It’s been less than a week since SG President J Hudson and Vice President Dani Borel were inaugurated. They’ve been working to appoint executive staff members and meet with administrators this week.

Hudson said the next few months will be a time for meetings and planning for next year.

“We’ve gotten a lot of compliments,” Hudson said. “One thing I was worried about was I didn’t know how the adminis-tration would work with me. The adminis-trators have been totally receptive.”

EARLY INITIATIVESHudson has been making early plans

for more covered bus stops and a Tiger

Band commuter lot, both of which were on his campaign pushcard.

He said many of his initiatives don’t re-quire funding. As projected, the Tiger Band commuter lot will not cost the University any additional money.

“That’s something we want implement-ed for the fi rst football game,” Hudson said.

Hudson said he wants to pay for the covered bus stops via corporate sponsor-ships.

“Whether or not it’ll raise enough to pay for covered parking, I don’t know,” said former SG Vice President Martina Scheuer-mann. “The success will be determined by the people they select for that and how dedi-cated the individuals are.”

Hudson and Borel are smart to be thinking outside the box, Scheuermann said.

“Whatever economic times we’re in,

we can’t stop trying to plan things and move forward,” Scheuermann said.

STATE LEGISLATUREHudson said he plans to continue SG’s

voice at the State Capitol this summer as legislators discuss several bills affecting higher education.

He said he met with Chancellor Mi-chael Martin and Executive Vice Chancellor on Legislative and External Affairs Jason Droddy about the bills appearing in the State Legislature.

“We will be meeting with them much more to go over bills so we can go speak on their behalf,” Hudson said. “We need to ensure we have a strong presence there.”

Hudson spoke last year at the

As the budget crisis throws University fi nances into sharp fo-cus, some legislators are seeking savings through administrator salaries.

State Sen. Troy Hebert has introduced legislation to revert all administrative salaries in pub-lic higher education to their level at the beginning of the 2008 cal-endar year.

“We are cutting into the meat now where programs and classes are going to be cut,” Hebert said. “The teaching staff are going to be cut also, but we have hun-dreds of administrative personnel [statewide] that make $100,000 per year.”

Senate Bill 329 — authored by Hebert — would affect admin-istrators who are not involved in teaching and are paid by state ap-propriations.

The bill is scheduled to be debated in the Senate Education Committee.

“Instead of us cutting the professors and teachers in the

searching options to possibly move the University to a plus-minus grading system.

The Admissions, Standards and Honors committee is internally dis-cussing policies at some universities, deciding whether the plus-minus grad-ing system would be benefi cial to the University by providing a more pre-cise method of grading.

The University currently awards 4 quality points for an A, 3 for a B, 2 for a C and 1 point for a D.

For example, the plus-minus sys-tem could potentially change the grade earned by a student with a 77 percent average, said Paul LaRock , oceanog-raphy professor and ASH committee member.

“Under the current system, he or she would get a C for two quality

points . If we went to the plus-minus system, I would give the student a B-, which earns them 2.7 quality points , clearly benefi tting them,” LaRock said in an e-mail to The Daily Reveille.

Robert Perlis , ASH committee chairman, said changing the grading system wouldn’t make plus-minus grades mandatory. Rather, each in-structor would have the option use plus-minus grades in his or her class.

“Nobody can tell other people what an A means in their course,” Per-lis said. “If we had plus-minus grad-ing, but a faculty member said they don’t like that, they can just give all their students an A. Nobody says you have to assign an A-.”

Under the current grading system two students might receive the same grade for work of different quality levels, Perlis said.

THE DAILY REVEILLEWWW.LSUREVEILLE.COMVolume 114, Issue 133 Tuesday, April 27, 2010

REVELRYSee events, clothing and

new releases for this weekend, page 6.

a database of attendance at LSU sporting events at

lsureveille.com.

Check Online For:Barber shop, optical shop, test prep center to open in Union

this fall, page 3.

RENOVATIONS

Measuring UpA+AA-B+

BB-

C+

CC-

D+DD-F

4.33 - Alabama4.0 - All SEC schools3.67 - Florida, Alabama, Arkansas. 3.70 - Ga., Ken., Tenn., Vanderbilt, Alabama. 3.5 - South Carolina. 3.33 - Florida, Alabama, Arkansas. 3.30 - Ga., Ken., Tenn., Vanderbilt. 3.0 - All SEC schools2.70 - Georgia, Ken., Tenn., Vanderbilt. 2.67 - Arkansas. 2.50 - South Carolina. 2.33 - Florida, Alabama, Arkansas.2.30 - Georgia, Ken. Tenn., Vanderbilt.

