Men’s basketball: Johnson says traveling in Italy helped Tigers, p. 5
College World Series: South Carolina beats Florida, 2-1, p. 6
Reveille The Daily
www.lsureveille.com
Baton Rouge Pride Fest event celebrates diversity
Morgan Searles Staff Writer
The fifth annual Baton Rouge Pride Fest attracted people from all over Louisiana to celebrate diversity in all shapes, sizes and colors of the rainbow. Complete with food, face painting, entertainment and a resource fair, Pride Fest hosted hundreds from different backgrounds and orientations in a familyfriendly environment. Shad Duplessis, resource fair coordinator, said the success of this year’s event can be attributed to timing and the spirit of participants. Pride Fest began as a small group of people who wanted to celebrate their identities, Duplessis said. The first Pride Fest included a picnic in the park for several hundred members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The celebration has since changed, growing to a gathering of about 3,500 people in the Belle of Baton Rouge atrium. Duplessis said the amount of new attendees and the variety of entertainment has kept Pride Fest fresh. “At one point we made an announcement asking who had never been to Pride Fest before,” Duplessis said. “Fifty percent said it was their first year attending. Having new fresh folks coming in along with entertainment keeps it different.” Adrian Serio, biological engineering senior and co-vice president of Spectrum, the University’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer student organization, said some members of Spectrum were closely involved in Pride Fest. “It’s a great event for our community, city and state,” Serio said. “It reaches a large demographic of Baton Rouge, and it’s a big step in welcoming straight counterparts.” In addition to food, entertainment and familyfriendly activities, Pride Fest also featured a resource PRIDE, see page 11
UREC: Classes help with summer fitness plans, p. 3 Tuesday, June 28, 2011 • Volume 115, Issue 146
True Colors
BOARD OF REGENTS
Board, Legislature approve tuition hike Rachel Wilson
Contributing Writer
MORGAN SEARLES / The Daily Reveille
A couple waits for the next act to perform on stage Saturday at the fifth annual Baton Rouge Pride Fest at the Belle of Baton Rouge atrium. The event celebrated diversity and included food and entertainment.
During last week’s meeting, the Board of Regents decided LSU and every other college and university in Louisiana may raise tuition by 5 percent. This power was granted after the University met 2010 LA GRAD Act objectives including student success, articulation and transfer, workforce and economic development and institutional efficiency and accountability. There are four designations an institution can earn — Green, Yellow, Orange and Red. The University earned Green status, meaning it “passed the Student Success Objective and two or three other GRAD Act performance objectives.” “Under the GRAD Act, Regents entered into six-year agreements which set institutionspecific targets, including annual performance measures that result TUITION, see page 11
CHARITY
Professor, sons raise $25K to aid Japan earthquake victims Kamo: Japanese still in of need help Laura Furr Staff Writer
After the devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident in Japan last March, LSU’s own Yoshinori, Kenta, and Shota Kamo have been able to send a tremendous amount of aid to Japan through innovative fundraisers and the help of the LSU community. Yoshinori Kamo, associate sociology professor, and his two sons, Kenta and Shota, have raised more than $25,000 to help restore the country. The Japanese people are still in great need, Yoshinori said.
“Shelters closed in late April and May. People are returning to homes without a first floor,” he said. “There is a very pensive mood. … People are almost depressed.” Yoshinori was born in Japan and moved to the U.S. when he was 25. Kenta and Shota were both raised in the U.S. but spent summers in Japan and feel a strong tie to the country. Kenta, an international trade and finance junior, designed a Tshirt and organized a fundraiser while Shota, a University alumnus, helped organize Bogie’s Japan Relief Palooza last March. Kenta’s fundraiser, “Hope, Help, Heal,” has been incredibly successful. “The T-shirt fund really went off. We’ve sold more than 1,300 shirts,” he said. “We really weren’t
expecting it to be this successful. Our original goal was to raise $10,000 so we’re very excited about it.” Yoshinori also sold 117 Tshirts in June while guest lecturing on a Japanese cruise ship, bringing the count to 1,327 shirts. The shirts have also been distributed in Slovenia using Kenta’s design. Yoshinori was not sure how many shirts were sold in Slovenia but noted that Slovenian people are friendly with the Japanese and are eager to help the struggling nation. “It has been awesome to see all the support from not only in Baton Rouge and LSU but all over the world,” Kenta said. “We’ve received numerous orders out of the state and some even from out of RELIEF, see page 11
File photo
Sociology professor Yoshinori Kamo, right, and his son Kenta Kamo, international trade and finance sophomore, speak April 11 about the Hope for Japan charity they started.