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.