re: Officials say ULM won't be following UAB's football footsteps

With the wisdom of King Solomon, yours truly ULL Cool J presents the solution in which

1. All parties involved give up something
2. All get something
3. It Solves "UL" name issue
4. It Solves North/South LA division
5. Cuts costs administratively initially and through subsequent right-sizing and reorganizing/elimination of programs and curriculums
6. Eliminates two (albeit one small) athletic programs while creating a single solid, unified major program around which both the Shreveport and Monroe areas could rally. The enhanced program should be a viable candidate for a higher profile athletic conference.

What?

Merge La Tech, ULM, and LSUS into a single university.

How to entice all to agree?

1. Designate the new entity as the official flagship of the University of Louisiana System, and therefore authorized to brand itself as "Louisiana" academically, for sports, etc. All institutions would therefore give up their current names.
2. Eliminate campus designations. That is, a student attending any site is a "University of Louisiana" student and eventual graduate (as shown on their diploma), not UL-Shreveport, Ruston, or Monroe. All would have met the same standards.
3. Sports teams (under a new mascot and nickname) would play home games spread among the three locations. For example, football might be based in Ruston (centrally located) but play a game in Shreveport and one in Monroe each year. Basketball and other sports might host home games among the three sites.
4. Colleges/departments would be consolidated under a single dean/head based on what makes best sense, geographically, administratively and academically. For example business professors at Ruston and Shreveport might report to a dean based in Monroe.
5. Individual campuses may continue to host key legacy programs (e.g., pharmacy in Monroe) but it opens opportunity for access by students in Shreveport and Ruston through alternate-site classes and teleconferencing. Likewise, Shreveport and Monroe students would have access to engineering programs in Ruston.
6. A new restructured enhanced institution would invigorate alums and the local public which could spur increased contributions, participation and even warrant addition of new cost-effective programs.

There are many issues that would have to be worked out, but why would this not be a step in the right direction?