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COURTBOUILLON 28 January 2010

A DILLARD UNIVERSITY student production

www.ducourtbouillon.com

Fee reinstituted to push early registering

NEWS

Traci Ray

Managing Editor

No matter your income, many options available to help Haitian brothers

Dillard administrators have re-instituted a $400 late-registration fee to encourage more students to register on time, but its effect remains to be seen.

According to unofficial sta-

tistics released Jan. 20, 86 percent of students had registered by the close of registration on Jan. 8, down four percentage points from the 90 percent registered by the start of last fall.

The official 14-day census for final enrollment will be

available Friday, the day after the Courtbouillon’s release.

Bursar Kimberly Weston said this semester is the first time the late fee is being charged since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. At presstime, a definite number had not been

See Fees on Page 2

DU booting is defended

Haitian tragedy

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Traci Ray Managing Editor

ETOUFEE Dillard Review’s issue for fall/winter to debut Feb. 1; new one starts

4

SPORTS

Billy Hobley benefit gala, Bleu Devil Classic both scheduled this weekend

5

provided of students who had to pay late registration this semester, but Weston said all who were charged had to pay the full amount.

“Unfortunately, there are no

DU Police Chief Andre Menzies defended “booting,” or immobilizing, vehicles in recent weeks because he said his office is tired of merely warning students and faculty about improper parking.

The Department of Public Safety issued a memo by university email Jan. 14 that effective Monday, Jan. 18, the police department would “strictly enforce all university parking and traffic regulations.” The memo said Thursday, Jan. 21, was the final day that vehicles would be allowed to enter the campus without a valid parking decal.

However, the previous week, a registered vehicle of a DU administrator was booted in the Cook parking lot for being parked in a handicapped spot, and at least one student’s vehicle was booted for being parked in the walkway between parking spaces.

(The police chief and administrator disagreed about whether that vehicle had a handicapped decal displayed. The administra-

OPINION

Associated Press photo A girl waits for medical attention in front of a damaged hospital in Carrefour on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, recently. As many as 150,000 bodies are believed in mass graves since two earthquakes shattered the country, the first on Jan. 12. Up to 200,000 are estimated to have died. To see how you can help, go to Page 3.

Reid’s Obama comment renews discussion about ‘colorism’ among blacks

Journalist says more work needed to fulfill dream

INDEX

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Campus news ............................................ 2-3 Etoufee ................................................4 Sports ....................................5 Opinion............................... 6-7

Martin featured speaker at MLK Jr. convocation

Journalist Roland Martin criticized the notion that Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream has been fulfilled with the election of President Obama, noting much work still needs to be done for economic and racial equality in America.

Martin, addressing about 100 people at Tulane’s McAlister Auditorium on Jan. 20, also encouraged financial support for a new memorial recognizing Dr. Martin Luther

King Jr. to be built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Martin spoke at the 24th annual MLK Week for Peace Convocation, held jointly by Dillard, Xavier, Tulane and Loyola universities.

Martin said he doesn’t like the T-shirts with pictures of both Obama and King that have the title “A Dream Fulfilled.” He said economic issues must be addressed, young black men must be saved, and all of the work starts with each American becoming more accountable and committed.

He said many people quote the “I Have a Dream” speech without realizing that the most popular component was a repeat of

See Booting on Page 2

other speeches that King inserted when singer Mahalia Jackson said, “Tell them about the dream, Martin.” Roland said the actual title of the speech is really “Normalcy, Never Again,” and the focus was on economic justice and racial equality for black Americans.

Today, Martin said, “We need to bring the economy and the dream together.”

