History
LSUS at 40: The Little Engine That Could
By William D. Pederson, Ph.D., Professor & Director of American Studies Program
History teaches that education, the engine of democracy that empowers individuals to rise in society, also drives economic development. It is no coincidence then that in 1862 Abraham Lincoln signed into law two of the most important pieces of legislation ever passed by Congress: the Pacific Railroad Act and the Land Grant College Act.
The former led to the building of the transcontinental railroad that linked a vast young nation and fueled its economic development as a modern industrial giant. The latter transformed American higher education from a prerogative of the privileged into an opportunity for the entire emerging middle class. Through the Land Grant College Act, America’s great experiment in self-government fostered universities like Louisiana State University that are the envy of the world. A second-generation of American institutions of higher education, including Louisiana State University in Shreveport, subsequently emerged. With them, a college education was within the reach of millions unable to follow the traditional higher education pathway. Legislative seeds for LSUS were planted in 1967, with visionaries planning a new two-year campus to take root and flourish on a 258- acre former cotton field in Southeast Shreveport.
Despite a variety of
obstacles over the last
four decades, like the
enduring “little engine
that could,” LSUS has
proved its value to the
development
of the intellectual
capital
and economic
growth of
Northwest Louisiana.
The story of
LSUS is the tale
of community
persistence
over decades.
It
was not until the middle of the Great
Depression that local civic and
political leaders concluded
that Louisiana’s second
largest metropolitan
area—geographically
isolated from LSU in
Baton Rouge—needed
a public university.
When it became a
reality in 1967, it was a
modest beginning: LSUS
opened as a two-year
commuter college with
about 800 students.
Finally on track, the
little engine began
to build steam,
and within five
years sought
expansion to a degree-
granting four-year liberal
arts institution. Despite intense
opposition from other state
institutions fearing loss of their
students to the Shreveport university,
Shreveport legislators State Sen.
Don Williamson and Rep. Alphonse
Jackson were lead sponsors for a bill,
strongly supported by Gov. Edwin
Edwards, community leaders and
the Shreveport Times, that elevated
LSUS to four-year status. The legislation
was enacted in 1972, but not
before opponents amended the bill to
prohibit dormitories on the campus, a
means of restricting growth of LSUS.
It would be nearly two decades befor
the university, with assistance of
former State Sen. Foster Campbell,
engineered a solution for that prohibition.
Since the fall of 1993, apartments
built next door to the campus
have accommodated more than 450
students.
As the LSUS engine gained momentum, buildings began to rise from the barren cotton field until today more than a dozen modern buildings occupy a campus landscaped with tree-lined drives and walkways, thanks in large part to the beautification efforts of Dr. George Kemp and his family and the generosity of local businesses.
Traditionally the intellectual center of a university is its library collection. In fact, Noel Memorial Library houses 250,000 books and is a select depository for United States government documents. The library, which opened in 1994 to replace the original library opened as part of the original building in 1967, also boasts the 200,000-volume James Smith Noel Collection of rare books.