Since September 2005 much of our time has been spent trying to persuade the UL administration to conduct a search for a highly qualified director who will have authority to direct museum activities in accordance with American Association of Museums accreditation guidelines. The Independent Weekly brings out our basic disagreement with Dr. Authement's plan to appoint Mark Tullos as director and to search for a curator, who in effect, becomes deputy director ("Artistic Differences," Dec. 27).
Before anyone is appointed director, it seems reasonable to conduct a search for the best qualified person. We maintain that Tullos (who does not have a master's degree) should submit his application to the search committee.
We see the museum poised at a critical crossroads. Our world-class facility received the highest awards for design from the American Institute of Architects. We have a vibrant culture and many public-spirited and open-minded citizens who would support the activities of a first-rate museum, one that provides the community with a dynamic, creative environment and innovative programs. Conversely, we in Louisiana are known for our cultural resources, but also for taking them for granted. Are we going to continue in some self-defeating political struggle over the future of the museum?
Curator's Circle realizes it is a private citizen's group with no authority over how the museum is managed, and we respect Authement's responsibilities as president of the university. Furthermore, we remain committed to supporting the museum. However, we are perplexed by actions such as Tullos's refusal to accept our check to purchase 50 paid-in-full family memberships for the members of Curator's Circle. Considering, as The Independent states, that only $78,000 was pledged to the museum in 2006 ' only a small percentage of the annual amount needed to service the debt on the building ' one would think any purchase of memberships would be welcome.
When will the university wake up? Our prized jewel of a museum isn't being handled like the gem that it is. There is good reason why, for the past 18 months, Paul Hilliard hasn't stepped inside the museum that he and his late wife made possible for Louisiana. Certainly, it is a subject for the UL Foundation Board and Board of Regents to discuss.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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