With the enevitablilty of this in mind, do you see any down side to sitting down with them and finding out what they have to say? I certainly would like to get to their real motive.Originally Posted by Dirtydawg
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With the enevitablilty of this in mind, do you see any down side to sitting down with them and finding out what they have to say? I certainly would like to get to their real motive.
2 positives i see are that the louisiana system has been trying to hold us down. they dont want us to move ahead of ulx, if we get out from under that system, clausen cant keep her foot on us. ull can call themselves the flagship or ul or whatever because they have nothing to do with us.
the other positive is that lsu has, through the state government, held us back as much as they can anyway. if we go under their system, we may get a little of their support like getting us in a better conference or bowl game, maybe they would only play us and tulane and quit playing ulx, and maybe help us to get more programs because of shreveport.
I guess my whole position on this is the same as yours on global warming and whatever other new thing that is brought forward to alert us. There is nothing that I can do about it, so why worry. I mean, the bottom line of it is this. I love Louisiana Tech because it's my alma mater, but what has it really done for me anyway. Having a degree from Tech hasn't put one extra cent in my pocket. It hasn't opened any doors for me. Basically, if Louisiana Tech were to get shut down tomorrow, it wouldn't affect my lifestyle one bit. I would be sad and upset to a degree because Tech was such a great part of my life, but it hasn't kept this lung disease from manifesting itself again; it hasn't kept my ex-wife from trying to get custody of my son back again.
So, to answer your question, I don't see any problem at all with sitting down with them to find out what they say. It really just doesn't matter.
I guess when you think of it in those terms, you are right. There are some things in life that are important, and most of them revolve around family, health, and happiness. I believe that some other things serve an important function as a diversion to the regular mundane every day things, though. I love Louisiana Tech. I grew up loving it. I want great things for it academically and athletically. I can't imagine going through the fall without Tech football or through winter without basketball.
I have faced some life threatening issues over the last few years. Brain surgery was a scary thing, but do you know what I was doing from the hospital room? I was listening to a Tech bball game about 2 days after my surgery. That was not a priority in my life, but sure gave me enjoyment. I couldn't walk yet and couldn't move my head too fast, but I could sure listen.
I will follow Tech till I die. While, it won't save my life or even determine where I live or my love for my family, it will give me a diversion and something fun to believe in and follow.
As for lsu, I do not like them and have never liked them. It is amazing how many people that will say they dislike that school, but when this comes up, they are all ready to join up. Sounds like an inferiority complex to me. I would rather fight them across the table, than have them dominate us on the same side.
C110, I understand your concerns. I think we want the same thing. My position is this:
Tech becoming an LSU annex is not what I'm for. I would want Tech and its administration to have the same managerial status it has now in all regards with the additional responsibility for LTU-S and LTU Med Center, just funded under the same system LSU lives with. Because of our proximity we can offer engineering and other programs in Shreveport that LSU can't and do it for less. When I was taking some classes at LSU-S years ago, there were times people were supposed to come up from BR and they simply didn't make it. Far easier and less expensive to drive from Ruston, if you don't live in Shreveport, than it is to catch a flight and maybe spend the night.
More money? No, there's going to be less money. But Louisiana is committed to a campus and the Med Center in Shreveport. Tech is in a better position to manage the assets than LSU-BR. The state is going to adopt a retrenchment strategy because it has no choice. Our job won't be easy, but if someone's going to run the campus and the medical program in Shreveport besides LSU, because of economics or whatever, it ought to be us.
I will not support or advocate something that would mean the end of La Tech. Nor am I willing to sell "our soles to the devil". But I am willing to look at opportunities. I want Tech to become THE recognized alternative to LSU-BR. In all regards. We've separated ourselves from the rest of the university systems schools with hard work, dedication, and yes, tenacity. If it's not a deal don't do it. But you can't know if it is or isn't if you won't even look at it.
That's what I'm advocating. Have an open mind and look at the deal. Negotiate for a plan that works for us and does what we want and need. If we can accomplish that, can anyone deny we ought to do it? Again, it's a pretty sure bet there's some new economic realities coming and it starts in the upcoming legislative session. If we can advance our position we need to have the gumption (audacity?) to go for it.
We're Bulldogs, not poodles! Anybody messes with my bone, I'm going to bite him on the ass!
I hope it all works out. I just don't trust the state of Louisiana when it comes to lsu (among other things). I will just hope that D.R. is strong and smart enough to maneuver toward what is best for Tech. Who knows? Maybe D.R. is shooting for that job of lsu President.
This is when Reneau's political savvy needs to kick into high gear. The truth is, if the LSU system wants Tech, they will get it. One way or another, they get whatever they want...whether it's through LSU judges or our LSU state government. Oddly enough, in this area, I've got a lot of confidence in Dr. Dan.
Time is your friend. Impulse is your enemy. -John Bogle
Not trusting the State of Louisiana on anything is easy to do....LSU or any other state body. When they have a special session like the one just ended, it makes you think (know?) they just don't get it. I'm hoping and praying that after beating their heads against a brick fiscal wall long enough, they might make some good responsible decisions. And one of them will be a good deal for Tech. Time will tell.
