Inside Report for Dec. 2, 2011
Local bars and restaurants last month started serving the Tin Roof Brewing Co.’s new blonde ale using the name of Blonde Ale.
Why the lifeless name?
Because the LSU Board of Supervisors has not signed off on or even considered yet what was supposed to be the LSU-licensed Bandit Blonde Ale.
Chalk it up to another source of tension between the LSU System under President John Lombardi and the flagship Baton Rouge campus under LSU Chancellor Michael Martin.
Whereas, in the past, they’ve mostly bickered over dollars and cents, they’re now at odds over malts and hops.
Martin arrived at LSU three years ago as Lombardi’s guy and now they’re at a divide over beer. To paraphrase Homer Simpson: “To alcohol! The cause of — and solution to — all of life’s problems.”
As for the Bandit Blonde Ale, it is up in the air whether it will become an official LSU product.
Neither side wants to discuss the issues publicly. What is clear is that shortly before the brew was ready to be served, after a publicity buildup, the LSU System intervened.
The simplified back story is Martin has talked up starting an LSU beer for three years as a student entrepreneurial project. That idea eventually turned into a partnership with the new Tin Roof brewery near campus, and LSU moved forward with seeking College Licensing Company approval.
LSU System General Counsel Ray Lamonica said the university erred by not following proper bylaws and bringing the matter to the LSU Board of Supervisors. University officials didn’t believe the matter needed to go before the LSU Board for a formal vote.
Regardless of whether there are legal or ethical issues involved with having an LSU beer, the soonest the matter can be considered by the LSU Board is January.
This is not the first point of discord between Lombardi and Martin, nor is it close to the first time the LSU System and main LSU campus have clashed.
For instance, LSU President William Jenkins and Chancellor Sean O’Keefe butted heads publicly several times before O’Keefe resigned in January 2008.
But, go back 13 years when Lombardi was the president of the University of Florida, he hired Martin as his senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources. After Lombardi took over at LSU, Martin arrived to replace O’Keefe.
However, when state budget cuts to higher education began to worsen two years ago, Martin wanted to implement employee furloughs to faculty and staff. Lombardi shot that proposal down.
Since then, Lombardi and Martin have continued to bicker over funding distributions for campuses.
The LSU System has siphoned some dollars the past two years from the main LSU campus to help offset larger losses at other institutions like the LSU Agricultural Center.
Maybe their issues could be resolved over a round of Blonde Ale?
Jordan Blum covers higher education for The Advocate’s Capitol new bureau. His email address is jblum@theadvocate.com.