Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College (most often
referred to as Louisiana State University or LSU) is a public coeducational university
located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is
now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name Louisiana State Seminary of
Learning & Military Academy. The current LSU main campus was dedicated in 1926,
and consists of more than 250 buildings constructed in the style of Italian Renaissance
architect Andrea Palladio, and occupies a 650-acre (2.6 km²) plateau on the banks of
the Mississippi River.
LSU is the flagship institution of the Louisiana State University System, and the
largest institution of higher education in Louisiana in terms of student enrollment. In
2011, the University enrolled nearly 24,000 undergraduate and over 5,000 graduate
students in 14 schools and colleges. Several of LSU's graduate schools, such as the
E.J. Ourso College of Business and the Paul M. Hebert Law Center, have received
national recognition in their respective fields of study. Designated as a land-grant,
sea-grant and space-grant institution, LSU is also noted for its extensive research
facilities, operating some 800 sponsored research projects funded by agencies such as
the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the National
Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
LSU's athletics department fields teams in 21 varsity sports (9 men's, 12 women's),
and is a member of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) and the SEC
(Southeastern Conference). The University is represented by its mascot, Mike the
Tiger.
History
19th century
Louisiana State University Agricultural & Mechanical College had its origin in
several land grants made by the United States government in 1806, 1811, and 1827
for use as a seminary of learning. It was founded as a military academy and is still
today steeped in military tradition, giving rise to the school's nickname "The Ole War
Skule." In 1853, the Louisiana General Assembly established the Seminary of
Learning of the State of Louisiana near Pineville, Louisiana. The institution opened
January 2, 1860, with Colonel William Tecumseh Sherman as superintendent. A year
later, Sherman resigned his position after Louisiana became the sixth state to secede
from the Union, on January 26, 1861. The school was forced to close on June 30,
1861, with the start of the American Civil War. During the course of the war, the
University reopened briefly in April 1863, but was closed once again with the
invasion of the Red River Valley by the Union Army. The losses sustained by the
institution during the Union occupation were heavy, and after 1863 the seminary
remained closed for the remainder of the Civil War. Following the surrender of the
Confederates at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, General Sherman donated
two cannons to the institution. These cannons had been captured from Confederate
forces after the close of the war and had been used during the initial firing upon Fort
Sumter in April 1861. The cannons are still displayed in front of LSU's Military
Science building.
The seminary officially reopened its doors on October 2, 1865, only to be burned
October 15, 1869. On November 1, 1869, the institution resumed its exercises in
Baton Rouge, where it has since remained. In 1870, the name of the institution was
officially changed to Louisiana State University.
Louisiana State University Agricultural & Mechanical College was established by an
act of the legislature, approved April 7, 1874, to carry out the United States Morrill
Act of 1862, granting lands for this purpose. It temporarily opened in New Orleans,
June 1, 1874, where it remained until it merged with Louisiana State University in
1877. This prompted the final name change for the University to the Louisiana State
University and Agricultural & Mechanical College.
20th century
On June 7, 1925, Oscar B. Turner, a professor of agronomy, was murdered by an
axe-wielding assailant on campus.
On April 30, 1926, the present LSU campus was formally dedicated, following the
school's history at the federal garrison grounds (now the site of the state capitol)
where it had been located since 1886. Prior to this, LSU utilized the quarters of the
Institute for the Deaf, Mute, and Blind. Land for the present campus was purchased in
1918, construction started in 1922, and the move began in 1925; however, it was not
until 1932 that the move was finally completed. After some years of enrollment
fluctuation, student numbers began a steady increase, new programs were added,
curricula and faculty expanded, and a true state university emerged.
In 1928, LSU was a small-time country school that generated little interest or
attention in the state. Labeled a "third-rate" institution by the Association of State
Universities, the school had only 1800 students, 168 faculty members, and an annual
operating budget of $800,000. In 1930, Huey Pierce Long, Jr., the governor of
Louisiana, initiated a massive building program on campus to expand the physical
plant and add departments.
By 1936, LSU had the finest facilities in the South, a top-notch faculty of 394
professors, a new medical school, more than 6,000 students, and a winning football
team. In only eight years, it had risen in size from 88th in the nation to 20th, and it
was the 11th largest state university in the nation. Long financed these improvements
by arranging for the state to purchase acreage from the old LSU campus, which
adjoined the grounds of the new State Capitol building in downtown Baton Rouge. To
the consternation of his critics, Long essentially diverted $9 million for LSU's
expansion and increased the annual operating budget to $2.8 million.
