MEN’S BASKETBALL: Tigers miss out on NIT berth, p. 11
PHOTO STORY: Baton Rouge parade celebrates St. Patrick’s Day, p. 6
Reveille The Daily
www.lsureveille.com
Monday, March 18, 2013 • Volume 117, Issue 108
Disqualification
OVERTURNED UCourt reverses Unite LSU disqualification; all Unite LSU candidates to be reinstated
Staff Writer
Senior Contributing Writer
UCourt Chief Justice Morgan Faulk [top right] speaks at a UCourt hearing Sunday in the Student Union, where newly reinstated Student Government Vice President Taylor Parks [bottom left] smiles as a supporter congratulates her.
TAT to deliver progress report Alyson Gaharan
Judah Robinson
MARY LEAVINES / The Daily Reveille
REORGANIZATION
The University Court overturned the election board’s decision to disqualify the Unite LSU ticket from the spring Student Government Elections Sunday evening, and John Woodard and Taylor Parks have now officially won the SG election. Unite LSU presidential candidate — now president-elect — John Woodard said a total of 56 Unite candidates will be reinstated to their positions, and 11 members will now be able to participate in the runoff election. The decision from the court comes a day after an appeal filed against the election board’s decision to disqualify Unite LSU from the election was heard Saturday morning. The appeal, which was written by Unite LSU adviser Joe Gipson, did not pass through UCourt because it dealt with whether the election board had the right to revalue Unite LSU’s expenditure document.
The court voted that the election board did have that right. However, Sunday’s complaint dealt with whether the election board had correctly executed its power regarding the revaluing of Unite LSU’s expenditure document. The court decided the election board did not have enough evidence to disqualify Unite LSU from the election. The election board thought Unite LSU’s financial document that dealt with the price of its campaign banners was less than fair market value, which would have been against the election code. Under the election code, the election board has the right to revalue the price of items on campaign financial documents that it deem unfairly OVERTURNED, see page 9
Read our editorial’s board’s thoughts on what this means for Woodard’s tenure, p. 16.
Although the Transition Advisory Team is presenting a progress report at today’s Board of Supervisors meeting, most of the actual reorganization changes will hinge on decisions made by the University’s Presidential Search Committee, which is also meeting today. The Team will present a general overview of its progress so far to the Board, but the report will not include any recommendations for reorganization, said SSA Consultant Christel Slaughter. Those recommendations will be presented to the Board of Supervisors in July, the same month the new system president will be hired, according to a Transition Advisory Team PowerPoint. Slaughter said the “progress report” is not a proposal because it will simply outline the Team’s development and will not include any recommendations for how the System should move forward with the reorganization process, REPORT, see page10
FACULTY
LSU retirement benefits some of lowest in nation McKenzie Womack Staff Writer
Faculty Senate’s Benefits Advisory Committee Chair Roger Laine, Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope and others are taking action to increase faculty awareness, participation and engagement about the University’s comparatively poor retirement benefits. About 70 percent of the University’s faculty is on the Optional Retirement Plan, or ORP. The state-paid benefits for faculty members are some of the lowest retirement benefits among universities in the nation, according to Laine.
The problem is worsened because LSU faculty do not receive Social Security benefits, something many universities in the Southeastern Conference give. Starting July 1, LSU faculty on the ORP plan will receive 5.19 percent in retirement benefits. In 2012, that number was 5.97 percent. Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Stuart Bell said the University is concerned with “any issues that may impact the retention of our existing faculty and our ability to be nationally competitive in recruitment of new faculty.” “Employee benefits that
are competitive with peer institutions are certainly critical for our current and prospective faculty members,” Bell said. A 5.19 percent benefit plan means 5.19 percent is the annual amount put in a faculty member’s retirement account, Laine said. Comparably, the University of Georgia contributes 6.2 percent to Social Security and adds another 11 percent of state benefits, totaling a 17.2 percent of salary retirement package — more than three times the retirement benefits for LSU faculty, Laine said. BENEFITS, see page 10
TAYLOR BALKOM / The Daily Reveille
Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope speaks at a meeting Sept. 5, 2012. Cope is raising awareness about the University’s poor retirement benefits.