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Exclusive content @
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
www.southerndigest.com
Volume 58, Issue 18
The Digest gives year-end ratings see Approval Ratings, page 4
Thursday
The White House is ‘winning’
Baseball crushes J-State, wins 13th straight
see Commentary, page 11
see Sports, page 9
Wilson to speak at graduation Digest News Service
2011-12 Year In Review D The Southern Digest Staff
uring the last year Southern University has faced some challenges and celebrated some triumphs. The Southern Digest has been there along for the ride. From the changes in administrations to the current state of financial exigency, Southern University looks to rebuild and progress, 132 years after establishment Southern seeks to thrive for the underserved and it’s community. These are the top ten recurring themes of the 20112012 academic year.
10. Improvements
Southern University at Baton Rouge, Southern University at New Orleans, Southern University Shreveport, Southern University Ag Center and Southern University Law Center have moved to make improvements to campus infrastructure physically this year. Between the Fall 2011 and the Spring 2012, Southern University at Baton Rouge has continued the theme of building a new Southern. From the reroofing of established buildings to the extension of Harris hall and the student health services building. In 2011, the school began renovating a five-mile, building-to-building central heating ventilation and air
conditioning piping system that should be complete by May 2012. John B. Cade library and E.N. Mayberry dining hall are being re-roofed. While these improvements have been good, there have been some malfunctions around campus. In January, T.H. Harris Hall, Rodney G. Higgins Hall, and the John B. Cade Library experienced a campus wide blackout in the first week of school. At the Baton Rouge campus, The campus has seen an influx in projects thanks to Capital Outlay and acquired funding; from the re-roofing of established locations (John B. Cade and Mayberry) to the development of new buildings. (Intramural Complex, T.H. Harris extension and Student Health extension)
who don’t meet the standard requirements of Southern University-New Orleans to enroll as Southern UniversityShreveport students while completing the necessary remedial and basic/core courses that are required for their admission into SUNO.SUNO and SUSLA’s partnership to create the Honoré center looks to offer more options for students interested in SUNO without the ability to meet the admission standards while keeping them in the SU system. SULC picked up awards and accolades this year, Chancellor Pitcher was named in the Dean’s section of “On Being a Black Lawyer” and SULC is among the top law schools for a multi-cultural student body and financial value.
9. System Updates
8. SU Community
SUSLA has been busy acquiring new resources to offer its students. Amidst the budgetary cuts, they have had to terminate some programs but, have offered students more in the meantime. SUSLA seeks to offer a new nursing program in the Fall of 2012. Southern University’s Baton Rouge campus, isn’t the only one in the system that been updating its campus. Last February SUNO and SUSLA initiated the Honoré Center for Undergraduate Student Achievement pilot program. The program allows students
It’s sometimes said that Southern University has lost that “Ole Southern Spirit,” because of the recent problem build-ups like the declaration of financial exigency and the rising cost of tuition and on top of all of these issues the football team hasn’t defeated it’s arch rival in the Bayou Classic since 2006. Southern has long been a premiere university that provides students a high quality global educational experience to engage students in scholarly, research and creative activities. Improvements have been
made to further improve the mission that SU believes in like improving the light fixtures on campus, the fountain removal project, and the upgrades to the art department. The SU community has had it’s ups and downs among financial exigency, SUNO merger, House Bill 927 and more with Louisiana’s education reform. The SU community has banded together to fight against the forces that look to dismantle and hinder Southern University.
7. SU administration addresses issues
Llorens was appointed to the position of Chancellor at the SUBR campus after a search following the resignation of former Chancellor Kofi Lomotey. In transition as well was the staff that was brought in with Chancellor Lomotey. Dr. Shujaa former provost was moved to the position of Dean of SU Graduate School. Dr. Janet Rami from the Nursing school was brought in to replace Shujaa in the Spring 2012. As the administration transitioned out of one transition period of new appointment it transitioned into another one of exigency. Over the past year administrators and students differ on beliefs of the current See Year-in-Review page 3
the official student newspaper of southern university and A&m college, baton rouge, louisiana
John S. Wilson, Jr., the Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Historical Black Colleges and Universities, will be the commencement speaker at Southern University’s spring 2012 graduation ceremony May 18 in the F.G. Clark Activity Center. The event begins at 10:30 a.m. As executive director, Wilson partners the White House, 32 federal agencies, private and philanthropic entities to work to assist 105 HBCUs across the country. Wilson received his bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College, a master’s of Theological Studies from Harvard University and both a master’s and doctoral in administration, planning and social policy from Harvard University. Prior to working with the White House Initiative on HBCUs, Wilson was an associate professor of higher education in the graduate school of education at the George Washington University. He also served as the executive dean of GWU’s Virginia Campus and helped to develop a strategic plan for the university. He joined the staff at George Washington in 2001 to help develop a strategic plan for the university. Previously he spent 16 years at MIT, where he served as director of foundation relations and assistant provost. As director, Wilson helped to lead two major capital campaigns that raised a combined total of nearly $3 billion. In that context, he more than doubled the productivity of the office he managed and reached a record annual revenue stream of more than $50 million. Wilson also held several teaching positions during more than a decade in Harvard University’s Afro-American Studies Department, as well as in their Graduate School of Education. His primary research and teaching interests include advancement and finance in higher education, and the transformation of aspiring college and universities, especially HBCUs. Wilson has served as a board member for Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga., and for the Independent Federal Savings Bank in Washington, D.C.