Update: 'Ole college try' comes up short before regents
A group of supporters of the philosophy degree program at UL Lafayette failed to sway the Board of Regents to reverse its decision to eliminate the program today. The students and supporters boarded a bus this morning in the Oil Center for the journey east. Senior philosophy major Anna Beggs delivered a five-minute pitch to the board on behalf of the program
UL’s philosophy program was one of several in the University of Louisiana system eliminated in April by the board, which cited a low completion rate. A handful of other degree programs at UL are now in a three-year probation period.
"It has been a low completer for a long time," Beggs acknowledges, "but one of the mistakes that the board is making is that the enrollment in the philosphy program is now at an all-time high. So we have been recruiting many more students. And now that the program has been eliminated, no more philosphy majors can join. That's what we're really upset about."
Beggs and fellow philosphy major Laurie Guilbeau, also a senior, say the regents were cordial and listened attentively to the presentation. According to Beggs, the thurst of the regents' response was that they felt overwhelming pressure to eliminate the program due to system-wide budget cuts called for by Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration.
More than 430 people have joined a Facebook group — Bring Back the UL Lafayette Philosophy Program — to share ideas on how to save the program and to offer mutual support. As it stands now, the UL philosophy program is on a morphine drip that will expire in four years. After that, no more philosophy degrees. But Beggs is hopeful the program can be revived."Especially if we keep on showing interest and taking progressive action to keep it a topic," she says, "then hopefully they can't ignore us for too long."
... written by Fred Nietzsche , May 28, 2009 - 06:34 pm
To forget one's purpose (the Board of Regents in this case) is the commonest form of stupidity.
... written by Jason D. Faulk , May 28, 2009 - 10:48 pm
As Nietzche has indicated, the Board has lost sight of it's purpose in enabling our education to be one consistent with enlightened, intelligent, critical thought.
For too long, classical (liberal) education has endured a specialization process, still underway, which has removed the common knowledge of civilization from many who do go to colleges and universities.
This program MUST be restored and strengthened through increased curriculum requirements university wide, in order for our respectable standing to be maintained and strengthened as an institution we hope to be.
One other culprit in these matters are the professional ratings boards of colleges and universities, which somewhat dogmatically, in their thirst for progress, have changed the standards most member institutions adhere to.
This problem is not unlike that of any group-think in place at any professional association that has ties to governmental process and it's resultant policy-making apparatus. Such as the new urbanists encountered with the Planning profession and the traffic engineering and other development professions, group think informs staff members and appointed commissions, which recommend actions to the policy makers, who then dictate regulation, law, etc. That is why for 20 years now, urbanists have clawed at renewing these institutions from within.
The education apparatus needs a fresh look at the goals of civilizations versus the goals of economy. These goals are not inconsistent, though, many think them to be, resulting in the short-sighted decision such as that to chop the UL Philosophy program. As planners have re-discovered, good planning is good economy. Similar is true for education, and any area of activity in our lives. As Paul Connett commented, the end result of all our activities is not about one's standard of living, but instead what your quality of life is going to be.
... written by Put Your Money Up , May 29, 2009 - 01:10 pm
Ok. If you think the Board should keep the UL Philosophy program, then put up your money and regester to pursue the degree.
The program has not been graduating enough people to warrent keeping it, especially considering...newsflash...state revenues are down because we are in a recession.
If you want to put up the extra money, by all means, please do. Enough of my hard-earned income already goes to D.C. and Baton Rouge.
... written by Put Your Money Up is a Genius , May 29, 2009 - 06:28 pm
Yeah! What HE said! Why should we let our hard-earned money go to support our state's educational infrastructure? I don't know about you guys, but Louisiana will be -MUCH- better off if we cut education out of our tax dollars altogether. I mean, pull yourselves up with your bootstraps, people! You don't need "teachers" to get educated. You don't need "universities" and "schools" for that-- do it yourself on the interweb! We will all be -MUCH- better off when, 20 years from now, we have a strong, vibrant workforce of self-taught citizens. Oh man, I can't wait for that glorious improvement for the state...
... written by Information , May 29, 2009 - 08:58 pm
Nobody has said to completely cut tax dollars from higher ed. Educate yourself.
Higher ed funding has increased 41% from 2000-2008, while student enrollement has dropped.
Universities have continued to increase their staffs and expenses. Now we're in a recession, and the higher ed boards want to deny the LA taxpayers a tax break that was promised last year so THEY don't have to make budget adjustment like every other working family.
... written by Show me the money... , May 30, 2009 - 04:16 pm
I challenge the Board of Regents to show exactly how much money cutting just the UL Lafayette Philosophy program is saving. My instinct is that they can't.
... written by .... , May 31, 2009 - 04:23 am
actually, student enrollment at ULL has increased since 2000. and any increases in funding during that time should not be seen as gifts bestowed upon the universities as much as a modest attempt by the legislature to -begin- to make the universities nationally competitive (and thus, competitive for our students). but no competitive university lacks a philosophy department. it will take much more money to restart the department 10 years from now, when the legislature realizes the error made in 2009, than it will beneficially glean from this cut. but who says the legislature and governor jindal don't care about education for Louisianans? i think they just approved a 200 million dollar expenditure to go to ULL and LSU's new creationism departments... Or was that for the departments of exorcism studies?
... written by Info , May 31, 2009 - 08:28 pm
College student enrollment state-wide has dropped over the last couple of years. UL-Lafayette may have increased, and that's good, but overall, we don't need to keep increasing funds to higher ed at the rates of 8 and 10% each year.
We should explore reducing the number of government-funded universities. There is no rhyme or reason for Louisiana to have the number of public universities as it currently does. Cut a few out, and the current "cuts" to higher ed may not even amount to cuts at all.
You must be logged in to post a comment. Log in using your Facebook account or register if you do not have an account yet.
David Calhoun and Elizabeth “EB” Brooks are the first two employees of Lafayette Central Park Inc., the nonprofit charged with turning Lafayette Consolidated Government’s 100-acre Johnston Street Horse Farm property into a passive public park. Calhoun was named executive director, and Brooks is director of planning and design.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
A group of supporters of the philosophy degree program at UL Lafayette failed to sway the Board of Regents to reverse its decision to eliminate the program today. The students and supporters boarded a bus this morning in the Oil Center for the journey east. Senior philosophy major Anna Beggs delivered a five-minute pitch to the board on behalf of the program
Subscribe to this comment's feed