STATE & NATION
SPORTS
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
List forms to replace Landrieu. PG. 4
Also: SU women settle for split. PG. 5
SU now waits for Dyson in April. PG. 6
Jindal to pick next lt. Gov.
souljah cancels on sU
Jaguars stumble on road
estABLished in 1928
WWW.SOUTHERNDIGEST.COM
Southern prepares for SACS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2010
VOL. 55, ISSUE 6
WHO DAT FEVER SWEEPS SU
Lomotey opens door to SU
By PatriCK GallOWay
diGest NeWs serVice
diGest coNtriBUtiNG Writer
As an extended effort to improve communication on campus, Chancellor Kofi Lomotey will be having his first one-hour open hour session for students. The first of these sit-down sessions with the chancellor is Wednesday from 4 p.m.-5 p.m. “The administration, along with some faculty, students and staff, are concerned about the limited communication on campus. The town hall meetings, the Monday Morning Memo, the designating of 11:00 am to 12:20 pm on Thursdays as no-class time and the administration’s monthly meetings with faculty are all efforts to improve communication on campus. The Chancellor’s open hours for students is another effort to improve communication,” said Chancellor Kofi Lomotey. The Chancellor’s open hours for students will occur every Tuesday from 9 a.m.-10 a.m. and Wednesday from 4 p.m.5 p.m., except on days when the Chancellor is out-of-town or unavailable due to other engagements. No appointment is necessary for these times. As an effort to assist and speak with each student participating in that day’s open hours for students, each student will be given a limited amount of time to talk to the chancellor. “These open hours will occur each Tuesday from 9 a.m.10 a.m. and each Wednesday from 4 p.m.-5 p.m. during each semester—except when the Chancellor is out of town or otherwise unavoidably occupied. Meeting times will be limited to allow as many students as possible to dialogue with the Chancellor. In instances where more time is needed for a particular student, a regular appointment will be made. As this is a new initiative, we are not yet certain how much of a response we will receive; we will respond accordingly,” he said. The chancellor hopes that students take advantage of the opportunity to come and sit down with him and discuss any occurrences affecting the students.
Various Southern University professors and faculty members team up to fix institutional issues reported by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The SACS commission on colleges set forth standards and guidelines for institutions in a range of areas to insure that they represent good practices in higher education and establish a level of accomplishment expected of all members of that institution. Southern University is now in the reaffirmation stage of the accreditation process for 20092010 after completing their compliance report, which shows the university fulfillment to all of SACS rules and regulation. SACS sent their preliminary response to Southern University’s report which states their noncompliancy with the SACS guidelines in areas that challenge the university mission statement, various support programs, and learning resources for students. “The big issue that the university is not compliant on is the lack of evidence that it shows on having establish institutional effectiveness,” said Jacqueline Howard-Matthews, an associate provost of the office of planning, assessment and institutional research. In response to their noncompliance the university reorganizes their leadership committee which consist a “task force” of 13 teams with faculty and professors in which they are assigned different section in the university responsibility checklist for focus reports submitted to SACS. Each “task force” is given the checklist that states a well-defined notion on what has to be done to correct the problems in many areas around Southern University. “That financial aid doesn’t have a large amount to do with See SACS page 3
PHOtO By J. Pat Carter/aP PHOtO
New orleans saints cornerback tracy porter holds a super Bowl champions towel as quarterback drew Brees stands nearby with his son Baylen after the saints beat the indianapolis colts 31-17 in the NFL super Bowl XLiV football game in Miami sunday. diGest staFF report
The New Orleans Saints’ run to Sunday’s Super Bowl victory over the Indianapolis Colts not only sparked celebrations among fans in New Orleans, but fans among Southern University students as well. With Tuesday’s parade honoring the NFL champions hours away in the Crescent City, students express their feelings on the game’s outcome. Many students whose home teams were knocked out of the running like Porsche Love, a senior business management major from San Antonio, cheered for the Saints because she felt if it wasn’t her favorite team, the Cowboys, then it had to be the Saints. “I was so happy that the Colts had lost because at one point they had beat the Chicago Bears. So I was a Saints fan for the night,” said Cedric Clarke, junior finance major from Westmont, Ill. “I believed they deserved it.” Also many students like Deante Thomas, junior engineering major from Baton Rouge, felt that this win was for more than just the Saints, but for the whole state of Louisiana as well. “The Saints played an excellent game. Its great that a state that’s been last in everything comes out best in the nation,” commented Henry Watson, a sophomore computer science
major from Jonesville, La. “For everything that the city of New Orleans has been through it couldn’t have happened to a better team,” said Dawnestle Milligan, senior nursing major from Houston. People lined up by the hundreds to buy Monday’s Times-Picayune, which hollered “AMEN!” from its front page. The Saints’ Super Bowl victory was a prayer answered in this struggling city, and New Orleans itself seemed different for it. Swarms of fans in black and gold greeted the players as they stepped off a chartered plane at the suburban airport, cheering them with “Who Dat!” chants. The Saints, cellar dwellers for decades, delivered not just their first Lombardi trophy but optimism for their city, a new sense that the unimaginable — better schools, less crime and even honest politicians — really is possible. “The Saints kept hope alive in this city that better days were coming,” said Shannon Sims, a 45-year-old criminal-court administrator in the crowd. They “were the force that kept us See SAINTS page 3
THE NEXT ISSUE OF THE DIGEST WILL BE FRIDAY, FEB. 19. A.M. CLOUDS/P.M. SUN HIGH
48° | 30° LOW
INSIDE S O U T H E R N
CAMPUS BRIEFS...............2 STATE & NATION................4 A & E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 NEWS.............................3 SPORTS......................5 VIEWPOINTS......................7 U N I V E R S I T Y ,
B A T O N
R O U G E ,
L A .