While recent publicity about Louisiana State University’s
Baton Rouge campus lowering its admissions standards has
caught people’s attention, state universities doing this neither is new nor
may end with LSU.
LSU announced it would institute holistic admissions,
or removing fixed standardized test score minimum requirements, in favor of adding
in essays, recommendations, and potentially other inputs to make a decision on
admission. Designated as a “flagship” university according to the Board of
Regents, most students don’t receive consideration unless they score at least a
25 on the American College Test, although in some
circumstances that score can be as low as 22.
The institution can do this because it set its own
standards prior to the creation of the three-tiered
categorization system first implemented in 1990. The Regents wanted to give
each level its own distinct mission that would suit best the needs of students
at varying levels of development.
Louisiana environmentalist tinpot totalitarians got
a taste of their own aggressive medicine, and they didn’t like it.
Such individuals, operating through a group called
L'eau Est La Vie Camp, have run
afoul of a new law
that, under felony penalties, prevents interference with construction and
operation of pipelines. Utilizing the new statute, authorities have arrested a
baker’s dozen trying to obstruct building of the Bayou Bridge pipeline.
Along the way, some of those arrested may have
encountered government overreach. Some arrests, while legal, appear to have exceeded
a state mandate for personnel use, which caused the state to withdraw off-duty
law enforcement officials working on pipeline security. Others arrests may have
occurred on land where questions
have arisen about whether the builders have legal rights-of-way, which the
courts may have to sort out.
Political campaigning for elections later in the
year generally picks up after Labor Day. But, regardless of impending 2018 contests,
it appears some Louisiana
politicians have decided to beat the rush for 2019 and start more than a
year out.
In the case of Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards,
that’s an understatement. Edwards has run a perpetual campaign that never
stopped after his 2015 win. Trust him to take an issue no matter how unrelated
to his political fortunes and find a way to appropriate it to achieve his next
goal, in this case reelection.
Several states have launched investigations into
alleged coverups of patterns of abuse by Catholic priests and others associated
with the Church. In Louisiana, Republican Atty. Gen. Jeff Landry, in response to
queries, said his office did not have the authority to do such a thing until it
received a criminal complaint forwarded by a local law enforcement agency.
Why shouldn’t a local government just do it to strike
a blow against a culture of narcissism?
Last
week, in a move that doesn’t appear to have its origins in
publicity-seeking, Kenner Mayor Ben Zahn dispersed a memo to donors of apparel
and equipment for the city to use in parks and recreation. It requires city
approval of such items and bans outright anything from Nike.
While the letter doesn’t mention the event
specifically, recently the company started a marketing campaign honoring the 30th
anniversary of its “Just Do It” slogan. This featured one of its representatives
for the next several years, who will receive a reported tens of millions of
dollars million for his trouble: Colin Kaepernick, an ex-professional football
quarterback known for having one good season and a penchant for using the pregame
playing of the National Anthem as a prop to air personal grievances against his
country’s policies and political system.