Martin said when a black man is upset about an issue, he’s labeled “angry” and people want to call security. But when a white man is upset about an issue, he’s con-

See Martin on Page 2

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COURTBOUILLON

DILLARD UNIVERSITY

COURTBOUILLON Volume 74, Issue 1

EDITORIAL STAFF Editor-in-chief .................. Charley L. Steward Managing editor ...................................Traci Ray Sports editor .................... Ernest Robertson Photo editor .................... Stephawn Spears Online editor ...........................Angela Harris Faculty adviser ..................Cleo Joffrion Allen, Ph.D., APR

BUSINESS STAFF Advertising manager ...................................... Vacant

CONTACT US News ..............dunews1@gmail.com Features .......... dufeatures@gmail.com Opinion ..........duopinions@gmail.com Sports ............dusports1@gmail.com Photos ............ duphotos@gmail.com Advertising ..... duadvertising@gmail.com

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ABOUT US

The Dillard University Courtbouillon is produced by mass communication students. The Courtbouillon publishes six issues per semester. Publication dates for spring 2010 are Jan. 28, Feb. 11, March 4 and 18, and April 8 and 22.

CORRECTION

A photo in the Dec. 10, 2009, Courtbouillon on Page 2 was credited incorrectly. The photo of poet Jericho Brown was taken by Lorenzo Baker, not Stephawn Spears. The Courtbouillon regrets the error.

28 January 2010

Fees FROM PAGE 1 exceptions to the late-fee policy,” she said.

Dr. Toya Barnes-Teamer, vice president for Student Success, said she thinks the late fee will make a difference.

Unofficial numbers provided

by Student Success on Jan. 20 indicate 985 students were enrolled at Dillard this semester

by the close of the registration period Jan. 8.

That number compares with 1,029 reported by BarnesTeamer’s office in the Sept. 24, 2009, Courtbouillon for the fall semester.

The reduction by 44 students amounts to 4 percent fewer, but that number is expected to be

adjusted Friday.

Of the 985 total this spring, Barnes-Teamer said 848, or 86 percent, had registered by Jan. 8, compared with 928 of the total 1,029 students, or 90 percent, registered by the start of the fall 2009 semester.

Barnes-Teamer said the administration has sought to

Dillard senior 1 of 4 named top volunteers A senior Dillard urban studies and public policy major was among four local students honored for community service at the 24th annual Martin Luther King Jr. “Week for Peace” Convocation at Tulane on Jan. 20.

Dr. Charles C. Teamer Sr., former vice president of fiscal affairs at Dillard, also was recognized as the recipient of the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award at the event, which was held at Tulane’s McAlister Auditorium by four universities – Dillard, Tulane, Xavier and Loyola.

Dillard’s Sabrina Bland, of Oakland, Calif., was selected by Dillard for her community service work.

Other students recognized were Jamie Broussard of Loyola, a senior from Pride; Adam Pacsi of Tulane, a senior in chemical engineering; and Edward Jenkins III of Xavier, a senior political science major from Kenner.

Bland’s summary of achievements said she has worked on at least 11 community projects at Dillard, including Hands Across America, the Sigma Sleep-Out, Gentilly Cleanup, Habitat for Humanity and Kaboom Playground Builders.

Teamer, the Lifetime Achievement recipient, is chairman of the Board of Directors of both the Dryades Savings Bank and the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce.

He was named an Outstanding Citizen of New Orleans.

A life member of NAACP, he earned its Outstanding Black Achievement Award.

He is a consultant to the U.S. Department of Education, the United Methodist Church Board of Education and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, or SACS.

make students more aware of the $400 late-registration fee via flyers around campus, electronic board messages in the library and in Rosenwald, on “myDU” online and as part of advising and registration.

The fee policy is shown on Page 21 of the 2009-10 university catalog.

Booting FROM PAGE 1

Martin

Roland Martin

FROM PAGE 1 sidered “passionate.”

He said African-Americans want to take racial issues to the White House, but the “issues begin with us” – with individuals and between each other.

Martin said black youth too often wait for someone to give them permission to lead, but black predecessors just did what was necessary. He urged everyone to stop complaining and start acting.

“What about your fellow classmates?” he asked. “What about accountability for others?”

He suggested starting with the one-day commitment many students made for service in commemoration of the King holiday. Then he suggested

staying committed 365 days a year, as was King. That way, he said, the next King celebration will be a re-commitment instead of one day of service.

Martin asked the audience how many donated to the planned Washington memorial; about 20 people responded.

Martin said $106 million has been raised so far, but another $14 million is required. He said groundbreaking is planned for December, with completion expected by July 2011. He asked everyone to donate, which will be a granite sculpture of the civil rights leader on the Mall.

