are considered the 3 statewide universities?

Find the ones who were never "little brother" to LSU.

OR, find the one that today they try to call "little brother."

[CajunRage]

A few months back I emailed an admin pointing out that I used to describe UL as "the #2 school in a 1-school state." No more. Louisiana is now a 2-school state.

We were ranked in football, they weren't. Men's basketball went to the NCAAs, they sat at home. We constantly challenge them in baseball & softball, and win some. They, of course, keep hopscotching to where they are winning now, and insisting that wherever they are losing isn't important... anymore.

It brings up a philosophical question: what makes football intrinsically important, but not softball? It's not like a university exists to play sports.

Although for a lot of schools in the country, particularly in the SEC, that would be hard to prove.

Because we also made R1... and we did it without their budget, which is richly funded with our taxes. We have the largest primate center in N America (and BTW, they were offered it first and declined). We built the first research park in the state, and we now have 5 (and in a great irony, it was when State sabotaged an effort by UNO to build another research park that the whole thing blew up, and the LSU System lost their only other research U... and the UL System grew and gained more muscle.) We were the first to start aggressively building our foundation (State & Tulane both came over to ask Mr. Lamson how we did it.) We built the first dedicated art museum (State responded with predictable incompetence: they built theirs downtown... students and faculty can hardly get to it). Our faculty were pivotal for creating Festival International, Fesitvals Acadiens, the Acadiana Symphony, Fiber To The Home, and the economic development parks. We brought computer science, francophone studies, dance, biofuels & alternative energy, Ernest Gaines, even crawfish research, to Louisiana. We (with ULM) discovered Poverty Point, and we created LUMCon. State has tried to co-opt all of these (remember, the BRAF gives an annual 'Ernest Gaines' award), with slight success, but occasional embarrassment as well.

And we were the first to bring men's basketball and softball to Louisiana (LTU was the first in women's hoops, UNO was the first to make the CWS).

And what has State pioneered? Where is their innovation? Where are they leading— really leading, rather than simply waving a 'We're #1!" foam-rubber hand? More and more the Corndogs are reactionary, watching everyone else, arriving 'late to the scene,' and trying to prove that they are all things to all people, that they are the best at everything.

Which, when you look at it in that way, you can see the fundamental flaw in their culture: no one can cover all bases all the time.

That, in turn, demonstrates the strength of our strategy: pick a few things we can excel at, build them, and then add more. Grow slowly, deliberately, and opportunistically.

Particularly in academics. Because you'll notice that when the Corndogs are hopscotching, they aren't jumping over to academics a whole lot. In any year, most of their athletic programs might be ranked in the top 25, some of them top 10.

But I don't know of a single academic program at State that is top 25. (Hence my cartoon at bottom.) (There are serious problems with the academic rankings, however. Topic for another day.)

Our local people who work the Capitol keep coming back here and saying, "Boy, the people at LSU are really pi**ed at you guys." As they should be: we are gaining on them, and occasionally passing them... with a small fraction of their resources. (I wonder what their softball budget is?) And as we do, we are exposing them for the indolent, bloated, over-funded poseurs they are.

People forget that monopolies are also bad for the monopolist. He becomes lazy, entitled (think about that word, and think about State's attitude), and wasteful. Which leaves a large opportunity for a smarter, nimbler, and more energetic competitor.

add more about our engineering accolades, mba program, integration and lagniappe day and get this thing published... the willful ignorance of so many people in this state, and the rest of the country not knowing the treasure that is UL is a travesty.

[R1Letterman]

are they the only “state” that is also an “A&M”?

[RedTails]

add more about our engineering accolades, mba program, integration and lagniappe day and get this thing published... the willful ignorance of so many people in this state, and the rest of the country not knowing the treasure that is UL is a travesty.

A lot of people in LAFAYETTE proper don't even realize what we have here. We need to be visiting every high school in Acadiana frequently, as frequent as armed forces recruiters, and reinforcing "look what we have here, and look where we are going. You don't need to cross the basin to get a four year degree." Seems like the office of undergraduate recruitment would be leading that effort.

[VObserver]

We have been working for many decades to get to where we are. So here's a pressing question: What have we been working for?

To be rid of jerks?

Or just so we can be the new jerks?

We do not like State, and yet we keep trying to beat her, at her game. State is atop the heap, never mind that it's a trash heap.

So what's our game?

