MUSIC: Curren$y discusses current projects, p. 9
MILITARY: ROTC recruits hit the ground running, p. 3
Reveille The Daily
Tuesday, August 21, 2012 • Volume 117, Issue 2
www.lsureveille.com
LSU Dining restructures meal plans LSU grad Meals allotted per week, not semester
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Option 2
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Caitlin McCord Contributing Writer
Get them while they’re hot — meals may disappear faster than a few swipes can take away. Students will no longer be allowed to use all of their meals at the end of the semester, but they will still be allowed to swipe others into the dining halls. This year’s meal plans now consist of a set number of meals per week instead of a set number of meals per semester. Students can choose to have 12, 15 or 19 meals per week. The number resets each Sunday, so at the beginning of each week, students have a new batch of meals to use, and the clock starts ticking over again. Unused meals expire at the end of each week and students will no longer be able to access them. “This system allows students to manage their meals much better, and it’s a lot less wastage in terms of them using their meals or rushing to use them all at the end of the semester,” said Dean Samuels, LSU Dining marketing director. Though the total number of meals per semester has not changed, the price of the meal plans has. Samuels said the prices increase by a few percent each year, but the change has never been more than 5 percent. “The prices usually change each year,” Samuels said. “Of course, the cost of kitchens, the cost of food, the cost of gas — all these things affect the cost of a meal.” He said the change stemmed from LSU Dining looking into how other universities’ meal plans
+ $150
in Paw Points
19 meals a week costs $1,909
$375
in Paw Points
15 meals a week costs $1,809
$600
in Paw Points
12 meals a week costs $1,809 graphic by KIRSTEN ROMAGUERA / The Daily Reveille
worked and realizing that there was an opportunity to provide a better service for the students. Both dining halls, the 459 Commons and The 5, are now open Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and will be open on weekends from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dining halls were previously closed on weekends. “At the end of the day, we get the best value to be able to give to the students by having a seven-day per week program,” Samuels said. He said students will still be allowed to swipe others into the dining halls, but it may not be in the student’s best interest because there’s a set amount of meals per week. The University discussed the issue and realized that a student being able to swipe someone else in to the dining halls helps to build community, Samuels said. Students may use their allotted weekly meals whenever they want, but once the meals for the week have been used, they must wait until Sunday for more. Student Government President Taylor Cox and SG Speaker Pro Tempore Lane Pace said they expect students to be upset with the changes. “We don’t think our meals should be dictated
Staff Writer
THE DAILY REVEILLE ARCHIVES
LSU Dining workers swipe students’ Tiger Cards to deduct from meal plans. Out of pocket, breakfast costs $7.25, lunch is $10.85 and dinner goes for $11.75.
by [LSU] Dining,” Cox said. Pace said SG plans to fight the changes made to the meal plans if students have a negative reaction. Contact Caitlin McCord at cmccord@lsureveille.com
Nonprofit promotes locally grown produce Austen Krantz Entertainment Writer
Steaming humidity often clings to the Red Stick Farmers Market on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, but it’s not unbearable for the vendors who spend their days away from the market tending to farms across the state. Organizing, traveling and vending at these markets takes time away from farmers’ field work, but for many, these events prove critical for sales. They present an opportunity for farmers to meet the local community and demonstrate the importance of buying
local produce. Galen Iverstine, a political science senior, runs a pasture-based livestock operation that cares for beef cattle, Berkshire hogs and pasture-raised chickens. Though leaving his work in Kentwood takes time and effort, he said these events generate about 60 percent of his sales. “I’m a solo operation, so it’s a full-time just getting here and getting back to manage the farm,” Iverstine said. “But it’s important to be out here.” At these farmers markets, vendors sell products directly to customers rather than selling to grocery stores, produce stands or other vendors. As a result, farmers receive more profits directly PRODUCE, see page 4
Family advocates for blood donations Chris Grillot
AGRICULTURE
Farmers market is three days a week
paralyzed after car collision
AUSTIN BENNETT / The Daily Reveille
Jynell Glaser of Glaser’s Produce Farm sells fresh peppers to shoppers Thursday at the Red Stick Farmers Market on Perkins Road.
University graduate Lauren Hoft was in a traffic incident Friday night that resulted in the left side of her body becoming paralyzed, and now her family is asking the University and the community for support. Hoft, who earned a bacheHOFT lor’s degree in biological engineering in May, hit the side of a vehicle whose driver lost control while merging onto Highway 411 around 7:50 p.m. Friday, according to her sister Ashley Hoft Autin. Doctors at Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center determined that Hoft suffered a shattered right knee, two broken ankles and five broken ribs. When doctors saw she couldn’t move her left hand, they discovered blood flow to the left side of her brain had been cut off, Autin said. Doctors removed part of her skull Sunday to alleviate the brain swelling that began Saturday. “It went from her going to be able to walk in three months to being on an hour-by-hour basis,” Autin said. The Hoft family is encouraging students to donate blood to The Blood Donor Center, located at Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center. For each donation given “for Lauren Hoft,” she will receive credit to lessen her hospital bill. Hoft’s blood type is A positive, but donors do not need to match her type, Autin said. The family has also set up a website through giftcards.com for monetary donations. Autin said her family is experiencing a “roller coaster of emotions,” but they are optimistic. “She’s a fighter— a real LSU Tiger,” Autin said. “She doesn’t give up.” Contact Chris Grillot at cgrillot@lsureveille.com