Q&A with LC President Joe Aguillard

By KELLY BOGGS, Editor

EDITOR’S NOTE – On December 12, the Town Talk – the daily newspaper of Alexandria, La., reported on a draft proposal the paper had in its possession that indicated Louisiana College had at one time sought $70 million in funding for the LC medical school from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia – $35 million from each country. The Town Talk report also indicated the proposal called on the school to be named in honor of George H.W. Bush. On December 16, the Alexandria newspaper followed up with a report based on a press release from LC that confirmed the proposal and sought to give it some context. In light of the aforementioned reports, the Baptist Message conducted a question and answer session with Louisiana College president Joe Aguillard on December 17.

 Joe Aguillard: The draft reported on in the Town Talk was the result of, I would say, 10 to 12 revisions of an original proposal that was developed when we learned that Kuwait was giving money through the Red Cross and other agencies to Gulf Coast states after Katrina.