LSU to Abandon Educational Mission;
Will Focus on Core Business of Football
The Tiger Band: Music-Related Football Support Services
“Our education operations have been a drag on our growth for a long time,” said Chancellor Martin.
“This move will allow us to focus exclusively on what’s always been our core business: football, football-related services, and the licensing of football-related products.”
“The Board of Regents is united in its belief that this new, single focus the best way to accomplish this institution’s three goals: to win SEC and National Championships, to grow broadcast and merchandise revenue, and, finally, to educate the citizens of Louisiana,” Martin said.
The announcement came as no surprise to many observers.
“LSU has literally been a Football Factory for years now,” said economist and higher education analyst Brent Skogins. “They’re just finally admitting what everybody’s been whispering for years.”
The plan calls for the University’s education assets and operations will be split up.
Liberal Arts programs have been sold to The University of New Orleans (UNO), a smaller institution eager to expand its footprint into Baton Rouge. The new institution will be called The University of Baton Rouge at New Orleans (UBRNO).
All of LSU’s former science and technical education operations will now be operated by The Shaw Group on behalf of Kellogg, Brown and Root, a division of Halliburton. The job was awarded after a no-bid contract.
LSU Provost Dr. Astrid Merget will oversee the transition.
“There will be minimal disruption of student classroom services because, to be frank, there really wasn’t a whole lot happening in that regard in the first place,” said Dr. Merget.
“Those students that do actually go to class should notice no difference.”
When asked how this move will affect the value of existing degrees of alumni in the job market, Dr. Merget was more circumspect:
“Pretty much all our grads talk about in job interviews is football, so the value of the actual degree wasn’t that important,” she said. “If you attended every home game during the course of your four years, you’re pretty much getting all that we could offer as an institution.”
Let’s be fair,” she added. “We’re no Delgado.”
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DA Haberdashery
Remember Eddie Jordan’s signature black derby?
With the DA spot newly filled, The Creole-Tomato polled its readers to find out what ridiculous item of haberdashery should accompany the new Top Prosecutor.
Hey – Let’s be fair – it’s not only Football, LSU will keep its Music Program intact too – why you ask – you can start by thanking the government and the likes of “Huey Long” –
The following tidbits are from an article compiled by LSU Director of Bands, Frank B. Wickes -
THE MARCHING TIGERS
A Brief Look at Over 100 Years of the LSU Tiger Band, “The Golden Band from Tigerland”
. Louisiana’s famous populist Governor Huey P. Long took a personal interest in the LSU Band in the early 1930’s… Long’s plan was to make LSU one of the country’s greatest universities. This included making the band “second to none.”
. In addition to importing Castro Carazo (orchestra leader at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans), as the new bandmaster in 1934, Long supervised many aspects of the band’s image and life. He saw to it that the football band traded in its military dress for a more showy stadium look.
. A self styled songwriter, Long co-wrote with Director Carazo several of LSU’s songs, most notably “Touchdown for LSU, “The LSU Cadets March” and “Darling of LSU.” “Touchdown” is still the predominant song in the band’s famed pre-game show in Tiger Stadium.
. It was Long who introduced the LSU bands to its current colors, purple and gold. Thanks to Long’s determination to have the biggest and the best in the land, the band soon numbered nearly 250 and was indeed one of the country’s largest.
. As intent on showmanship as he was size, Long encouraged the football band to become more dazzling. Halftime shows soon won LSU the nickname “The Show Band of the South.”
. Long’s assassination in the fall of 1935 would cut short his budding love affair with the LSU band, but thanks to the impeccable style and musicality of Carazo, the band enjoyed a period of unmatched evolution and fame.
. And now – in addition to network regular season and post-season television broadcasts, it has made appearances in Mardi Gras parades, at NFL games (most recently many years for the New Orleans Saints), at Walt Disney World and Universal Studios, high school marching festivals, and in the 1988 Warner Brothers film, “Everybody’s All-American.” (about LSU’s only Heisman Trophy Winner, Billy Cannon)
. In 2002 the LSU Tiger Marching Band received the Sudler Trophy, the “Heisman Trophy of college marching bands,” as they were voted the best college marching band in the country. As goodwill ambassadors for the University and State of Louisiana, the Tiger Band is unequaled.
submitted by Lucky Jones, an Arts and Culture Researcher
Comment by Lucky Jones — October, 2008 @ 6:12 am