(09-07-2016 12:11 PM)eager eagle Wrote: (09-06-2016 10:26 PM)techdawg88 Wrote: hey look everybody, EE got a new profile
No, not EE. If it had been me I would have suggested that Grambling be included since they are only five miles from Tech. Close both Grambling and Tech and move it all from the country into the city, Monroe. You would have tv stations, airport, and other amenities not available in the small towns of Ruston and Grambling. Call it U of North La or whatever. Initial full time enrollment would be around 15,000 and grow it from there.
Now EE, we've been reading your posts for a long time. You would NOT have said combine Grambling and Tech, because you're smarter than that. You're trying to jab Tech fans. You have regularly talked about the politics of Louisiana, so YOU KNOW that ANY effort to remove or diminish Grambling's status as an HBCU would NEVER happen.
Besides being a political stick of dynamite, the missions of the 2 universities are completely different. Tech is a National Research University, legislated by the state of Louisiana as a "Statewide" Doctoral university. Grambling is a regional, masters school. But, like I said, you KNOW this.
I also think it is a legitimate question about Tech and ULM. Contrary to what you may read or hear, we don't all hate them. Truth is, most of us in north Louisiana have family members who either went to school at both, or the other. When we talk about bad blood -- it's more of a family thing, so it doesn't really count, at least to me. I don't LOVE them, but I am enough of a business person to realize what they mean to our regional economy.
Several years ago, under a different president, it was being talked...apparently OFTEN...about Tech consolidating with ULM. ULM was a hot mess. They barely had enough money to keep the parking lot lights on...and that is no exaggeration. That once proud institution was literally on the verge of bankruptcy. If a consolidation or merger could have taken place, THAT was the time to do it...(around 1998-2005).
There were/are programs at ULM that TECH would benefit greatly from, and vice-versa. The problems that you would run into again are political in the 1998-2005 scenario, the conventional wisdom would state that Tech takes over ULM, ULM becomes Louisiana Tech-Monroe. Enter Nick Bruno as President of ULM in 2010. Dr. Bruno, whom I know to be a good guy, has done a great job with the pile of crap he was handed...and the school in Monroe is turning around under his leadership. The campus looks better than it has in many years, and a pride is returning to their students and alumni that has been sorely missing for years. I truly am happy to see the turnaround.
The only way a merger or consolidation would happen is if it were forced by the state, and I don't see that happening...because of Louisiana politics...2 chickens in every pot, ya know!