Maybe a different approach .. hit SC where it hurts

[RobertM320]

Everyone seems to think that Cowen's main interest is getting students to come to Tulane and do community service work. Maybe instead of fighting on the athletic front, we go after the academic end. Maybe its time we start posting on websites where high school juniors and seniors would go to get information on prospective colleges. We make a point of giving them the real facts..that the community service is all for the ego of the president, and they will have no true collegiate experience at Tulane because of the private agenda of the president. Don't outright lie, but slant it to paint a picture of a not so inviting college experience. Expose his "Tulane has the most applications" schtick and explain its only because kids can apply for free and use it as a fallback option. Just some things like that to give pause when making a choice.

My concern would be, would we then be doing real harm to our University? But is it any worse than what he's doing?

[RWR]

6 out of 7 students accepted choose to go elsewhere. Nuff said.

[RobertM320]

6 out of 7 students accepted choose to go elsewhere. Nuff said.

RWR,

You may just have hit on something. Wouldn't that be a great catchphrase? "85% of Students Accepted at Tulane choose to go elsewhere. Think about it."

[HoustonWave]

Everyone seems to think that Cowen's main interest is getting students to come to Tulane and do community service work. Maybe instead of fighting on the athletic front, we go after the academic end. Maybe its time we start posting on websites where high school juniors and seniors would go to get information on prospective colleges. We make a point of giving them the real facts..that the community service is all for the ego of the president, and they will have no true collegiate experience at Tulane because of the private agenda of the president. Don't outright lie, but slant it to paint a picture of a not so inviting college experience. Expose his "Tulane has the most applications" schtick and explain its only because kids can apply for free and use it as a fallback option. Just some things like that to give pause when making a choice.

My concern would be, would we then be doing real harm to our University? But is it any worse than what he's doing?

Good idea Robert. You're idea would not be misleading because a Tulane student today can't get a complete college experience. I'm no longer sure they can even get a complete academic experience, much less the athletic disaster that we all know about. And no, there is nothing in your idea that could harm Tulane like Cowen has harmed Tulane. There is only upside to your approach.

[OUG]

I would never dissuade a kid from going to Tulane. I love Tulane. Its a great school.

Let's keep some perspective here and not cut off our nose to spite our face here.

[HoustonWave]

Everyone seems to think that Cowen's main interest is getting students to come to Tulane and do community service work. Maybe instead of fighting on the athletic front, we go after the academic end. Maybe its time we start posting on websites where high school juniors and seniors would go to get information on prospective colleges. We make a point of giving them the real facts..that the community service is all for the ego of the president, and they will have no true collegiate experience at Tulane because of the private agenda of the president. Don't outright lie, but slant it to paint a picture of a not so inviting college experience. Expose his "Tulane has the most applications" schtick and explain its only because kids can apply for free and use it as a fallback option. Just some things like that to give pause when making a choice.

My concern would be, would we then be doing real harm to our University? But is it any worse than what he's doing?

Directly to your point, go look at a post on Yoggie from RocktheWave--a student who aptly describes the void created,by athletic irrelevance, during his 4 years at Tulane. It is a powerful, sad and accurate description of the Tulane student experience that Cowen has created.

[RobertM320]

Everyone seems to think that Cowen's main interest is getting students to come to Tulane and do community service work. Maybe instead of fighting on the athletic front, we go after the academic end. Maybe its time we start posting on websites where high school juniors and seniors would go to get information on prospective colleges. We make a point of giving them the real facts..that the community service is all for the ego of the president, and they will have no true collegiate experience at Tulane because of the private agenda of the president. Don't outright lie, but slant it to paint a picture of a not so inviting college experience. Expose his "Tulane has the most applications" schtick and explain its only because kids can apply for free and use it as a fallback option. Just some things like that to give pause when making a choice.

My concern would be, would we then be doing real harm to our University? But is it any worse than what he's doing?

Directly to your point, go look at a post on Yoggie from RocktheWave--a student who aptly describes the void created,by athletic irrelevance, during his 4 years at Tulane. It is a powerful, sad and accurate description of the Tulane student experience that Cowen has created.

HoustonWave, I saw that one myself. I don't have access on the five letter board, but someone should encourage him to tweak it and send that letter to the Hullabaloo. The Hullabaloo could generate some real buzz if they run that and an open letter ad on homecoming weekend.