For more info., go to www.mlkmemorial.org.

(Frank Delaney contributed to this article.)

tor said the hangtag was there, and he was told the car was parked too far over in the parking space because of an adjacent illegally parked car.)

On Thursday, Jan. 21, police booted a car with a registration decal parked on the grass next to parking spaces. However, at least 15 cars were parked between Cook and the new Professional Building; of that number, four had no visible registration decal and another six that had registration decals were parked on the grass. None was booted. And although a sign designates “twoway traffic” for the driveway into the Cook parking lot, vehicles are still allowed to park in one lane.

Menzies had said previously that his office would work with people who had decals during the parking crunch caused by construction as long as the cars were not hazardous obstructions – for example, being parked on or blocking the roadway that goes to the adjacent mausoleum.

Menzies said Monday that his department only issued warning slips last semester, but now it is enforcing the rules. In light of the mass email on Jan. 14, Menzies said he has provided enough time to adhere to parking regulations.

The chief did not directly answer the question posed: “What happened to ticketing first” as the intermediate step between warning and booting?

Regarding the at least 10 cars in violation between Cook and the Professional Building on Jan. 21, Menzies’ response was, “You can’t catch them all.” He said his department is only allowing vehicles with decals or visitor’s passes on campus and did not address how the vehicles with no decals came to be parked. He told the reporter who observed the cars with no decals that she must have overlooked their visitor’s passes.

“We try to do the best we can,” he said, “to make it fair for people who have decals” to find parking.

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COURTBOUILLON

28 January 2010

Many options open to help Haiti

Associated Press photo In photo above, a woman cries in pain while waiting for medical attention in front of a hospital in Carrefour, Haiti, recently. Above right, a young Haitian child licks a spoon as she holds an empty pot at a makeshift shelter in Port-au-Prince.

At right, a man uses a stone as a pillow to sleep as he waits for medical attention at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince. Relief groups and officials are focused on moving aid flowing into Haiti to survivors.

As relief efforts continue, you can get involved in several ways. Here’s what you can do to help: • A benefit for the people of Haiti featuring jazz musician and Dillard alumnus Ellis Marsalis, among others, will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, in Lawless Chapel. Donations of any amount will be accepted, Marina said. For more information, call (504) 816-4857.

• Donate $5 to music artist Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Foundation, by texting “Yele” to 501501. The money will be added to your next phone bill.

• Donate $10 to the American Red Cross by texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999. The money will be charged to your next cell phone bill.

• Music for Relief is offering a compilation of unreleased music, available for free download at musicforrelief.org.

The site encourages all donations.

• National Nurses United is raising money to send nurses to Haiti. Currently, 10,000 nurses are volunteering to go to Haiti. Every dollar

counts and will be spent directly on sending a nurse to Haiti.

Visit sendanurse.org.

A complete listing of organizations committed to Haiti relief can be found by visiting the thehuffingtonpost.com.

Also, Vonage is allowing anyone to place a free 10-minute call to Haiti by dialing (800) 809-2503. The U.S. State Department Operations Center has set up a toll-free number as well for Americans seeking information about family members: (888) 407-4747.

Additionally, several organizations on this campus are taking money donations and collecting water and non-perishable food items.

Even if you have nothing to give, you can at least sign the Help Haiti: Drop the Debt Petition to convince global creditors to drop Haiti’s $1 billion debt.

Visit one.org and click the “Act now” link. Signature collection will end Friday, and at least 150,000 signatures are needed, with about 160,000 collected as the Courtbouillon went to press.

For you and your friends, flu shots are a great defensive strategy.

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A message from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

Etouffee

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28 January 2010

COURTBOUILLON

One issue of Dillard Review due Feb. 1, another gets started Deri’Andra Tucker The fall/winter issue of Dillard Review, a Collection of Arts and Letters will be published Feb. 1 featuring work by 17 works of students here, said Dr. Mona Lisa Saloy, program director.

Meanwhile, the deadline for submissions for the spring issue has been set for March 22.

Saloy said the literary journal offers

true stories from students’ lives postKatrina, touching memoirs with humor and art.

