Our Views: Foolish consistency of higher education cuts will be downfall of Louisiana colleges - the Advocate Editorial

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, but it will be a downfall of Louisiana’s universities struggling to drive economic and social growth in the Bayou State. The old maxim from Ralph Waldo Emerson came to mind after college officials appeared at a semi-annual assessment of their situations, before the House Appropriations Committee. The story, though, was exactly the foolish consistency of the State Capitol: Budget cuts instead of state support for higher learning. “This will be our 17th cut in nine-and-a-half years. I don't think any other state has seen anything of such consistency,” said LSU President F. King Alexander. A foolish consistency, in a state where our population is not well-educated to begin with, and the good jobs and resultant good wages of the 21st Century are heavily dependent on intellectual capacity instead of muscles at a wheel, or oil from the ground. http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/our_views/article_6f6415e4-2088-11e7-9a61-eb2fd031c1cb.html