Southeastern Louisiana University is a state-funded public university that is located in the city of Hammond, Louisiana. It was originally founded in 1925 by Linus A. Sims, the principal of Hammond High School, as Hammond Junior College, located in a wing of the high school building. Sims succeeded in getting the campus moved to north Hammond in 1928, when it became known as Southeastern Louisiana College. It achieved university status in 1970. There are approximately 17,000 students representing 43 states and 66 countries enrolled. During the 1990s Southeastern was the fastest growing college in the United States, despite the presence of Louisiana's flagship university, Louisiana State University, only 45 miles west of Hammond along Interstate 12 in the state capital of Baton Rouge, and t