re: Random thoughts from attending my niece's graduation from LSU.

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I kind of feel the opposite. Not saying we shouldn't close down some schools. But I think we should be focusing on making LSU a "better" school. Not a "we accept anyone in Louisiana since we shut down all the other schools and there are no options left" type of school. Louisiana does not have a single public institution that is remotely "prestigious" (not expecting Harvard here, just maybe compete for a higher ranking in the SEC). There was an attempt to make LSU better in that regard while I was there, but the recession thrashed that idea. In order to focus on making LSU better, we still have to keep some options available for those who can't quite make it to the top program in the state.

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Only way this is going to happen is for the state to start investing in Higher Ed again. Unfortunately, this state has gone so far in the other direction, LSU has been left in the distance by its regional counterparts. We are taking the, "keep em dumb and voting the way I want" approach. The electorate needs to hold these clowns accountable when it comes time to vote. Edwards has zero interest in making this state a better place.

The University can't afford to move toward your vision because they need every tuition dollar they can get at the moment.

Maybe someday we'll have a true leader in the governor's office who has the goal to make LSU the great institution it could be.

eta

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Not every small town in the state should have a four year university.

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and if that's what the politicians want, at least fund them. We have more schools than we need and give them less to work with. arse backwards approach.

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Why people demonize those who want to improve LSU is so weird to me.

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I'm "demonizing" them because they are full of shite and want to "better" LSU by throwing more money at it. Money that comes right from my paycheck. frick THAT. FKing made a complete arse out of himself whining about funding cuts and threatening financial exigency when in point of fact no cuts were actually made. They were asked for, but never made. Hes been crying like chicken little every year, yet hes graduating a record number of students? OP was right there with him parroting the dooms day story. Now...LSU is alive and well?
horse shite.

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I'm "demonizing" them because they are full of shite and want to "better" LSU by throwing more money at it.

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Correct, LSU is underfunded compared to its competition. LSU has been able to offset the losses in state revenue with increased tuition, but it's still a net loss. I'm sure you get why LSU pays top money elite coaches, it works the same way in academia. If LSU stops offering top pay and programs, they can't grow or attract top professors/researchers. The fact that the flagship university has to cut programs and professors is insulting. You surely understand the goal of F King is grow the university and improve itself, right?

LSU being "alive and well" is just the take of some dude who watched a family member graduate. Walking through campus, it's pretty clear to see that LSU has been pinching pennies for a long time now.

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whining about funding cuts and threatening financial exigency when in point of fact no cuts were actually made.

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Hiring freezes for non-faculty, not replacing professors who have left, and cutting programs and classes are where cuts have been made.

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How many of of those programs that were cut amounted to anything? A school doesn't cut programs with high graduation rates/numbers. They cut the shite that is underperforming.

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A public university is supposed to be a pursuit of profit. That's the point of technical universities that teach specific skills or professions. I agree that too many people go to school, but I don't think devalue learning and research is the right path.

As for what has been cut, you can look up and see that over 35 programs have been completely eliminated from FY2010 to FY2015. From my personal experience, I know that LSU has cut over a dozen foreign language offerings and now only offers a Spanish major in that department.

Even for more "profitable" departments, I've seen the numbers of classes for Business and Engineering courses decrease. Several classes required for graduation went from 2/semester to 1/semester and then to 1/year. I went to LSU during the second half of the Jindal years. They kept reducing classes to make up for it. For some of the more specialized upper courses, they just went away.

Did y'all stop by the library?

LSU grads, on your last day on campus, give your parents a tour of the library

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Whatever the case, please consider reserving ten minutes to take your family on a tour through the disgusting, decrepit Middleton Library.

Show them the repulsive 40-year-old tables and the grimy chairs where you studied. Point out the carpet stains that were there before your dad was a freshman. Be sure to walk through the bathrooms, which would shame even the most inattentive gas station attendant.

Point out the dangling ceiling tiles and the missing floor tiles. And don’t forget to take them downstairs to the basement where the government documents are housed and which doubles as a wading pool after a heavy rain.

