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note the timeline-they belong to a system similar to UAB.


http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/...rt_m-rpt-2

(12-10-2014 10:32 AM)anubus Wrote:  note the timeline-they belong to a system similar to UAB.


http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/...rt_m-rpt-2

I am afraid that is not true in several of ways: First UNO is no longer part of the LSU system. In 2011 it became part of the University of Louisiana System along with ULL (Lafayette) and and ULM (Monrow). In addition, since it officially became a separate campus rather than branch of LSU in 1963 and changed its name from LSUNO to the University of New Orleans, UNO enjoyed a degree of autonomy from the LSU campus which UAB has never had. And by the way, UNO did not "escape" form the LSU system in 2011, the LSU Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to allow UNO to move to the UL system. (Translation, UNO was not worth keeping.)

LSU does maintain a branch in New Orleans - LSU Health New Orleans - and that points out another major difference between UNO and UAB. The New Orleans branch of LSU is the site of one of LSU's two medical schools - the other being on its Baton Rouge campus. LSU has always maintain its medical schools under the control of its main campus. While the LSU medical schools don't enjoy the status or monitory income of UAB medical complex, UNO doesn't have the resources that UAB has on medical side of campus. Which leads to the next big difference between UNO and UAB.

UNO is a much poorer campus than UAB. It is located at the site of an old military base on the banks of Lake Pontchartrain. Consequently after Katrina used the waters of the lake to severely damage UNO's infrastructure, the University never fully recovered and its situation has recently been getting worse, not better.

Conclusion: UAB and UNO have virtually nothing in common except that they both began as branches their state's "flag ship" university system.

If you what a better comparison to the UAB-UA situation in the State of Louisiana, that would be the relationship between ULL - Louisiana Lafayette (where I got my undergraduate degree) and LSU, though the universities are not in the same system. The controlling element is not system control, but political power.

Now that's pretty interesting. Both UNO and UAB are victims of bullying, but in one case the bully is part of the same system, while in the other it's not. Nevertheless, it seems like both situations would benefit from an overarching, impartial UNC-style Public University System Board of Trustees, which would govern every 4+-year public institution in the state.

After Katrina, UNO was a basket-case. Never mind athletics, the mere existence of the university in any shape or form was very much an open question. (And to be sure, Tulane had to face that question, as well, albeit in a stronger position)

When I heard the announcement that UNO was dropping to Division III, it never crossed my mind that this decision could be revisited or changed. I was stunned when it was changed, and that can give hope to UAB fans now. Because I assure you, the financial condition of UNO athletics (circa 2007) was far, FAR worse than the financial condition of UAB's football program circa 2014.

I don't see UNO as a university that has been a victim of bullying. New Orleans, at least before Katrina, had too much political power for that to happen. UNO just never had the resources available to UAB. It was the City of New Orleans that insisted that UNO be fairly independent from LSU nearly from the start. On the other hand, UAB does not enjoy that kind of political power.