The New York Times
By Mark Emmert
Tonight, the victor of the Sugar Bowl will win the Bowl Championship Series title. Both teams vying for the title are Southern universities: Oklahoma and Louisiana State. While the nation enjoys the performance of these two fine teams, appreciation for their athletic talents will mask a contrary and frustrating perception. Far too many Americans believe that Southern universities are more interested in football or basketball than in literature or physics. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The nation as a whole seems to associate Southern universities only with athletic prowess, while academic triumphs are played down or ignored. Certainly, those of us at Southern universities revel in the accomplishments of our student-athletes. But our open enthusiasm for sports should not be confused with misplaced priorities. Our real source of pride is the scholarly performance of our students and our faculty.
It may not show up on a scoreboard, but at L.S.U., for example, we are delighted that the renowned astrophysicist Ed Seidel and his team of international colleagues have joined our campus to lead a bold new information technology initiative. More than likely, tomorrow's headlines will not announce that L.S.U.'s coastal science and engineering program is the envy of many or that our Honors College has been consistently viewed as one of the best of its kind.
Neither would I expect a rush to report that L.S.U. is one of the leading producers of African-American Ph.D. recipients in chemistry and English, nor that in the next several years the university plans to add 150 faculty members. In recent years, many Southern institutions have made dramatic strides.
At L.S.U., our contributions to the arts include one of the best college music programs in the nation, and a stunning new center for the visual and performing arts will soon open. The National Endowment for the Humanities has chosen L.S.U. to begin an interdisciplinary program that explores medieval and Renaissance studies. And, our academic success stretches across all disciplines and fields of study.
Despite these accomplishments, a curious bias regarding Southern universities results in the underestimation of our academic performance, even as our strengths in intercollegiate athletics are heralded. It is true that Southern universities have steeper hills to climb than do our colleagues in other regions. The South still suffers from lower per capita incomes and weaker systems of K-12 education. Historically, student preparation and university graduation rates have lagged behind the rest of the nation.
But here at L.S.U., and elsewhere, that is changing rapidly.
Students now choosing to attend L.S.U. have academic backgrounds that are very competitive with their national peers, as is their performance in the classroom. Our students compete with great success for national honors and admission to the finest graduate programs. Faculty research funding rose 22 percent last year alone. And, while most public universities have suffered consecutive years of budget cuts and retrenchment, in Louisiana we have been increasing funds to higher education (from $575.6 million in 1992-93 to $1.055 billion in 2002-3). This has allowed L.S.U. to significantly raise faculty pay, add professorial positions and build facilities.
Our commitment to academic success is making a difference in the sports arena as well. Recognizing that student-athlete graduation rates, particularly among football and basketball players, are not what we desire, L.S.U. two years ago invested in a new academic support center and recruited an academic staff that is arguably the finest in the nation. Moreover, our head football coach, Nick Saban, placed emphasis on recruiting players with the character and the ambition to be successful in class and in life, as well as in football.
While the long-term academic results are yet to accrue, one immediate impact was the recruitment of the highest-ranked freshman class in the nation. Four organizations, including Official College Sports Network, cited the pre-eminence of L.S.U.'s class of 2006; nearly all these student-athletes referred to L.S.U.'s commitment to academic support as critical to their decision.
Good evidence suggests that the rest of the nation is now beginning to notice the academic achievements of L.S.U. and other Southern universities. Increasing numbers of students from the Midwest and the North are choosing to attend our universities. Teachers are eager to join our academic communities. This year Newsweek listed L.S.U. as one of the nation's 12 "hot schools." Clearly, we are starting to impress the country with more than our enthusiasm for football.Mark A. Emmert is the chancellor of Louisiana State University.
Publish Date:
01-04-2004