Students can email submissions of art, photos, essays, poems, plays, screenplays, jokes, fiction, songs, spoken word and commentaries on life. Work should be sent by email in Microsoft Word (no layouts please) to msaloy@dillard.edu with the subject line “For the Dillard

Review.”

Amanda Emily Smith is editor of Fall 2009/Winter 2010 issue, with Tedrine Glover as art editor. Assistant editors for the issue includes Joslyn Greenard, Kevin Hagan, Katrina Jordan, Megan Perry, Canae White and Roxie Wilson.

Hagan has the lead piece of creative non-fiction. Perry’s photos frame the inside cover and back of the journal.

The spring issue has three editors: Greenard, Smith and Perry. The assistant editors are Natrell Batiste, Farah Akbar and Linda Ramirez.

Saloy said Dillard University has been a part of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs since 1995. Through this association, students are able to get hands-on practice writing, layout, design and production.

Exhibit one of 3 at DU this spring An exhibit of recent paintings by New Orleans native Ron Bechet will be on display through Feb. 26 at Dillard’s Art Gallery in Cook Center.

Other art events for the semester include a student show March 4-26 and a senior show April 8-30, featuring the works of Damien Hunter, according to Amy Bryan, gallery director.

Bechet’s opening reception was held Jan. 21 for the “Natural” collection, inspired by his interest in the historical cultural traditions about the history of the tree and the sacred land.

Bechet, an art professor at Xavier and pioneer of the Community Arts Program cur-

Ellis Marsalis to appear at Haiti benefit

Art Gallery postcard riculum, grew up in the Gentilly area of New Orleans and spent time playing in the parks and trees around Dillard. He earned

a master’s degree in fine arts from Yale.

Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through

Friday. For more information, call (504) 816-4853.

(Angela Harris contributed to this report.)

304 DU students register for MLK day of service; 220 show up Two out of three of Dillard students who signed up for “A Day of Service” to commemorate Martin Luther King’s birthday actually showed up Jan. 18, according to the coordinator.

Miss Dillard Carmelita Foster said 304 students registered for the 24th Annual Week for

Peace project and 220, or 65 percent, showed up. The goal was to have students from Dillard, Xavier, Loyola and Tulane universities unite to give back to the community at various sites under the theme “Change: From Rhetoric to Action.”

Two of the 34 project sites

were with Green Light New Orleans and Ferncrest Manor Living Center on Hayne Boulevard.

Some 1,183 students from the four schools registered to volunteer, according to coordinator Avery Brewton at Tulane. Xavier had most with 409.

Some students assisted Greenlight distribute energy-efficient compact lightbulbs to low- and middle-income families switch in the area. Another project gave their time at Ferncrest Manor Living Center (Sheena Sampson contributed to this report.)

A benefit for the people of Haiti featuring jazz musician and Dillard alumnus Ellis Marsalis, among others, will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, in Lawless Chapel.

Theatre Chair Sherri Marina said the performance and a simultaneous silent auction is a collaboration of the departments of Theatre, Music and Visual Art that will be held in lieu of a previously scheduled Black History Month Production.

“Everyone has been discussing the best possible way to make a difference” in the aftermath of the earthquakes that have rocked Haiti and killed an estimated 200,000 people.

“We’re thrilled at how well this is coming together.”

Along with Marsalis, music alumnus Franklin Davis IV also will perform with faculty and students. Additionally, pieces donated by Willie Burch and other local artists will be offered in silent auction.

Donations of any amount will be accepted, Marina said.

For more information, call (504) 816-4857.

Director pushes for greater use of Writing Center Tess Williams

Use of the University Writing Center in Alexander Library was up last fall, but students still are not making optimal use of the resource, according to Director Danielle R. Tyler.

The center has 11 sessions on writing papers scheduled for the spring semester on Wednesdays and 10 grammar workshops scheduled on Fridays. The times for the “Quick Bites” sessions have changed this semester to lunchtime,

from noon to 12:30 p.m.

The center, a free academic support service, also offers 30-minute consultations, or tutoring sessions, by appointment Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Tyler said the center recorded more than 160 consultations last fall, compared with about 100 for the previous semester. However, on average, four or five students attend each weekly gram-

mar sessions, she said.

