Aggies, Tigers, Longhorns and Oil

As I wrote in my recent article BP Oil Spill and Louisiana the state of Louisiana faces serious concerns over the wave of public sentiment against the oil industry. Unseen is the ripple effect of public outrage on education in Texas and Louisiana. Public universities that are already stressed face undesirable effects from legislation meant to penalize the oil companies.

The Texas A&M system and the University of Texas system are dependent on oil revenues from the Permanent University Fund as outlined in the Texas Constitution. The University of Texas system gets 2/3 of the fund and the Texas A&M system receives the other third. Texas A&M and the University of Texas are the flagship schools of higher education in the state and ranked among the premier schools in the nation.

The University of Texas system includes nine universities and six health institutions which includes the world renowned M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. The Texas A&M system includes eleven universities and a health science center. These systems support schools in the areas that do not enjoy the economic advantages of the big cities. The University of Texas Brownsville, UTPA and UTEP support native Mexican-American communities that would otherwise not realize affordable education. The Texas A&M system supports schools like Prairie View which has long been a university supporting African-Americans. Also in the Texas A&M system is Tarleton State University and West Texas A&M which bring education to rural Texans. The University of Houston system and the Texas Tech system as well as others owe much to the oil industry even if not as directly.

Education in Louisiana is supported by the oil industry on many different levels. LSU and the LSU system include five universities, two health centers and a law center. Though there are many good universities and colleges in the state it often seems that LSU is a universal point for the state to rally around. Anyone who has ever been around an LSU event would find it impossible to avoid the influence and contributions of oil and gas.

Like it or not, these institutions in Texas and Louisiana depend on the oil and gas industry. Major policy changes in rapid order would hurt all of these public institutions and quite a few private ones. Only a small percentage of the graduates are in the oil industry as it supports our health care professionals, artists and engineers. I agree that we need to move into new forms of energy, and I am heartbroken seeing the mess in the gulf at my door. With that I urge those upset as I am to continue supporting domestic oil and gas as our future depends on it.