University of Louisiana System

[DestinCajun]

_ I am for that, more or less anything to do with getting away from the double L or whatever ESPN decides to use for any given game. but I can tell you exactly what will happen. State, and all of its minions, will oppose this, and may bring us to court over it, and we may end up with a situation like in '84 with a crooked judge. the main difference is that now, with the internet, and other widespread media coverage on TV and such, in such an event, a campaign favoring our decision and detailing the unethical goals sought by individuals opposing our decision, even though we are obiding the word of the law, can be generated and help gain opposition to those opposing us. People are so outraged these days about the unfair treatment of everything, that it would likely cause some sort of uproar, if for no other reason than many people trying to get away from the good ol' boy system that LA has worked under since its inclusion into the union. It would be worth a fight, but with a new president, it would be hard to quickly instill that sense of pride in him. _

I'm a UL Ragin' Cajun alumni, friend, fan and supporter. Anyone having a personal problem with that just needs to sit down with Dr Phil, have a long talk with him and deal with it.

[CajunCherokee]

Its all about perception. UT is actually the University of Texas at Austin and there are many other schools in the UT system, such as UT at Arlington and UT at San Antonio. But nobody refers to UT as the University of Texas at Austin. They are just the University of Texas. And everyone refers to the others with their "at ____" intact.

The more success we have, both academically and athletically, but mainly the latter, in the national scene, the more we improve our perception from the public. The more we improve our perception from the public, the more we separate ourselves from other Louisiana universities, specifically Monroe, the more likely they (broadcasters, websites, etc.) drops "at Lafayette" from our name.

With the recent change with our AD and the upcoming change with our President, we need to make more strides to improve our perception throughout the national scene. This includes playing in bowl games, playing Louisville and Rick Pitino at the NCAA Tournament, playing A&M in regional baseball, softball going to the World Series, etc. I believe that with improved success, whether out of laziness to say the full university name or not, we can start being PERCEIVED as the University of Louisiana.

And as long as we continue to have success, the rest will take care of itself.

[Just1More]

_ I am for that, more or less anything to do with getting away from the double L or whatever ESPN decides to use for any given game. but I can tell you exactly what will happen. State, and all of its minions, will oppose this, and may bring us to court over it, and we may end up with a situation like in '84 with a crooked judge. the main difference is that now, with the internet, and other widespread media coverage on TV and such, in such an event, a campaign favoring our decision and detailing the unethical goals sought by individuals opposing our decision, even though we are obiding the word of the law, can be generated and help gain opposition to those opposing us. People are so outraged these days about the unfair treatment of everything, that it would likely cause some sort of uproar, if for no other reason than many people trying to get away from the good ol' boy system that LA has worked under since its inclusion into the union. It would be worth a fight, but with a new president, it would be hard to quickly instill that sense of pride in him. _

You are hitting on an interesting subject. The state of Louisiana needs to be extremely cautious about getting on the national front on this topic. The state government (both executive and legislature) act as ambassadors around the country and the world attempting to secure more business to build a broader/elevated employment and tax base. For the honorable business related objectives, the school systems, and namely the flagship, get circled into that equation quite often. It would not bode well for this state to re-enforce the perceived single-mindedness, by having a national expose on the historical corruptness permeating many minds that hold office. This subject reeks of it.

People that find reason to do business in this state do not want to believe there is anything other than pure common sense to the ways and means. Many holding office have yet to understand that to eliminate that perception, you can not hold onto every vestige of the past.

You would have thought the fall of the Soviet Union would have signaled a new direction for our state government, and that evening out the playing field and introducing true competition is actually more advantageous... even among instate colleges and universities. Need I remind them that they have been in charge for many decades, and we still rank last in some vitally important national statistics. But... expect more of the same.