Like most people who don’t work or study at LSU, they’ve had no reason to inspect the school’s buildings, which are ostensibly pristine.

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Oh, and here’s another reason you should taking your parents and grandparents to the library:

Because it’s all you’ve ever known, you may not realize what a disgraceful, crumbling campus this is. See it, at least once, through their eyes.

You may not have visited the sparking campuses of the University of Alabama, the University of Georgia or Ole Miss to see what universities look like in states that value education.

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Maybe those should have been cut anyway. Just like any useless liberal arts or general studies program. Get a real degree or don't get a degree. Those programs are as pointless as a basket weaving class.

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You're a real peach, aren't you. Lots of fun at parties, I'm sure.

I have a degree in English literature from LSU. I'd be happy to compare incomes with you, if that's your measure of what constitutes a "real" degree, you miserable twit.

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You may not have visited the sparking campuses of the University of Alabama

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We just need a tornado and Saban back and we'll get a complete overhaul like UA did.

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it works the same way in academia.

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it sure does. Old FKing earns $600,000.00 annually.

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The fact that the flagship university has to cut programs and professors is insulting.

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are you kidding me? So I guess the "flagship university" never has to go without? It gets fully funded no matter what, eh? frick that. Soon as they learn to live within their means, they can do whatever they want.
You sound like the typical civil service/govt. worker. You have no idea of doing with less at the university level. But you are fine with telling the taxpayer who is forever adjusting their budget to live within their means that they have to pay for your shite.
You know whats insulting? Telling a person who works and pays damn near 50% in combined federal/state/local taxes that they have to pay more b/c LSU is the "flagship".
get it through your skull, WE (THE TAX PAYERS) DONT HAVE THE MONEY TO GIVE TO THE STATE FOR ALL OF THIS. WE ARE TAPPED OUT!!!

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You surely understand the goal of F King is grow the university and improve itself, right?

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you surely understand the goal of I and most others is to grow our own bank accounts and provide for our families and improve ourselves, right?

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Hiring freezes for non-faculty, not replacing professors who have left, and cutting programs and classes are where cuts have been made.

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yes well, freezing new car purchases, not replacing old appliances or lawn mowers, and cutting vacations and spending on clothes, groceries, nights out, etc. are where we the public are having to make cuts. And it sucks for us as well.
And yet you and every other public official tell me its not enough. Too bad. Learn to live with it. I can't afford LSU being the flagship anymore and neither can Louisiana apparently.

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LSU isn't really all that expensive. $5400 all in for 15 hour isn't bad at all.

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. Tuition isn't the issue for most people, it's the rest of the costs. Room & board is the killer for kids who live too far away to commute. Additionally, every other school offers scholarships to certain kids on the bubble (like a 4.0 student with a 27 ACT, co valedictorian at his school) that LSU will not. Which is probably why you should keep several smaller universities.

I know from my own kids experience. He'll be starting at LSU in the college of science (mathematics). He had full rides to ULL, USM and NLU but his dad raised him to love LSU. How do you tell that kid he can't go to LSU? You do what you have to do to get him there. And proudly.

Lmao! I knew I would piss off some "twit" with that.

Yeah, I don't think you degree should be offered anymore, at least not at EVERY frickin school. I'm sure there are writers that make more money than me, but I've been published a number of times with no English Literature degree.

The way any housewife or football player can publish a book now a days, what are literature and writing degrees good for?

And before I get called an "uncivilized heathen" or something along those lines, I've studied Hemingway, Thoreau, Shakespeare, etc., etc. I've read The Golden arse, Beowulf, The Odyssey. Quite possibly the worst semesters of my life (although I do enjoy Thoreau).

For what it's worth, though, Philosophy is an even more useless degree in my opinion.

By the way, you pretentious arse, why does growing up in poverty make it more impressive that someone succeeded at LSU? What, poor people can't be smart, work their arse off, and get a degree? It's a great accomplishment, but damn, you make it sound like she did the impossible.

With all of the scholarships and grants out there today, anyone can do anything.