[JDTulane]

The minute I see one of you telling high school kids not to come here and enjoy the best 4 years of their lives is the minute I punch you in the chin. Football isn't EVERYTHING. Tulane is a 10/10 in so many other facets.

[OUG]

The minute I see one of you telling high school kids not to come here and enjoy the best 4 years of their lives is the minute I punch you in the chin. Football isn't EVERYTHING. Tulane is a 10/10 in so many other facets.

Yeah, let's keep some perspective here.

[RobertM320]

The minute I see one of you telling high school kids not to come here and enjoy the best 4 years of their lives is the minute I punch you in the chin. Football isn't EVERYTHING. Tulane is a 10/10 in so many other facets.

And my point is, if they're going to enjoy the best 4 years of their lives, go somewhere that gives you 100% of the collegiate experience, not 50-60%. Until Tulane makes changes in their approach to athletics, they're shortchanging the students.

[OUG]

The minute I see one of you telling high school kids not to come here and enjoy the best 4 years of their lives is the minute I punch you in the chin. Football isn't EVERYTHING. Tulane is a 10/10 in so many other facets.

And my point is, if they're going to enjoy the best 4 years of their lives, go somewhere that gives you 100% of the collegiate experience, not 50-60%. Until Tulane makes changes in their approach to athletics, they're shortchanging the students.

I draw the line here. I think a lot of us will. Tulane football needs to be a bigger part of the student experience. We agree there.

But make no mistake about it: I support Tulane football because I love Tulane University. If it wasn't about Tulane University, there'd be a lot easier teams I could root for. Ill fight any effort to crash Tulane into the ground in a misguided effort like this.

[Jonathan]

Robert you idea is idiotic obviously you are not a TU graduate as you idea lowers the value of a TU degree TU academics is the only quality thing we have going concentrate on athletics please

[RobertM320]

Robert you idea is idiotic obviously you are not a TU graduate as you idea lowers the value of a TU degree TU academics is the only quality thing we have going concentrate on athletics please

And yet, I hear everyone complaining that our academic standing has declined steadily since Cowen has been here. And yes, I am a Tulane graduate. Class of '80 , BS in Management. Also, a born and raised New Orleanian who has been a Tulane fan and supporter since before you were born.

As for academics, let me give you an example. On the fourth floor of Howard-Tilton, there is The Latin American Library. They have the opportunity to participate in a digitization project with 8 other national institutions. Tulane has one of the premier libraries in the country and NEEDS to participate in this project, which involves digitizing several books printed pre-1600 in Mexico. Total cost would be a measly $50K, but they're told the school doesn't have the budget. But we should spend $1.7 M for a coach. (Yes, we should) But, IF we are truly the high end ACADEMIC institution we think we are, we NEED to find this $50K as well. If we can't, then our whole academic ranking is a sham as well.

[RobertM320]

Robert you idea is idiotic obviously you are not a TU graduate as you idea lowers the value of a TU degree TU academics is the only quality thing we have going concentrate on athletics please

And I hardly think this lowers the value of a TU degree. Not striving to be the best, whether it be in academics OR athletics, hurts the value of a TU degree.

[RWR]

The other thing to hit him on is blowing up his claim of the high number of applications. The reason for those is the free on-line application process that doesn't require an essay.

[RobertM320]

The other thing to hit him on is blowing up his claim of the high number of applications. The reason for those is the free on-line application process that doesn't require an essay.

And the fact that its free.... As my signature says, 85% of students accepted dont attend.

[OUG]

Robert you idea is idiotic obviously you are not a TU graduate as you idea lowers the value of a TU degree TU academics is the only quality thing we have going concentrate on athletics please

And yet, I hear everyone complaining that our academic standing has declined steadily since Cowen has been here. And yes, I am a Tulane graduate. Class of '80 , BS in Management. Also, a born and raised New Orleanian who has been a Tulane fan and supporter since before you were born.

As for academics, let me give you an example. On the fourth floor of Howard-Tilton, there is The Latin American Library. They have the opportunity to participate in a digitization project with 8 other national institutions. Tulane has one of the premier libraries in the country and NEEDS to participate in this project, which involves digitizing several books printed pre-1600 in Mexico. Total cost would be a measly $50K, but they're told the school doesn't have the budget. But we should spend $1.7 M for a coach. (Yes, we should) But, IF we are truly the high end ACADEMIC institution we think we are, we NEED to find this $50K as well. If we can't, then our whole academic ranking is a sham as well.

How does dissuading kids from going to Tulane accomplish that for the Latin American library?

