Events: Group holds discussion about race and sexuality, p. 3
Philanthropy: Volunteer LSU members reach out to the homeless, p. 4
Reveille The Daily
Injunction against Regents denied
www.lsureveille.com
Football: LSU players gear up for NFL Scouting Combine, p. 5 Friday, Feb. 25, 2011 • Volume 115, Issue 97
The Grand Ball
Sydni Dunn Staff Writer
After a nearly seven-hour court hearing Thursday, Judge Timothy Kelley of the 19th Judicial Court in Baton Rouge denied the injunction filed against Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Board of Regents. The suit, which was filed on Feb. 14 by former Sen. Cleo Fields on behalf of seven Southern University students, stated the Board’s current makeup was unconstitutional. It also temporarily suspended the Board’s study on merging the University of New Orleans and Southern University-New Orleans, which has since resumed. Kelley rendered his decision with a 29-page explanation highlighting the students’ failure to prove the necessary elements for the injunction and inability to provide arguments “rooted in fact.” The suit said the Board is not representative of the state’s
Read about the tense atmosphere at the hearing at lsureveille.com SUIT, see page 11
photos by ZACH BREAUX / The Daily Reveille
In a tribute to the last queen of France, the Department of French Studies hosted a Marie Antoinette Masquerade Ball in the Grand Salon of the French House on Thursday night in association with the Francophilia Foundation and Friends of French Studies. A fusion of classic and contemporary music, a cornucopia of French pastries, period costumes and baroque masks introduced students and faculty to the nightlife of 18th-century France.
SUSTAINABILITY
Composting research, education increasing on campus Logan Leger Contributing Writer
CHRISTOPHER LEH / The Daily Reveille
William Carney, head of LSU’s W.A. Callegari Environmental Center, describes the composting process Thursday. Composting first started on campus in 2008.
The University is getting a little greener with the help of rancid produce and poultry excrement. Composting efforts have been largely educational thus far. The W.A. Callegari Environmental Center, a division of the LSU AgCenter, composts for research and education, said William Carney, associate professor and head of the center. For example, the center educated prisons on how to cut costs by composting, Carney said. But for Carl Motsenbocker, horticulture professor, and Steven Hall, biological and agricultural engineering associate professor, it’s not enough. The two submitted a
proposal to the Board of Regents to increase composting research and education that resulted in a pilot project in 2009. “We want to become a research center and to teach others how to compost,” Motsenbocker said. The main hurdle is currently logistics. Students in Horticulture 4012, one of Motsenbocker’s special-projects classes, are working on these problems, which include method, location and funding. Amanda McWhirt, agronomy graduate student and a student in the class, is determining the feasibility of composting as a campus operation. “It’s feasible, but we want to start small and use it as a teaching tool,” McWhirt said.
Composting, an important part of sustainability, started on campus in 2008 as one of the first environmental initiatives of the University, said Denise Scribner, campus sustainability manager. “It’s important because it benefits many departments,” Scribner said. One option for on-campus composting uses a large machine, called “in-vessel,” which can be placed anywhere on campus. Carney is in favor of this method for campus because it’s a closed and regulated system. But it’s expensive — an in-vessel project would exceed $500,000, McWhirt said. Open-air composting, which the COMPOSTING, see page 11