CRIME: Missing dog food at LSU Vet School leads to two arrests, p. 3
FOOTBALL: Why Sam Montgomery sees himself as just another student, p. 5
Reveille The Daily
CRIME
Woman raped near Brightside Chris Grillot Staff Writer
The Baton Rouge Police Department is investigating an alleged kidnapping and rape that occurred near Brightside Drive and Nicholson Drive around 2 p.m. Monday. The victim, a 20-year-old woman, said she was approached by a white male in the parking lot of an apartment complex, according to a BRPD news release. She said the man put an object to her back, and she believed it was a gun. He then forced her inside a van parked nearby, drove to a wooded area, raped her and then drove her back to the apartment complex and let her go, the release read. The man was described as being a white male, 30 to 35 years old with bushy hair and a brown mustache. He wore a blue work jumpsuit and a baseball cap. Anyone with information is asked to called the BRPD’s Sex Crimes Division at 225-389-3853 or Crime Stoppers at 225-344-7867.
Contact Chris Grillot at cgrillot@lsureveille.com
www.lsureveille.com
Wednesday, October 3, 2012 • Volume 117, Issue 28
Engineering an Expansion Patrick F. Taylor Hall to be expanded by 2016
Chris Grillot Staff Writer
The University’s largest building — the College of Engineering’s Patrick F. Taylor Hall — will be expanded and renovated
by fall 2016, Gov. Bobby Jindal announced in a news conference Tuesday. The renovations will be funded by a $100 million public and private partnership — $50 million from state funds and $50 million
from private and other funding sources through the University. So far, the college has raised $8 million for the project, Jindal said. EXPANSION, see page 11
renderings courtesy of LSU COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING and photo by BENJAMIN OLIVER HICKS / The Daily Reveille
[Left] La. Gov. Bobby Jindal announces a $100 million University partnership with the state to expand Patrick F. Taylor Hall at a news conference in Taylor Hall on Tuesday. [Above, right] Renderings show the future Patrick F. Taylor Hall expansions.
CRIME
Alabama fan pleads guilty to lewd act Staff Reports The Alabama fan who exposed himself and assaulted an LSU fan in a New Orleans fast food restaurant after the 2012 BCS National Championship game pled guilty to obscenity charges Tuesday. Brian H. Downing, of Smith Station, Ala., agreed to plead guilty the morning he was supposed to appear in court for charges that carried heavy prison sentences, including 10 years in jail for sexual battery, according to reports. Downing now faces up to two years in prison, but will not be required to register as a sex offender since the sexual battery charge was dropped. The video that went viral after the Crimson Tide dominated the Tigers shows Downing pulling out his genitals and thrusting against a passed-out man in LSU attire. Downing was initially arrested 10 days after the Jan. 19 incident. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 29. Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at news@lsureveille.com; Twitter: @TDR_news
FACULTY SENATE
Plus-minus grading approved, requires further review Resolution heads to Academic Affairs Joshua Bergeron Staff Writer
After an Ad Hoc Committee report, a Student Government report and 10 months of debate, the University’s Faculty Senate voted 26-14-4 in favor of a plusminus grading scale Tuesday during its monthly meeting. Introduced into the Faculty Senate in November 2011, the resolution calls for a grading
system that would change the way students’ grade point averages are calculated. For example, a student that receives a B plus would receive a 3.3 instead of a 3.0. Despite its passage, a few more steps are necessary before the grading scale may be implemented. The resolution now heads to the Office of Academic Affairs, according to T. Gilmour Reeve, vice provost for Academic Programs, Planning and Review. “Now that the bill has passed, we will consider all of the stakeholders before making a
decision,” Reeve said. “There is another level of review before it is officially implemented.” Don Chance, finance professor and the resolution’s author, said the grading scale could be implemented in two years, but Registrar Robert Doolos estimated that current students “probably won’t see the new grading scale before they graduate.” Chance opened the discussion during the meeting by giving an overview of the bill before addressing criticism. “The grading scale is more GRADING, see page 11
photos by BRIANNA PACIORKA / The Daily Reveille
[Left] LSU finance professor Don Chance speaks in support of changing the University’s grading system, while [right] Student Government Academic Affairs Director Thomas Rodgers voices students’ concerns at the Faculty Senate meeting on Tuesday.