Tyler said she hopes the lack of attendance does not affect the survival of the Writing Center because the university needs to provide this kind of service to the students. Tyler said she has tried numerous alternatives to capture student interest. For example, the center has offered free school supplies. It posts flyers.

And Tyler has addressed some classes to discuss the center’s services.

Tutors at the center do not proof-

read or “correct” papers, accept “drop off ” papers, write for the client or judge whether the paper is A, B, C, D or F, according to the center brochure.

Some students disagree with the restrictions. For example, Devan Lee, a sophomore mass communications major from New Orleans, said the center should offer proofreading. However, Tyler said students would not learn to recognize their mistakes if the center did the work for them.

Sports

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28 January 2010

COURTBOUILLON

Saints make history

New sports start at DU

Associated Press photo Saints running back Reggie Bush, left, hugs Saints quarterback Drew Brees after the National Football Conference Championship in New Orleans on Sunday. The Saints defeated the Vikings 31-28 to advance to the Super Bowl for the first time. They will face the Indianapolis Colts in Miami on Feb. 7.

This semester marks the first season of the men’s and women’s track and field teams, and the new softball team.

Track, coached by Bobby Williams Jr., will begin with the LSU Twilight Invitational on Feb. 19 and end with the Southern Miss Golden Eagle Classic on April 24.

Feb. 19 also marks the first game for the softball team, coached by Yolanda Brown, when it plays a double header vs. Belhaven University. Belhaven finished the 2009 season with a 36-19 record.

The softball team will finish their season against William Carey College, which finished last season with a 42-7 record.

Williams, who led the crosscountry team last fall to a sixthplace finish out of seven teams in the 2009 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championships, called the new track teams inexperienced but hard-working.

(Ernest Robertson and Mario Martin contributed to this report.)

Hobley gala, Bleu Devil Classic both to benefit scholarship fund

Proceeds from the second annual Billy Ray Hobley Scholarship Gala on Friday honoring the late Bleu Devils coach and Harlem Globetrotter and the Bleu Devil Classic on Saturday will benefit the athletic scholarship fund.

Athletic Director Kiki Baker Barnes said more than $25,000 was raised last year.

The benefit gala, featuring

local recording artist BRW, will be held at 8 p.m. Friday in Kearny Hall. Tickets are $50 and available by calling Paulette Hammond at (504) 816-4867.

The Bleu Devil Classic will start at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Lakefront Arena. Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams will look to duplicate the results of last season, when both triumphed over local rival

Xavier University. Game tickets are $10 for students (purchased on-campus) and $12 general admission. Floor seats are $20.

Barnes said she expects attendance for the game to double compared with last year’s number of approximately 1,500.

“The Bleu Devil Classic is a showcase of what Dillard has to offer as a whole, so we want to put our best foot forward

and have as many people show up as possible,” the athletic director said.

A native of Quincy, Fla., Hobley graduated from Dillard in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education, then spent two decades as “Supertrotter” with the Harlem Globetrotters, He retired in 1998 to become the Bleu Devils assistant coach; in 2000, he

became head coach, leading the team to the Gulf Coast Athletic conference championship with a record of 22-11.

In 2001 he stop coaching to start the Billy Ray Hobley’s ASK Foundation. He died in 2002 after a heart attack while playing tennis. He was 48.

(Larry Williams and Ernest Robertson contributed to this report.)

Basketball ups and downs

Stephawn Spears | Courtbouillon DU junior guard Jasmine Archie of Omaha, Neb., goes up against a Spring Hill player, assisting the women’s team with 94–73 victory Jan. 16.

Stephawn Spears | Courtbouillon DU junior point guard Kenyon Harper of New Orleans faces off with a Spring Hill player during the Jan. 16 game here. The men lost 79-89.

Opinion&Editorial

6

COURTBOUILLON

Are you guilty, too?

Perhaps you’ve heard the saying: I can talk badly about my mother all day long, but the second someone else has something negative to say, we have a problem. While the logical argument is, “Well, you were doing it, so I thought it was OK,” chances are it won’t get you very far.

