re: To what extent would LSU be more prestigious if it were in a safer location?

The risk of crime may have a marginal effect on the decisions of some students to study at LSU, but the bigger problem is the lack of state investment in the university. We are hemorrhaging high-quality faculty to higher-paying universities, and we are then having a difficult time in recruiting new high-quality faculty to come to LSU for the relatively low salaries that we offer. These high-quality faculty are the very ones that draw the best high-quality students to LSU.

Moreover, the LSU administration has dropped the pretense of flagship standards for admission and has implemented policies of admitting students who do not meet those flagship standards. The elimination of test scores as a requirement is a primary culprit. LSU is driven more by increasing the size of its student body by any means necessary than by the high standards that made it the state's flagship university. The best students in Louisiana can still receive a top-notch education at LSU, particularly if they are in the Honors College and/or are able to work with good faculty mentors, but the supply of high-quality faculty mentors is diminishing because of the lure of other, higher paying faculty positions elsewhere.