Administrators proposed “cutting” $1.53 million from the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student Athletes in mid-July as part of the projected cuts for the 2011-12 fiscal year.
 
This tremendous sum to be removed is the epitome of the “bass-ackward” logic applied to education around here.
 
If you’re “on my side” because I’m calling out those dreadful politicians for continuously chipping away from the peak of education in our state, then you should calm down.
 
I’m not there — yet.
 
Take another look at the actual numbers and the “victims” of this deep cut. That $1.53 million would be taken from the Cox Center. Yes, that’s right, about $3,060 would be taken from each of the roughly 500 student-athletes on campus.
 
While that sounds bad, it must be nice to have the chance to have an extra $3,060 to be cut from your budget to begin with.
 
This gratuitous amount of money designated for special treatment of athletes is only one side of the appalling coin. Reading the rest of the cells in the spreadsheet, you can discover the disgusting reality.
 
The money would be cut from the school’s budget of state funding. But it’s OK, everyone. Big Brother, the Athletic Department, is going to pick up the tab so our mediocre multitude of competitors can get their tutoring to avoid the ghastly fate suffered by athletes like Bo Spencer, who lost his spot on the men’s basketball team because of academic problems.
 
Basically, the University originally had that $1.53 million invested to ensure the existence of “an all-inclusive student-centered support structure for all student athletes from matriculation through graduation and life beyond.”
 
But what happens now when LSU can’t afford the pricey academic life vest for the athletes?
 
Instead of student-athletes choosing to sink or swim like the other students who have to study or fail, the Athletic Department tossed them their original option — floating in the $3,060 life vest.
 
With state budget cuts to education and the tough economic times, how could any department of state education just pick up an unplanned expense of that magnitude?
 
The trick to avoid losing money from the state is easy — not receiving money from the state in the first place. Nope, there are no loopholes or wordy, legal explanations. The trick lies in the diction.
 
The Athletic Department is part of LSU, but the Tiger Athletic Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation “dedicated to supporting LSU and its Athletic Program.”
 
Don’t let the mission statement fool you. TAF’s non-athletic contributions to the University come to a total of $292,679, which is an average of $10.46 per student. Compared to the multiple millions of dollars moving around in TAF, this seems quite miniscule.
 
Of course we shouldn’t expect TAF to absorb all of the school’s budget cuts or to alleviate the costs of academia for every student at the University. But at what point does LSU lose its authority over the Athletic Department?
 
One defense of TAF is the University has one of few athletic departments that doesn’t take money from the state while contributing to the school.
 
Even if TAF didn’t exist, there would still be thousands of LSU fans willing to donate money to LSU athletics.
 
The “catch-22” lies in TAF’s independence. In stable economic times, TAF thrives and drives the success of LSU sports. But when the school has its feet cut off, fans still donate millions of dollars to TAF — not the University falling over its own bloody stumps.
 
The University fights to maintain its faculty, staff and facilities with its resources dwindling because the state government doesn’t actually value postsecondary education enough to protect it in the state constitution. In the meantime, TAF, which can’t exist without the University, avoids the heavy-hitting cuts suffered by its host because of its independence.
 
Clearly the lukewarm football team, ice-cold basketball team and all the other sports are too important to hinder those students’ education, yet the rest of the student body suffers at the hands of incompetent politicians.
 
Matt Lousteau is a 21-year-old mechanical engineering senior from LaPlace. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_mlousteau.
 
 
 
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Contact Matt Lousteau at [email protected]