A considerably chastened Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid certainly understands that difference now, it would appear.

Reid, a Nevada Democrat, issued a public apology to President Obama after a private conversation was cited in the newly released book “Game Change” in which Reid described the then-presidential candidate as a “light-skinned” African-American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

The comments prompted considerable discussion and outrage among many. But can we, as members of the AfricanAmerican community, really be upset with his comments when we often choose the same type of language to describe each other?

“Colorism,” a form of discrimination in which human beings are accorded differing social treatment based on skin color, is “the crazy aunt in the attic of racism,” according to DeNeen L. Brown, a Washington Post staff writer. And Reid’s comments afford an opportunity for discussion and awareness-building within the black community itself on why we must stop this.

While we might not recognize the name, hardly anyone is unaware of the sad history of “intra-racism” from the “house slave” and the “field slave” to the “paper bag test” for lightness among Creoles and even black fraternities and sororities as captured in Spike Lee’s 1988

film “School Daze.” But perhaps we are not as aware of the residual mindset.

For example, a flyer for a party in Atlanta last summer advertised the event as “lightskinned vs. dark-skinned.” A local DJ and party promoter prompted an outcry in July 2007 and was forced to cancel the party he planned for “lightskinned” blacks at a downtown Detroit club. (He claimed he planned parties for other shades later.) A March 2005 report by ABC’s John Stossel reported an experiment in which 60 photos were shown to blacks and whites, with some of the photos shown twice – once with their skin tones darkened.

He reported both blacks and whites gave lower scores to people with darker skin. Stossel called black-on-black discrimination “an open secret in the black community.”

Even more importantly, people our own age bear the scars of being singled out within our own culture. For example, a student here at Dillard mentioned during a class discussion how she was told while growing up that she was very pretty “for a dark girl.” Another person shared the opposite experience of being castigated for being “light” and “acting or sounding white.”

How sad. We distinguish each other by color entirely too often. We must rid ourselves of thinking that being articulate is “sounding white” and having good manners is “acting white.” Who says whites have the monopoly on being articulate and well-raised? Sounding like mainstream America is not equivalent to abandoning your race.

We must look at ourselves in the mirror and realize that change has to start with us.

Letters to the editor

Questions, comments or concerns? Voice them!!

Letters to the editor should be no longer than 250 words. Send your letter along with your name/title, address, e-mail address, phone number and classification/major if you are a student to: duopinions@gmail.com or mail to: Dillard University, 2601 Gentilly Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70122 Room 146 Cook Center. Deadlines for spring issues are Feb. 4 and 25; March 11 and 25; and April 15. Letters must be signed and will not be returned.

Our policy

The Courtbouillon is published by the students of Dillard University. Views expressed on the opinion pages are those of the individual writers, and not those of the administration, faculty or student body. The Courtbouillon reserves the right to edit all writings for space and libel.

28 January 2010

Our brothers in Haiti need our help

Charley Steward Editor-in-chief

I’m sure we were all stunned – especially those who actually survived Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and/or lost loved ones and possessions – by the devastation of Haiti by two major earthquakes in less than a two-week period, with an estimated death toll now as high as 200,000 and up to 150,000 bodies collected already.

The trauma of Katrina, the largest natural disaster in American history, could not be fathomed when it occurred.

But consider this: Katrina cost slightly less than 2,000 lives – 1 percent of the Haitian estimated deaths. Let your mind recall the heartbreak and headache of that awful time, and then multiply that 100 times.

At least 3 million of its 10 million inhabitants were affected. And these people were destitute already. Haiti is one of the world’s poorest countries, with a Gross Domestic Product of less than $8 billion (compared with $13.84 trillion in the United States). Half are illiterate. The average pay is $70 a month, and inflation is 14 percent a year (compared with 2.7 percent here right now). The life expectancy is 52 years, with 10 percent of infants dying before reaching 4 and a third of Haitians ill or underweight.

The first earthquake struck Tuesday, Jan. 12. The 7.0 magnitude quake’s epicenter hit just 10 miles west of Port-au-Prince,

Charley Steward the largest city of Haiti. Eight days later, the country was hit by another quake, an aftershock of 6.1 magnitude.