He might not be the best when it comes to athletics, but for my money DR's tough to beat on the academic/political front. He's a Tech man, I doubt you'd ever see him going to LSU.
my main problem is that there is no additional benefit for us to join the lsu system. sure, give us the shreveport stuff, but wouldn't it be easier to move them to the ul system? the only reason to move us to the lsu system would be for lsu to continue to exercise some degree of control over the shreveport campuses and new control over us. i just can't see any way for this to go through without Tech losing at least some of its autonomy.
so my stance is that someone needs to convince the lawmakers of the economic benefits of merging Tech and the shreveport campuses, while forcing them to prove what benefit there could possibly be from moving Tech to the lsu system. but that involves some faith in the louisiana legislature to use sound, logical judgment.
Here's my post on the other thread about this BAD idea.........
"Someone please put a bullet in this idea. Kill it now!! No good for LTU or Ruston can come from it. Once LSU supporters get their hands on our programs they will move them to S'port and over time Ruston will become a satellite campus to a main campus in Shreveport. Think about it long and hard before going over to the dark side."
What is that Aub is fond of saying, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood."
It is not a good idea to turn down an idea until you have tried with all you have to understand what the other side is thinking. We don't know what they are thinking.
If I were responsible for negotiating this deal, I would have a billion questions, many of which have been raised on this board. I too would be interested in knowing what dangers we would have of being lost as the red-headed step-child of LSU. I would want to know why they are having budget problems, and how giving us some of those problems would not just be giving us the problems. I would literally ask a billion questions.
But, before I asked those questions and before I even tried to be understood, I would want to listen to their proposal. I would want to listen to the problems they have. I would want to know exactly why they are all of the sudden wanting to do what they want to do.
The long and short of it is, we just don't know what they have on their mind. We are assuming the worst, but it just may be that they believe that Tech has as much unlocked potential as we all believe Tech has, and that they believe that working together will really make LSU better and Tech better. We just don't know.
I just hope that DR is listening right now. It is not time to make demands, and it is certainly not time to turn down a proposal until we fully understand what the proposal is.
Don't trust those DEMS Champ? :icon_wink
"But, before I asked those questions and before I even tried to be understood, I would want to listen to their proposal. I would want to listen to the problems they have. I would want to know exactly why they are all of the sudden wanting to do what they want to do.
The long and short of it is, we just don't know what they have on their mind. We are assuming the worst, but it just may be that they believe that Tech has as much unlocked potential as we all believe Tech has, and that they believe that working together will really make LSU better and Tech better. We just don't know."
Your right we don't know and they won't tell us if they are trying to pull a fast one on us. The best we can do is to look at what is being proposed, research the hell out of it, then determine what is the best course for Tech. I believe that we can take even what LSU thinks is a bad deal for us and turn it into a sweer smelling rose because Tech has always done more with less through being smarter and working harder. But that will work only if the the circustances are right. We need to be real smart in what we take and the circustances we take it under.
WWDog
La Tech
Region and hyphen free since 1894!
Flagship of the University of Louisiana System
Just a few thoughts on this from a simple-minded alum...
1. I'm with you guys on not trusting LSU or the legislature.
2. The LSU system allows more money to be transferred to athletics every year than the ULS. It's not a whole lot more, but it is more, and every little bit helps with a budget like ours. How much will be allowed (or if it will be allowed at all) in the future is another argument, but the LSU system allows more money to be moved.
3. I doubt that anyone would expect La. Tech to change its name in a switch like this. UNO started out as LSU-NO and eventually changed, so why not allow La. Tech to remain La. Tech? Plus, Marketing 101 says to keep good name recognition, and Tech has built quite a name in the last decade moving up the academic ladder the way we have. No sense in wiping that out completely... not even for simple minded LSU hacks.
4. Moving Tech from one system to another would allow LSU to "save face" by keeping the hospitals in their system, while simultaneously allowing them to reduce the burden of carrying out two very different types of services: running a university and providing public health care.
5. The funding for the hospitals comes from the state and La. Tech can spend government money just as easily as LSU can.
6. Politically, we do have some people on our side. Bobby Jindal is a good friend of James Davison, and several former members of the Board of Regents are Tech grads, including Mike Woods who publicly talked about this report before "the story broke".
When you add those things up, it looks like a good deal for everybody. But, I'm sure that there are a ton of details none of us know about.
The only question that remains (and might be the biggest variable) is the ego of the LSU crowd. As insecure as they are about anyone else being known for anything, it's hard to imagine them giving La. Tech virtually all of North Louisiana. Having the main campus in Ruston, the Barksdale program in Bossier, LSUS in Shreveport, and the Med Center in Shreveport would give Tech everything in north La. except NLU (who cares) and Northwestern. I can't see LSU giving that up.
If that did happen, we would probably see NLULM go out of business and Tech make unbelievable progress.
I guess we will just have to wait and see.
Maybe LSU can write up an athletic plan for tech, just sayin.
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