LSU was hit by scandal in 1939 when James Monroe Smith, appointed by Huey Long
as president of LSU, was charged with embezzling a half-million dollars. In the
ensuing investigation, at least twenty state officials were indicted. Two committed
suicide as the scandal enveloped Governor Richard W. Leche, who received a 10-year
federal prison sentence as a result of a kickback scheme. Paul M. Hebert, Dean of
LSU's law school at the time, then assumed interim presidency in Smith's place.
During World War II, LSU was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that
took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to
a Navy commission.
Although some African-Americans students tried to enroll in LSU in 1946, the
university did not admit African-Americans until the 1950s. In 1953 A. P. Tureaud, Jr.
enrolled under court order, but his enrollment was cancelled when a higher court
overturned the ruling. His case was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Tureaud returned to LSU in 1956. A classroom building on the LSU campus is named
for his father, the late A. P. Tureaud, Sr., a noted Civil Rights leader. The federal
courts mandated full integration for LSU in 1964. The first African-American
graduate of the LSU Law School was New Orleans's first African-American mayor,
the late Ernest N. "Dutch" Morial.
In 1969, mandatory ROTC for freshmen and sophomores was abolished; however,
LSU continues to maintain Air Force and Army ROTC. In 1978, LSU was named a
sea-grant college, the 13th university in the nation to be so designated. In 1992, the
LSU Board of Supervisors approved the creation of the LSU Honors College.
21st century
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, LSU accepted an additional 2,300 displaced
students from the greater New Orleans area, such as Tulane University, Loyola
University New Orleans, Xavier University of Louisiana, and University of New
Orleans. In addition to accepting displaced students, university officials also took on
the challenge of housing and managing many hurricane victims, converting the Pete
Maravich Assembly Center into a fully functional field hospital. Around 3,000 LSU
students volunteered during the months after Katrina, assisting with the administration
of medical treatment to some 5,000 evacuees and screening another 45,000 for
various diseases.
In 2007, long-time LSU System president William Jenkins announced his retirement,
and John V. Lombardi was named his replacement. He was previously the president of
the University of Massachusetts Amherst and LSU rival University of Florida. The
current chancellor of LSU, Dr. Michael V. Martin, assumed chancellorship on August
1, 2008. Prior to his appointment as LSU's eighth chancellor, Dr. Martin had
established a distinguished career in higher education, serving most recently as
president of New Mexico State University.
Rankings
Louisiana State University is ranked 134th in the national universities category and
67th among public universities by the 2013 U.S. News & World Report ranking of
U.S. colleges. LSU is also ranked as the 179th best overall university in the nation by
Forbes magazine and is featured in the 2011 edition of Princeton Review's Best 371
Colleges guide. Additionally, U.S. News & World Report ranked LSU as the 16th
most popular university in the nation. LSU was listed for academic censure by the
national Association of University Professors for its alleged mistreatment of faculty
on June 16, 2012. Programs that have received recognition within LSU include the
following:
The E. J. Ourso College of Business has two professional programs ranked by U.S.
News & World Report: in 2008, the Public Affairs Institute ranked 57th nationally and
40th among public universities according to the magazine, and the Flores MBA
program was ranked 62nd nationally and 33rd among public universities. Additionally,
LSU students have won the International Student High Achievement Award, an
accolade given to students who score the highest possible score on the Certified
Internal Auditor (CIA) exam, seventeen times during the last twenty-one years.
In 2007, the Flores MBA Program was ranked seventh in the nation "for attracting
corporate MBA recruiters who recruit regionally" by the Wall Street Journal.
The LSU College of Engineering undergraduate program was ranked 85th by U.S.
News & World Report while the graduate program was ranked 90th.
The Paul M. Hebert Law Center is ranked as the 75th best law school in the nation by
the 2010 U.S. News Rankings of Best Law Schools.
In 2009, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked LSU among the top 12 Entrepreneurial
Colleges and Universities in the nation.
The University's Robert S. Reich School of Landscape Architecture was ranked No. 1
nationally in undergraduate and No. 2 in graduate programs by DesignIntelligence in
its 2011 and 2012 editions of "America's Best Architecture & Design Schools". The
journal has ranked the school in the top five since 2004.
The LSU College of Education graduate program was ranked 91st in the nation by
U.S. News & World Report.
The LSU French program, comprising the Department of French Studies and the
Center for French and Francophone Studies, is recognized by the Cultural Services
office of the French Ambassador to the United States as a centre d'excellence, an
honor given to only 15 university French programs in the United States, and is ranked
as one of the top 20 undergraduate French programs in the nation.
The LSU graduate program in fine arts is ranked 76th in the nation by U.S. News &
World Report.
The LSU graduate program in library and information studies is ranked 22nd in the
nation by U.S. News & World Report, tied with the programs at San Jose State
University, University of Alabama, and University of Oklahoma.