We applaud the quick action of President Obama and people around this nation and the world who have stepped up to help the helpless, most of whom already were destitute even before the quake.

Living in a city that experienced a major natural disaster of its own, it is important that we make sure that we do all that we can to help them survive and rebuild.

Remember the stupid suggestion nearly five years ago that the nation should not even consider rebuilding New Orleans?

I thought that stupidity couldn’t be matched, but then I heard about the ignorant comments of so-called preacher Pat Robertson and so-called conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh – both of whom apparently are getting more insensitive and racist as they march into senility.

Robertson said the reason for

Haiti’s earthquake was because the nation-state made a deal with the devil, implying that voodoo was behind its successful revolt against enslavement by the French, even though 80 percent of Haitians say they are Roman Catholic. (So, one might ask, did the French make a deal with the devil to come up with the formula of working slaves to death in three years – and then go out and replenish the “stock” – to maximize its sugar cane profits?) Then Limbaugh, the intellect that he is (NOT!!), criticized Obama’s actions, saying the United States “already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax.”

How disgusting can you get?

But now that I’ve vented, let’s remember our undeniable connection to Haiti and its natives and what a long, hard struggle to recovery they face. The city of New Orleans and the country of Haiti don’t just share similar tragedies, but a long history. Thousands of Haitians are believed to live in the New Orleans area.

I know with the start of school and those expensive textbooks to buy, money might be tight for students – and even for Dillard faculty and staff, who aren’t exactly at the top of the higher education pay scale.

Yet, I encourage everyone to sacrifice just a little to help provide relief to those who need it so much.

Any little bit counts: Please, do what you can.

28 January 2010

Opinion&Editorial

COURTBOUILLON

WORD ON THE AVE

What was your New Year’s resolution?

Jasmine Wright: freshman Spanish Sacramento, Calif.

“I didn’t make a New Year resolution because I try to work on things continually throughout the year instead of just at the beginning.”

Brittany Champagne: sophomore nursing Marrero

Jessica Cunningham: freshman sociology Kenner

“I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. If you want to change something, you should do it right then. Don’t wait for a certain time of year.”

“To become a better me. Most people say “new year, new me.” It’s a new year, but it’s still the same me. I’m just improving who I am.”

18 QUESTIONS Editor’s note: The column “18 Questions” is a popular one with many Dillard students, who may ask questions serious or facetious, insightful or inane. It is named after the year the university was founded,1869.

The following questions were compiled by writer Charley Steward from the offerings of various students recently. If you have a question, send it to ducourtbouillon@gmail.com .

1.

Why do DU students pay so much money to attend Dillard but don’t go to class, complain about the work and don’t want to learn?

2.

What works better: Ricola or Hall’s?

3.

What are illuminati? And what does it have to do with Jay-Z? 4.

Why doesn’t Kearny have Cap’n Crunch in the cereal selection?

5.

How much did your textbooks cost this semester? Was it just a ligament or something more like an arm and a leg?

6.

Why are used textbooks just as high as new ones?

7.

Why do we get only about 10 percent of what we paid for books refunded?

8.

Why is the front gate on Cook’s side closed at 6:55 p.m. when it’s supposed to close at 7 p.m.?

9.

Do administrators know what a hassle it is to walk or drive around to the other side to get out of this school?

10.

Why are there 18 questions with no answers? (See editor’s note above.)

11.

What happens to all the money we pay for meals at Kearny? Less than 40 percent of students with a meal plan actually can make it to Kearny in time to eat every meal.

12.

Why don’t they just charge us for what we eat and refund us for what we don’t? Or – at least – extend the service hours?

13.

What is the correct spelling of Dillard’s dining hall: Kearney or Kearny? (The school’s Web site spells it both ways.)

14.

Whatever happened to customer service?

15.

Why must we always wait a month for refunds?

16.

Why can’t we rent textbooks on-campus?

17.

Where are all the teachers? Why do we have to take one teacher for four different classes?

18.

Can we get some reality-based guidelines on when a person with a decal can park on the grass at Dillard? There seems to be a double standard in which some can and some can’t.

7

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