re: Just Back From Tuscaloosa--Impressions:

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Just Back From Tuscaloosa--Impressions

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YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH

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I also wish they'd go ahead and hook the pregame show by the band on the stadium sound system because you can't hear the band unless they are directly facing you.

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I know that several SEC schools mic their bands, but LSU has never done it.

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you realize LSU has built a new business college, a new Chemistry building, several residential halls, and is about to start building a state of the art engineering building?

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Don't forget renovations to the Student Union and M&DA, completely renovating the Union and Manship Theaters, UREC renovation (completed with another in the works), restoration of the Huey P. Long Field House (in the works), renovations of the French House and Laville dorms, new Emerging Technology Center, new Visual Arts and Technology Building partnered with EA Sports, state of the art 5k Theater (5000 times more resolution than an HD video projector with acoustics that allow it to mimic basically any building or condition)

Nope, LSU is just watching their buildings crumble

I agree that "watching our buildings crumble" is a huge stretch, and it doesn't help that Alabama receives more state funding than us. We're just behind on renovating the campus. we'll be neck and neck with them in five years or so, but there's no denying their facilities are more impressive at the point. It's very frustrating how much money we spent on renovating the union and that was our end result. Meanwhile, bama and auburn spend half the price and their union is much more impressive. Very frustrating.

or amend the constitution so that the two most important items for a state are not gutted in budget restrictions?

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or amend the constitution so that the two most important items for a state are not gutted in budget restrictions?

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This is the only answer, but no one in Baton Rouge seems to have the political will to try, which is sad. I am really disappointing in Jindal for not pushing this issue and letting his opposition paint him as anti higher-ed. Another thing that contributes to the 90% number is the fact that LSU runs the largest hospital system in the state. So much of that 90% cut to the LSU system is actually being cut from the hospital system, which dwarfs the universities' budgets by a wide margin.

I have mentioned this before but Lsu does a horrible job with their alumni fund raising. My wife graduated from the university of Texas and they have student workers who call every 3 months requesting donations. Lsu should do something similar. Even if every alumni donated just $100 a year it could generate a tremendous amount of money. The athletic department does a good job but the academic side should not rely on the $5million donation every year.

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know that several SEC schools mic their bands, but LSU has never done it

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Tennessee sure does. My son is in the Auburn band and was at the game Saturday. The loudspeaker for the Tennessee band was right in the ear of the Auburn drum major. Their band director (who was a drum major at Bama and a grad assistant with Tiger Band) had to turn the speaker around so she could hear.

GEAUX TIGERS

I've been to Tuscaloosa a 4-5 times to visit friends, games, and for a college tour and as always, I had a good time but am still glad I chose LSU

1) Their campus is very nice but the red brick/white column thing has been way overdone. Every building looks exactly the same. You can't help but notice the millions apon millions of dollars they've invested to revamp their campus by simply adding red bricks/white columns to the outdated buildings. Landscaping also looks good. If anyone wants to believe LSU has committed the same to update our campus - you are a fool (lack of funding). I walk through our campus every day and many buildings south of the quad and north of Patrick Taylor & BEC need to be torn down/overhauled (e.g. Forestry Building, Electrical Engineering Building, Food Science Building, Human Ecology Building, Dairy Science Building, Doran Hall, Lockett, Middleton, etc). No campus in the SEC can beat our quad/inner campus but we need to expand the beauty farther. Budget cuts have slowed down a lot of LSU construction but new buildings are continuing to open (e.g. Choppin Chemistry Annex, BEC, Animal & Food Science Labatories, Patrick F Taylor Expansion)

2) Alabama Guhs be fine but no finer than LSU guhs

3) Denny Bryant looks damn good. Atmosphere is eh and will prefer our stadium once all our renovations are complete.

4) LSU sorority row > Alabama sorority row

5) LSU fraternity row < Alabama fraternity row (absolutely insane)

6) The strip is awesome, I've seen better but it's nice. Once LSU finishes Nicolson Gateway we will have a similar area. They are also moving the LSU Foundation and other offices to the new development which will open up room for new sorority house by the lakes.

7) Alabama football successes have helped in their recruitment of students across the US. Students want to go to a school that wins championships.

8) Alabama like many colleges play into the US Rankings. I believe they are flawed. Here are a few articles agreeing: Business Insider The Atlantic
I prefer Forbes and their method of college rankings. They rank LSU 25-30 spots above Alabama. At the end of the day, each school is the state flagship university and the quality of education is very similar.

9) The LSU Foundation is increasing their fundraising efforts. LINK

10) LSU isn't trying to increase undergraduate enrollment size but is more focused on making the undergraduate body more diversified and increasing the amount of recruiters across the county. Alabama has 10-15 more recruiters than LSU that are located across the United States. Budget cuts once again plays a huge part in this. LSU is also more worried about increasing the enrollment of graduate students too (research).

11) Going forward I believe LSU's forefront is brighter.