What if we went the Cal model, where yes, Berkeley is the main campus, but every school in the UC System is strong and well-funded. Wrap your head around this: 6 of the top 10 public universities in the USA are all University of California schools:
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges...ies/top-public

I mentioned elsewhere that there are severe problems with college rankings, so I don't want to be UC, either. But if we were to see ourselves as, not a 'flagship'— the word has acquired a bad rep— but as a real leader, someone who makes it better for everyone, then maybe we could turn the UL System into a game-changer for the whole state. Maybe we could transform Louisiana from a dung heap into 'a shining city on the hill.'

We can do that only if we first disabuse ourselves of the 'flagship' model.

This is only true if you are speaking of the Connecticut or Louisiana legislated flagship model. The Texas flagship model sets flagship standards. Any university which reaches the standard is a flagship. No university is deemed the single flagship of the state. Not just UT-Austin, or Texas A&M-College Station, or Texas Tech-Lubbock. UNT-Denton is a Flagship University in the Texas State University System. The original flagship design was only UT-Austin and A&M- College Station, but the model was expanded in 2003 or 2004, allowing other schools who could generate the funding to achieve Flagship status. Texas Tech, UNT and U of H are now also Flagships and there may be others on the horizon.

Since you mentioned California, as of the time that Texas expanded their Flagship model, there were 9 Flagship Universities in California.

[VObserver]

are they the only “state” that is also an “A&M”?

No. Ohio State is an A&M. There are others I am sure.

[VObserver]

Currently Louisiana is #49 in percentage of college degrees... we even trail Puerto Rico.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...nal_attainment

So I'm not sure that making a college education even harder to get will change Louisiana's fortunes.

I sort of agree with you both. Only the Statewide Universities should have graduate schools, law schools and medical or veterinary schools. The rest should be undergrad only.

[CajunFun]

are they the only “state” that is also an “A&M”?

The Morrill Land-Grant Acts, beginning in 1862, took the sale of public lands and directed the proceeds to certain universities, almost all of them public, to create agricultural and mechanical colleges. Most (all?) of them added 'A&MC' to their names. Most of the nation's 19th century colleges with 'State' in their name were benefited or created in this way. The older schools, the 'U of X,' were generally liberal arts schools dedicated to 'pure' learning, as well as medicine and law.

As most of you know, Tulane was the original UL, the liberal arts college. When Paul Tulane left them his fortune, they went private... which created a situation that only occurs in two or three states, where one major university was left to cover both liberal arts and applied disciplines.

[CajunFun]

I sort of agree with you both. Only the Statewide Universities should have graduate schools, law schools and medical or veterinary schools. The rest should be undergrad only.

I don't necessarily disagree with you... nor do I necessarily agree. Instead, I ask this question:

Why?

1) If the purpose of a graduate program (I will ignore professional degrees for now) is to produce PhDs, why should we underwrite them with our tax dollars? There is a glut of PhDs, our colleges can hire excellent faculty for much less money, and devote our funds into strengthening the undergrad experience.

2) On the other hand, if graduate programs produce tangible and intangible benefits to the character and intellectual activity of a university, then why should some citizen-students enjoy these benefits, and others be denied?

I've been thinking about these things for years... I tend to the idea that graduate programs and research make the campus lively. But I have to immediately concede that liberal arts colleges, which do not stress research and graduate studies, provide some of the best educational experiences for undergrads.

We don't define our goals and processes very well, nor do we measure them well. So it's not easy to make decisions.

And FWIW, right now I am working on a book-signing tour for the fall, during which I will also try to visit colleges and present a talk I am preparing, 'A Scientist Explains the Coming Rise of the Liberal Arts.'

It's complicated...

[thecajunitalian]

Louisiana - 5th in all time wins at 1,795. 6 WCWS, 8 Super regionals, 32 Regionals

LSU Poop - ? in all time wins at 1,236. 6 WCWS, 9 Super Regionals, 24 Regionals

Suck on that!!!

[R1Letterman]

Times Louisiana has won the Red Stick regional: FOUR
Times State A&M has won the Lafayette regional: ZERO

[Grantvb]

A little Digging:

Arizona: 2091 wins, 25 WCWS, 16 Super Regionals, 35 Regionals (8 titles)

UCLA: 1882 wins, 32 WCWS, 13 Super Regionals, 39 Regionals (13 titles)

FSU: 2194 wins, 11 WCWS, 10 Super Regionals, 35 Regionals (1 title)

Michigan: 1873 wins, 13 WCWS, 11 Super Regionals, 29 Regionals (1 title)

Oklahoma: 1954 wins, 19 WCWS, 16 Super Regionals, 29 Regionals (6 titles)

Not bad company...