Publisher: LSU can best its national competitors—in academics and football

When Jeff Selingo, editorial director of The Chronicle of Higher Education and author of the forthcoming book The Future of Higher Education, visited Baton Rouge recently to speak to the LSU Board of Supervisors about trends in higher education and inevitable changes on the horizon, it conjured up the image of Paul Revere in the mind of board member and Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister. Selingo rode into town with “insights … and warnings,” writes McCollister in his latest column. “He claimed higher education nationally is paying the price for the mistakes it made in what he calls the industry’s ‘lost decade,’ from 1999 to 2009,” McCollister says. “He said, while higher ed grew and flourished, it failed to prepare for the change ahead—including less government funding and less resources for families—and did not embrace technology, which stood ready to help. Selingo said, ‘Instead, colleges continued to focus on their unsustainable model, assuming little would change.'” McCollister says LSU is not immune to the challenges, but he believes it can meet and beat them. “The challenges we face are not going away, and no one is going to fix the situation for us. We must act. And that will require leadership, open minds, bold ideas, best practices, objective data, political will, and a decision to let go of the past and look forward,” McCollister says. “We can have a flagship system that can compete to win just like our No. 1-ranked LSU Tigers.” Read the full column here; send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.