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THE FAULTY FLORIDA COMPARISON

In a thoughtful article concerning an uncertain future for higher education (“An Educated Guess,” September issue), Business Report substantively explored new and longstanding challenges facing Louisiana colleges and universities. As the future of work arrives more rapidly and disruptively than predicted, a renewed focus on the enterprise that will ensure the competitiveness and resilience of Louisiana and her people is deeply appreciated. Unfortunately, it took only until paragraph three for the mythical Florida comparison to make an appearance.

Serious policy conversations are necessary to drive progress, but too often they result in change without progress due to faulty assumptions and misinformation. Louisiana does have four systems of higher education. These four management boards, made up of 60 gubernatorial appointees and five students, manage the operations and shape the strategic direction of their member institutions. Florida institutions are managed by 40 boards made up of 262 gubernatorial appointees, 60 appointees of the Board of Governors (Florida’s version of the Board of Regents), 12 faculty, and 12 students. Summarizing the math: Louisiana institutions are managed by four boards with 65 members; Florida institutions are managed by 40 boards with 346 members.

Even the number of institutions, a seemingly straightforward measure of comparison, is incomplete. The state university system in Florida does have 12 member institutions. Almost always left out of the comparison is the membership of the Florida College System. Of that system’s 28 members, 23 have been converted to state colleges offering bachelor’s degrees to meet demands of state and regional economies. Thirty-five public colleges and universities in Florida offer four-year degrees, not 12.

There is a different comparison to Florida that strikes my interest.

When the 87th U.S. Congress gaveled into session in January 1961, eight seats were filled by representatives from Florida and eight were filled with representatives from Louisiana. When the 117th Congress convenes this coming January, 27 members will hail from Florida while just six represent our beloved state. What are the differences in vision, in policy decisions, in economic competitiveness strategies, in taxpayer investments that led to such a staggering difference in relative growth over the past 60 years? That conversation is much more difficult and complex than our standard superficial focus on structure, but it is the only conversation that will enable us to realize the promise of Louisiana that has eluded us for generations.

Louisiana, in many ways, can tell an extraordinary higher education success story. After nearly a decade of drastic disinvestment, we are graduating more students who are better prepared for life and career success. Our faculty are leading groundbreaking research in areas ranging from the detection of gravitational waves to the discovery of the antibiotic qualities of alligator blood. We are driving economic competitiveness, adding to the body of knowledge, and improving the human condition at a scale far beyond what our resources should allow. We can waste time reflecting on what could have been, we can pursue structural red herrings, or we can get serious about the work necessary to create a Louisiana worthy of her people. I, for one, prefer the latter, and I look forward to engaging with you in that conversation. James Henderson, president, University of Louisiana System

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