It was disheartening to read R. Reese Fuller's article "Museum Meltdown" (Nov. 23). I am perplexed that the Sheltons found reason to doubt Herman Mhire's ability to organize exhibitions. I can't imagine that these local collectors were unaware of Mhire's track record in organizing exhibitions and important cultural events such as Festival International.
I'm also baffled that the university administration has allowed the loss of a talented faculty member whose years of accomplishments have long benefited the university and the community. How often do faculty earn the distinction of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters from the French government? It looks like a bad precedent is about to be set by caving in to the pressures exerted by collectors who attempt to direct museum affairs and disregard exhibition contracts.
The whole scenario reads like a case study straight out of a museum management course I took in graduate school. I suggest the following reading material: the Smithsonian Institution Press publication, Museum Governance: Mission, Ethics, Policy by Marie C. Malaro. I strongly recommend it for Dr. Authement and associated administrators, the museum staff (professionals need to brush up from time to time) and the governing board, for it will empower them as museum advocates.
In six years that I was assistant to Mhire, grant deadlines were met, exhibitions were budgeted responsibly and sponsorships designed with the goal of providing visitors the highest quality museum experience. The students of UL could take pride in the fact that tuition fees for the museum were dedicated solely to exhibitions. With full exhibition schedules in both Fletcher Hall and the former foundation building, there was absolutely no time for petty interferences to distract from the mission and goals of the museum.
As I see it, the future of the University Art Museum could be instrumental in Louisiana's recovery, as arts and culture are already poised to lead the way. There is much work to be done. I hope the university administration will allow the museum's governing board to embrace that opportunity.
MAY 24 Blogger Robert Mann posts this entry about the Baton Rouge Chamber's recent report on Louisiana's higher education system. It's critical to economic development, and yet our system is facing a "funding crisis" with no way to resolve it, the report says. The Chamber says control of tuition and fees must be returned to the higher ed governing boards.
MAY 24 Here's a NBC33 story about Tyrann Mathieu. He has signed with the Arizona Cardinals, inking a $3 million, four-year deal. He gets a signing bonus of $265K, but gets another, larger bonus if he doesn't get cut from the team for doing drugs. The deal reportedly includes mandatory tests and meetings for the player.
MAY 24 Jarvis DeBerry posts here about the redonkulus rhetoric that would have us believe NOLA is a safe city with a murder problem. Maybe the city's crime stats don't compare with its murder stats because you can't manipulate a murder, he says: a dead body's a dead body. It just doesn't make sense, he says, and his readers agree: a poll asks if they believe the city is safe, and more than 90 percent say no.
MAY 24 Jindal administration officials announced Thursday that the privatization of public health care is going to cost a lot more than they budgeted for, the Advocate reports here. "I'm so surprised," said no one. Anywhere. The cost they're projecting now is more than $1 billion - a lot more than the $626 million budgeted for it. And, it's more than it cost the state to operate those hospitals. So why are we doing this again?
MAY 24 Blogger CB Forgotston ridicules the recent PR campaign by the state GOP in the wake of a legislative auditor's request to both major parties. The GOP (apparently unaware that the Dems got the same request) started yammering about being targeted because it had "killed" a tax increase. CB finds that laughable, but it's also pretty funny that the GOP was comparing this episode to the IRS scandal (Because the President has so much to do with our state auditor. Right?).
MAY 24 Politico details some recent fund-raising efforts by Sen. David Vitter, which have raised the question of his future political plans. This time, it is a $5,000 per head "bayou weekend" that includes "Cajun cooking" and an all-caps "alligator hunt," the story reports. Funds raised go to a super PAC that can spend money to support Vitter in federal or state races, the story points out.
MAY 24 The pink building on Royal in the quarter was sold at a sheriff's sale Thursday, this Picayune story reports. An injunction that would have halted the sale wasn't enforced because the family failed to post a $150,000 bond, the story reports. So the owner of the mortgages on the building bought it, for nearly $7 million. Now the feuding family will have to negotiate with that company to get a lease on the building that has housed their business for close to 60 years.
MAY 23 This post in Louisiana Voice tells us about a bill by a Winnsboro lege that would require all public high school students to take at least one Course Choice online class in order to graduate. (What?) Blogger Tom Aswell says it's a monument to "waste and corruption," especially in light of the problems he's exposed with the program in recent weeks. Idaho had a similar program, but voters removed it by a 2-1 margin, Aswell says.
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