Is Delgado Community College’s decision to terminate Interior Design Program a reflection of lack of jobs for graduates and a harbinger for Louisiana Tech, LSU, and ULL’s programs?

Louisiana Interior Design Board Chairman Deborah Steinmetz

Sound Off Louisiana will soon feature an interesting in-depth post entailing the level of success of interior design graduates from Louisiana universities entailing finding jobs in their chosen major; however, for today’s introductory feature, we present the lamenting of the Louisiana State Board of Interior Designers (IDB) entailing the impending closure of Delgado Community College’s Interior Design program, including the fact Delgado’s administration identified its Interior Design program as a “loss leader”:


IDB members lament impending closure of Delgado Community College’s Interior Design Program at its regular meeting of Thursday, August 17, 2017.  Rev. Freddie Phillips expresses consternation that the one program attempting to provide minorities a chance to practice is being abolished.  Phillips has been concerned about the extensive evidence that interior design licensure statues promote discrimination by erecting artificial barriers to entry (see video below).

 

The Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based organization specializing in suing state governmental agencies, explains that Louisiana leads the ENTIRE nation in licensing low-wage jobs and has BY FAR the highest barriers to entry for the interior design profession.  CLICK HERE for the Institute’s current litigation against the Louisiana Sate Board of Cosmetology.

The IDB also presented an award to Interior Design Instructor John Campbell:

Campbell receives award.  Perhaps he may wish to have a guest lecturer with business acumen teach a few of his classes so as to avoid his students getting stiffed for $65,000 as he did entailing Zachary restaurant Lagniappe Zachary.  As with the past practice of permitting Executive Director Sandy Edmonds to engage in “blatant payroll fraud”, Campbell is keeping with the pattern of keeping everything “all in the family” (Edmonds is the wife of an interior designer, Matthew Edmonds, who is a partner in CDI Solutions), by retaining IDB attorney Anna Dow to pursue Lagniappe Zachary for the $65,000.  Dow filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, which is presently scheduled for a hearing on October 16, 2017.

 

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One thought on “Is Delgado Community College’s decision to terminate Interior Design Program a reflection of lack of jobs for graduates and a harbinger for Louisiana Tech, LSU, and ULL’s programs?”

  1. A ludicrous proposal with specious logic and unsubstantiated “facts.” What a reckless political stunt by the president. LSU’s ID program is consistently ranked as one of the top ten or twenty in the nation, with alums practicing successfully throughout North America. What’s happening at Delgado is not germane to the manufactured “crisis.”

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