I'm sensing a little "Destroy Tulane U in order to Save Tulane U" here. I appreciate your perspective, but I can't let that go unanswered. I can't say you'll find much support for that from the alumni.

[RobertM320]

Robert you idea is idiotic obviously you are not a TU graduate as you idea lowers the value of a TU degree TU academics is the only quality thing we have going concentrate on athletics please

And yet, I hear everyone complaining that our academic standing has declined steadily since Cowen has been here. And yes, I am a Tulane graduate. Class of '80 , BS in Management. Also, a born and raised New Orleanian who has been a Tulane fan and supporter since before you were born.

As for academics, let me give you an example. On the fourth floor of Howard-Tilton, there is The Latin American Library. They have the opportunity to participate in a digitization project with 8 other national institutions. Tulane has one of the premier libraries in the country and NEEDS to participate in this project, which involves digitizing several books printed pre-1600 in Mexico. Total cost would be a measly $50K, but they're told the school doesn't have the budget. But we should spend $1.7 M for a coach. (Yes, we should) But, IF we are truly the high end ACADEMIC institution we think we are, we NEED to find this $50K as well. If we can't, then our whole academic ranking is a sham as well.

How does dissuading kids from going to Tulane accomplish that for the Latin American library?

I'm sensing a little "Destroy Tulane U in order to Save Tulane U" here. I appreciate your perspective, but I can't let that go unanswered. I can't say you'll find much support for that from the alumni.

I think everyone missed my point. The point was, in order to get to Cowen and affect change, we need to impact something he DOES care about, which is obviously not athletics. It was more an example than a specific idea. But I do find it funny that on the one hand, people complain that our academic ranking has fallen in the last decade, but then say that injecting a little reality into the thought process of prospective students would affect that ranking. It surely can't affect it more than Cowen already has.

[Robert1969]

Instead of trying to hurt Tulane's reputation, and discourage kids from coming to Tulane, maybe you can try to hit them in the academic wallet instead. How many of you give to the alumni fund or areas of academic interests at Tulane? How many donate to the general endowment? Is your only giving to the athletic fund, or do you financially support the university as a whole? The next time you get a call to donate to either athletics or academics, say that you won't give to any area of Tulane if athletics aren't taken seriously. Make clear that you don't think it is an either/or situation. And don't just whip them with the stick. Hold out a carrot as well: "if you start taking athletics seriously, I will donate both to academics and athletics." In other words tie your support to the university generally to both academics and athletics, and that gives extra incentive for the leadership to take care of athletics.

[RobertM320]

Instead of trying to hurt Tulane's reputation, and discourage kids from coming to Tulane, maybe you can try to hit them in the academic wallet instead. How many of you give to the alumni fund or areas of academic interests at Tulane? How many donate to the general endowment? Is your only giving to the athletic fund, or do you financially support the university as a whole? The next time you get a call to donate to either athletics or academics, say that you won't give to any area of Tulane if athletics aren't taken seriously. Make clear that you don't think it is an either/or situation. And don't just whip them with the stick. Hold out a carrot as well: "if you start taking athletics seriously, I will donate both to academics and athletics." In other words tie your support to the university generally to both academics and athletics, and that gives extra incentive for the leadership to take care of athletics.

That's the way it should be. My only problem is, the bulk of what I donate is time and services, not money. I help the departments I do because I love Tulane, and I know these departments need the help, but don't have the budget. I give them more in time/services than I could possibly donate monetarily. So, what do I do? Cut them off? Its not like Cowen would care.

[HoustonWave]

I hardly think anything on this board is going to disuade a student from going to Tulane. As pointed out, 85% of those admitted already choose to go elsewhere. The underlying issue at Tulane is its week financial position. The financial situation has impacted both athletics and academics. While Katrina certainly contributed to our financial instability, the problem existed well before Katrina. In fact, prior to the 2003 review (and for that matter Katrina two years later), Cowen did little to raise funds and add to our endowement. Instead, he spent much of his time serving on various corporate boards, generating considerable personal income. While Tulane has always been on financial thin ice, Cowen"s 5 to 7 year hiatus has certainly weekened our already precarious financial condition. More recently, his ongoing ability to alienate much of the alumni base, along with his unique ability to embarrass Tulane fans with our current competitive profile, has again increased the financial stress on the university. I believe this will continue to be a problem as long as Cowen is around, and indeed the financial problems may prove to be the trigger for his eventual resignation.