In 1981, LSU hired James Wharton as LSU chancellor, and he set to work immediately at modernizing the university. Most controversially, he created stricter admission standards which both raised the level of incoming student but also reduced the number of students failing out, both of which improving LSU’s academic ratings. He achieved Tier One Research standards for the first time in school history, secured a rare space grant, and brought the LIGO facility in Livingston to LSU, which would eventually result in a Nobel Prize in 2017.
But he also knew that reforms didn’t mean anything if he couldn’t attract students.