North LA Columnist Sam Hanna Jr.: "Grant Flagship Status to LA Tech University"

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No legislative session would be complete without a little controversy brewing behind the scenes and out of sight of the nosy press. This year is no different.

When the LSU Board of Supervisors tapped William Tate a few weeks ago to become the next president of the university, more than a few lawmakers got a bit peeved with the board’s decision. They got their noses out of joint because more than a few lawmakers had been told Jim Henderson, who currently runs the University of Louisiana System, would get the LSU job. As we all know by now, the LSU board opted to make history by making Tate the first black president of LSU in the history of the Ole War Skule.

So it seems LSU has run into a bit of a problem at the Legislature in securing funding in this year’s budget for a pet project or two on the main campus just down the road from the Capitol. The irony of it all is the LSU people — those that hold high-paying jobs on the campus to do little or nothing — are simply dumbfounded by the Legislature’s refusal to give LSU what it wants and when it wants it.

Perhaps if the LSU board had not hired a man whose entire academic career was focused on peddling the silly narrative that every white SOB on the planet was a racist, lawmakers wouldn’t give LSU the cold shoulder.

There’s something to be learned in this latest episode of LSU proving its worth — or lack thereof — to the state. That is, perhaps the time has arrived for LSU get some competition for a change as it relates to sucking money out of the public till. One way to level the playing the field — so to speak — would be for the Legislature to grant flagship status to La. Tech University.

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