2013 Staking a Claim for Louisiana

[CajunEXPRESS]

"It is a violation of system policy for UL's athletics department to tell journalists to call the team "Louisiana," according to the man who wrote the policy."

What is this, another "the law doesn't say you can so you can't" statement? It doesn't wash.

That is the problem (for them) that arises when the person who writes the policy has an agenda. In this case he tried to get so overly specific on the "can't, can't, can't" situations, that anything not included in the exclusions is 100% acceptable.

In 1998 when Mr. James Caillier was bullet proofing his hand cuffs, he did not include 'We don't allow for ANY other name' and he didn't exclude Louisiana.

To say what he wishes he had said is irrelevant.

The ULS tried to straighten her out. You know Thomas Jefferson helped write the US constitution. I am pretty sure I recall he lost a legal argument as president if my memory serves me right. Hell how could that happen he wrote the constitution?

[CajunFun]

You're hilarious......please tell just how bad Tech's situation is. It's ok to talk Sh$t, we all do, but let's hear some facts.

OK.

First the good news. Tech is still Tier one in USN&WR, UL is not. Tech is at the bottom of tier one, mind you.

In a two-tier system.

However, UL will pass Tech up very quickly:

Tech's research budget is somewhere in the low $20's. UL's will probably break $80M this year. On a per-faculty basis, in fact, we are out-performing LSU & Tulane. http://ultoday.com/node/4281 (You may have to try the link later today, I just checked it, we've been having problems with our servers.)

Tech's enrollment is under 10K and shrinking, UL's is growing, up to 18.5K. I have information that says this will continue.

Tech has no PhDs in the liberal arts, and in fact, none outside of engineering-related disciplines and education (except, I think, audiology, which isn't really liberal arts). That's not a university, it's an engineering school. UL has a broad array of PhDs, in sciences, liberal arts, nursing, education and one of our newest--in engineering. And we are adding more doctoral programs.

We have several active research parks, and are adding more. Tech is still working on its first.

UL was the first school in the state to make Doc II under SREB. UNO geared up, caught us in 2 years. It took Tech about 8 years, if I remember.

The state now publishes faculty salaries. Compare Tech to UL. Renaud was running a shell game, trying to keep up appearances. Tech's faculty, particularly in engineering and the sciences, are horribly underpaid, and Tech will not be able to keep up the facade of being a quality institution. And BTW, it has become pretty well accepted around the state that the numbers Tech publishes are (to put it politely) 'generous.' More and more our faculty and administrators find data Tech publishes that is contradictory to other data Tech also publishes. There's a reason that the Regents are slowly collecting and publishing the data themselves, to insure that it's accurate. I'm told that a large reason they are doing this, is because of Tech.

Our on-campus construction is through the roof, about a billion over the past few years, and about to jump up again with the athletic expansions/improvements-- and the bulk of that is not state funded. And there's more coming after that.

We live in one of the fastest growing and most dynamic cities in the South, constantly garnering national attention for arts, technology, and quality of life. You can judge Ruston for yourself.

The only governor in Louisiana's history who graduated from a state school other than LSU was Blanco. Watch Angelle, he's probably the next governor. After that people are looking at Fred Mills, a ULM alum (pharmacist) whose primary ties are to UL.

And remember, our president took a cut in pay and prestige to leave as president of Regents to come back to UL (and passed up the presidency of an SEC school in another state on the way, and also politely declined to go into the LSU System). His VP Finances was the former chair of Appropriations, and there are several other key people on campus and among our alums who are heavily plugged into state politics.

I used to have one of those huge Louisiana maps from 1961, it finally fell apart. But on it were 3 public universities, LSU, SU, and U(S)L. Tech and everyone else were still colleges. That's because we added the first PhD programs outside of LSU and SU. Tech scrambled to keep up.

There was this myth that Tech was #2 academically behind LSU, but it was always a myth, based on football. In fact, it was LSU, then UL & UNO pretty close, and Tech was a distant 4th. Katrina wiped out UNO, unfortunately.

We were also the first to break into big-time athletics with our Top 10 basketball program of the 70's. Tech came through after, and for a few decades you managed to pass us up.

Even with that, we went 1A (UL, LSU and Tulane are the only charter members of 1A in the state) and Tech remained 1AA for several years. From what I heard, you would still be in 1AA if not for Davison. And with all of your history and success, we are putting about 30K in our stadium, and attendance is growing. Tech is filling its stadium with canvas tarp.

Then there are athletic facilities. Nothing, absolutely nothing, at Tech approaches UL's facilities. And we are in the process of upgrading/rebuilding what we have. Football has been announced. More is coming.

And of course, we have the most important thing, a president who for the first time in the history of UL (except for the brief presidency of Rougeau), is committed to athletics. With that, we live in a highly populous area with a lot of alums and a lot of wealth (three years ago I asked the Mayor how things were, he replied "Right now our unemployment rate is what it was in the rest of the country BEFORE the recession). That money is just starting to pour into athletics. And academics too.

The preceding is just what's public knowledge, and what I can think of off the top of my head. I talk to people all over campus. If Tech and the other schools knew what was coming next, you'd blow some hemorrhoids.

UL is poised to take the next several steps toward becoming a major national university. Most of what's left at Tech is smoke and mirrors.

*****
Corrections: Tech also has a doctorate in business, and they are under 11K not 10K.

[raoul]

Excellent!! Great summary!

[CajunFun]

Did Mrs. boomer hack his computer?

Too funny!

(Sorry, Boom.)

[CajunEXPRESS]

Never challenge Fun to a debate unless you have done your homework. LOL

[Zeebart21]

Never challenge Fun to a debate unless you have done your homework. LOL

X, I hate to admit it but you are right.. Geaux, Cajun Fungus!!

Z

[HoustonCajun]

everyone is broke??? Please speak for yourself....

Why doesn't the Advertiser run an article about the UL System rule/law that every university in the system has to officially use a city tag? Someone posted that in an earlier thread. Yet, none of them have been following that. Are all universities required to have their official name with a city tag, i.e. LA Tech at Ruston? If so, why isn't that enforced. Seems like LA Tech has violated that and has been using its nickname all these years.

[CajunSaint]

hey, fun! i'm just glad you are on our side. great to hear from you again.

[barisaxman]

I think the story needed MORE pub, so the editing "error" was intentional.....

Just an opinion

AGREE 100% !!!
I wrote the publisher and asked WHY they put different and INFLAMMATORY headlines online that were damning to UL and its supporters, if not as an attempt to create interest in the paper!!
I KNOW they are running an editorial TOMORROW from the publisher with the DA's OFFICIAL position on the issue. Stay Tuned!!

[CrazyCajun]

I just took a big tabby and wiped my gannett with a daily advertiser.