Monday, November 2nd, 2026

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

A NEW PRESIDENT’S CHALLENGE:

DEALING WITH THE RISE AND FALL OF LSU!

 

Louisiana State University, located in my hometown of Baton Rouge, has selected a recent president, Dr. Wade Rousse, who has been in that position for less than a year. And to say that he faces a big job ahead of him is an understatement. Educationally, the state’s largest university is a mixed bag of quality and mediocrity, typical of many public universities.  Now there’s nothing like being in Tiger Stadium on a football Saturday night.  But when it comes to national rankings, and raising money for its endowment, LSU continues to be at the low-end, even among schools in the Southeast Conference. He also is discovering that LSU, once the centerpiece of higher education throughout the South, is now fighting for relevant academic survival.

 

Huey Long was the best friend and supporter LSU ever had.  The Virginia Quarterly Review called him the father of the modern LSU and said, “Huey stroked LSU as if he had been coddling a newborn pet elephant.  During fiscal stringency in all other American states, Huey force-fed LSU with increasing appropriations.”  The Kingfish made no secret of his long-term goals for the state’s flagship university. “LSU’s going to be the Harvard of the South,” he said.

 

LSU’s relevance as an educational pillar in the South continued into the 1950s.  Prominent writers like Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren made the Baton Rouge campus a gathering place for major literary figures. The Southern Historical Association began publishing its Journal of Southern History as well as the highly respected Southern Review, all from LSU.  And the LSU Press became the publishing beacon for serious fiction and non-fiction rivaled only by the University of North Carolina Press.

 

Outstanding young academicians in a variety of fields were attracted to Baton Rouge, and the music department produced grand opera accompanied by its own symphony orchestra under directors of international acclaim.  The efflorescence of so much creative and academic talent drew praise for Louisiana nationwide.  But that was then. What happened in recent years that caused Louisiana State University to drop its mantle of excellence, not just nationally, but right here in the Deep South?

 

In the 60s, education became the key to survival for other southern states that did not have the huge reservoirs of oil and gas that was bountiful in Louisiana. Who cared about having a college degree when an oil field worker with a tenth grade education could make as much or more than many professionals with graduate degrees?  A college education became less relevant.  And that’s when politics came into the mix.

 

With the economy running on autopilot in Louisiana, and unemployment running way behind other southern states, the cry for keeping the flagship university strong fell on deaf ears.  Rural legislators were more concerned about beefing up local colleges to LSU status, and even building unneeded new colleges and trade schools.  And LSU became its own worst enemy by not aggressively making its case as to how critical a flagship university is to the economic well-being and future of a state

 

The leadership of LSU made three key mistakes that allowed it to fall into the fiscal abyss the university finds itself in today.  First, it did not aggressively defend and promote its status as the flagship of all colleges in the state.  I was around the state capitol as an elected official in various capacities through the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.  LSU was just one of the many education interests lobbying the legislature and the Governor.  The University’s leadership did not consider LSU in a unique category. They simply did not make their case as key universities in other states have done. 

 

The second mistake made by the LSU leadership was the failure to develop a solid endowment plan. The state’s flagship ranks near the bottom of all Southeast Conference schools.  US News and World Report recently released its annual university rankings.  How did LSU do?  It’s ranked a paltry 202^nd in the nation.

 

What the new LSU president will quickly find is that Louisiana is at a crossroads.  If the state’s leadership does not work to promote and protect a high degree of excellence at LSU, the best and the brightest students will leave the state for greener pastures, or settle for a less challenging education that will limit their opportunities in the future.  As James Carville recently said: “Half the crowd in Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night can’t even spell LSU.”  Dr. Rousse certainly has his work cut out for him.  Geaux new Tiger.

 

Peace and Justice.

 

Jim Brown

 

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownla.com.