Tuesday . February 27, 2018
Volume 70 . Issue 5
Democracy in Danger: SGA
SU Computer Science Department Celebrates 50th Anniversary
Meets in “Special Session” BY JACQUELINE MORGAN
SOUTHERN DIGEST - MANAGING EDITOR
Last Tuesday’s SGA “Special Session” Senate meeting entailed the proposal of several bills, one of which will be presented as as referendum on the Spring 2018 election ballot, and others which the senators were able to unanimously approve. Senator Caleb Holmes, a Sophomore Political Science major from Shreveport, LA began the meeting by proposing five minor revisions to the Election Code, which included adding an article stating that further amendments to the Election Code can only be made by the Senate, and lowering the GPA requirement to participate in SGA to a 2.5. After short discussion amongst the senators, the
revisions were tabled, and the agenda moved along. Senator Caldrick Slaughter then presented a bill to the senate, that would exempt qualifying candidates who have served three consecutive years or six consecutive semesters in SGA from taking the SGA Constitution Exam during their 4th year of serving. The bill went into immediate questioning by the senate, whose majority was unable to see the upside and true purpose of the bill. Senior Music Education major, Michael Bingham, of Baker, LA chose to present an alternative to the bill during his allotted public comment time. “Regardless of how many times you take the test, if you can take it three times, you should know it like the back of
BY ACE WHEELER
SOUTHERN DIGEST - STAFF WRITER
(Julian Alvarez/DIGEST ART)
your hand … so, to prevent the problem, implement a retake clause so if no one passes the test, they’ll be allowed to retake the test,” Bingham suggested. Slaughter, a Business and Marketing major from Baton Rouge reasoned, “This is to
get students involved in SGA as early freshman year, and keep them encouraged to keep pursuing SGA.” After debate, the bill died in committee. See SPECIAL SESSION page 3
Spring 2018 Career Week
BY GABRIELLE HUTCHINSON SOUTHERN DIGEST - NEWS EDITOR
At the peak of the semester, the Southern University Career Services Center sponsored the Spring 2018 Career Week, a series of events from February 19th through the 21st to prepare students for future employment and networking opportunities. “We want students to begin with the end in mind. The earlier you start interacting and having the conversations about your career goals, the more successful you will be. We believe in making sure that our freshmen understand the importance of coming into the Career Center,” Director of the Career Services Center, Tamara Foster-Montgomery shared. This semester, Montgomery, in partnership with the Reaching Educational Aspirations and Career Horizons (R.E.A.C.H.) Task Force, personally visited every Freshman Seminar class on the campus in anticipation of the Professional Development and Leadership Institute and the
See CAREER WEEK page 3
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Former Southern University Lab School head football coach, Marcus Randall, and attorney Jill Pratt, attend Friday’s Board of Supervisors Meeting inquiring the status of Randall’s employment after he was terminated based on allegations of illegal recruiting and giving students special benefits. (Devin Hadrick/DIGEST)
Hirings, Firings, Salaries Rising: SUS Board Meeting
BY BRIA GREMILLION / GABRIELLE HUTCHINSON SOUTHERN DIGEST - EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/DIGEST NEWS EDITOR
Former SU Lab school head coach, Marcus Randall, appeared before the Board of Supervisors during its monthly meeting on Friday, February 23. Accompanied by his attorney, Jill Craft, Randall stated that he was wrongfully terminated back in August 2017 after allegations that he committed violations with the Louisiana High School Athletic Association in regards to recruiting efforts. “If Southern didn’t produce the paperwork, let’s put this man back to work. I have not heard one thing
other than hearsay that he’s done anything wrong,” Attorney Tony Clayton told his colleagues. Randall and his lawyer first requested formal documentation of the reports made by the system and the Louisiana High School Athletics Association on August 24, 2017 and claim to have yet to be presented with such. “Up until this point, I’ve heard nothing and I think he should go back to work,” Clayton reiterated. Randall led his team at Southern University See SUS BOARD MEETING page 3
THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY AND A&M COLLEGE, BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
Southern University’s Department of Computer Science celebrated its 50th year anniversary with a threeday conference starting from Wednesday, February 21 and lasting to Friday, February 23. Alongside the conference, was the Dr. Leroy Roquemore Symposium Banquet, which celebrated its 40th year anniversary Thursday at 6:00 p.m. in the Southern University Event Center. Many alumni, faculty, and present students gathered in celebratory fashion, in honor of the late Dr. Roquemore -one of the ‘founding fathers’ in the department. IBM Vice President-of Cognitive Systems, and Senior Executor for Austin, Texas IBM Laboratory Dexter Henderson served as guest speaker at the banquet. As a former student of Southern University, class of 1983, he spoke on the importance of the department stating, “If you go back when this started this in 1968. . . for Dr. Leroy Roquemore, to have a vision that Computer Science at Southern University could play a major role in corporate America around the world, was brilliant. And now here we are 50 years later, we have over 50 PhD’s come out of the Computer Science department. We have vice presidents and executives all over the world. It’s just amazing on what we have been able to accomplish over the last 50 years.” Southern University’s Computer Science department has seen much growth over the years. It was developed in 1968 under the leadership of Dr. James J. Prestage, who created the Computer Center, with Dr. Leroy Roquemore acting as Chairman and Dr. Roland Carey serving as Director. These founding fathers helped advance not only the Computer Science branch, but also the university as a whole. See ANNIVERSARY page 3