An undercurrent of uncertainty ebbs and flows quietly beneath the surface as students return to campus to begin the 2010 spring semester. Legislators continue to slash funding for the state’s universities because Louisiana’s higher education isn’t protected by the state constitution. A recommendation that has gained some proponents involves merging the state’s universities management boards. But the pursuit of excellence within Louisiana State University, which needs to be our primary focus, will be hampered by such a merger. ‘You have a chance to make Louisiana State University into a world-class research university,’ said Louisiana Postsecondary Education Review Commission member David Longanecker of Colorado in The Advocate last week. He contends that lumping LSU with the other universities, such as University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Southern University, Louisiana Tech and UNO, which have been technically classified as research universities, risks jeopardizing LSU’s potential. This merging of university management boards would take a constitutional amendment to achieve. Instead, Congress needs to amend the constitution to protect the funding for higher education. LSU Chancellor Michael Martin said that, in addition to raising tuition and fees, it is necessary that LSU increase private funding and ‘become more entrepreneurial,’ reports The Advocate earlier this month. This may be necessary in light of such drastic budget cuts, but the repercussions extend beyond the source of funding. Introducing academic capitalism into the system threatens academic freedom. ‘Academic freedom means that faculty have the right to determine research and curriculum, to share one’s research with others freely, to express one’s views without fear of being fired,’ writes Mary Nolan, Professor of History at New York University in her paper ‘American Academic Capitalism at Home and Abroad.’ The funding of research through private sources opens the door for third party (corporate or other special interest organizations) influence over research and curriculum. This strikes at the heart of academic freedom jeopardizing free thought, creativity and innovation. Nolan writes ‘corporate funding of research … enhances the prestige of some disciplines and fields and diminishes that of others.’ It also ‘destroys the ‘intellectual commons,’ which is built on the principle that knowledge is public and should be shared.’ And it ‘alters the meaning of academic freedom.’ The need for private funds also presents the potential for special interests groups to influence curriculum. Brigitte Gabriel, author of ‘Because They Hate,’ writes that numerous schools (UC Berkeley, Harvard and Georgetown to name a few), both public and private, have received funding from Saudis with terrorist ties. Gabriel writes that these same schools have allowed anti-Semitic and anti-American teachings as well as ‘terrorist propaganda.’ To top it all off, many instructors’ jobs are on the line. This will permanently damage our University, setting us back decades and removing any hope of gaining national prominence anytime in the near future. These issues should concern our legislators and our governor, Bobby Jindal, who claims his No. 1 priority is the economic development of the great state of Louisiana. Economic development and academic excellence go hand in hand. If a prosperous, high-tech economy is created, but the condition of the state’s higher education is neglected, it will be impossible to supply the educated personnel necessary to sustain it. Forcing our public universities to raise private funds forces them to act as corporations. They must create an image they can market, focus on tuition increases and seek funding from private resources which will ultimately have a voice in what should be researched. Lumping LSU together with the other so-called research universities in the State of Louisiana will leave us with five sub-par research universities which will garner no respect. If LSU is allowed to continue on it’s path to excellence, Louisiana will be able to claim an institution worthy of international acclaim. But this can only be achieved if the politicians — who are so busy protecting their own wallets – realize the importance of protecting this University and refrain from forcing academic capitalization and mediocrity for all. — Nathan Shull is a 35-year-old finance junior from Seattle.’ Follow him on Twitter @TDR_nshull or e-mail him at [email protected]