2.00 - All SEC schools1.70 - Ga., Ken. Tenn. Vanderbilt. 1.67 - Alabama, Arkansas. 1.33 - Florida, Alabama, Arkansas. 1.30 - Ken., Tenn. Vanderbilt

1.00 - All SEC schools0.70 - Ken., Tenn., Vanderbilt. 0.67 - Florida, Alabama, Arkansas.

0 - All SEC schools

‘[Plus-minus grading]

makes GPA more

accurate of your

performance.’Collins Meredithaccounting senior

‘The downside is having that minus on

your transcript.’Hunter Pontiff

French senior

By Ryan BuxtonSenior Staff Writer

GRADING, see page 19

Faculty Senate committee studying plus-minus grading

FINANCES

Admin. salaries may be cut

SALARIES, see page 15

By Xerxes A. WilsonSenior Staff Writer

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

New administration plans for early initiatives

JAMES WEST / The Daily Reveille

[Left to right] UCFY President Lindsey Miller, Student Government Vice President Dani Borel and SG President J Hudson interview a student Sunday in the Union.

By Catherine ThrelkeldStaff Writer

INITIATIVES, see page 19

Quality points possible for an individual credit hour at SEC schools with plus-minus grading:

photos by MELANIE SCOTT, infographic by STEPHANIE GIGLIO / The Daily Reveille

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

The Daily Reveille holds accuracy and objectivity at the high-est priority and wants to reassure the reporting and content of the paper meets these standards.This space is reserved to recognize and correct any mistakes which may have been printed in The Daily Reveille. If you would like something cor-rected or clarifi ed please contact the editor at (225) 578-4811 or e-mail editor@lsureveille.com.

The Daily Reveille (USPS 145-800) is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University. The Daily Reveille is an independent entity within the Manship School of Mass Com-munication. A single issue of The Daily Reveille is free. To purchase additional copies for 25 cents, please contact the Offi ce of Student Media in B-34 Hodges Hall. The Daily Reveille is published daily during the fall and spring semesters and semi-weekly during the summer semester, except during holidays and fi nal exams. Second-class copies postage paid at Baton Rouge, La., 70803. Annual weekly mailed subscriptions are $125, semester weekly mailed subscriptions are $75. Non-mailed student rates are $4 each regu-lar semester, $2 during the summer; one copy per person, addition-al copies 25 cents each. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Daily Reveille, B-39 Hodges Hall, LSU, Baton Rouge, La.,70803.

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EditorManaging Editor, ContentManaging Editor, External MediaManaging Editor, ProductionNews EditorDeputy News/Entertainment EditorSports EditorDeputy Sports EditorProduction EditorOpinion EditorPhoto EditorOnline Media EditorReveille Radio DirectorAdvertising Sales Manager

Roman bishop on trial for knowing about abuse in Vatican backyard

ROME (AP) — The bishop respon-sible for a politically connected priest accused of molesting seven boys has admitted in court papers obtained by The Associated Press that he knew of the allegations for two years but didn’t remove the priest from working with children.

Palestinian president bans the sale of Israeli settlement goods

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday signed a law banning Palestinians from working in Israeli settlements and selling settlement goods, with violators facing up to fi ve years in prison and stiff fi nes. The law marks the Palestinians’ most determined campaign against the settlements Israel has built on lands they want for a state. The Palestinians vehe-mently oppose the settlements but many rely on them for work.

Police: Former colleague kills Yale doctor outside his home

BRANFORD, Conn. (AP) — A doctor was charged Monday with fatally shooting a Yale University doctor and fi ring at the victim’s pregnant wife after a history of confrontations with the victim and other colleagues that led to his dis-missal from a New York hospital.

Branford police said 44-year-old Lishan Wang is charged with murder, attempted murder and fi re-arms offenses in the fatal shooting Monday of Vajinder Toor outside his home.

Protest intensifi es over Ariz. law against immigrants

PHOENIX (AP) — The furor over Arizona’s new law cracking down on illegal immigrants grew Monday as opponents used refried beans to smear swastikas on the state Capitol, civil rights leaders demanded a boycott of the state, and the Obama administration

weighed a possible legal challenge.Activists are planning a chal-

lenge of their own, hoping to block the law from taking effect by argu-ing that it encroaches on the federal government’s authority to regulate immigration and violates people’s constitutional rights by giving po-lice too much power.

Salt taking a cut in groceries, restaurant menus

NEW YORK (AP) — Sixteen food companies plan to cut the amount of salt in bacon, fl avored rice and dozens of other products as part of a national effort to reduce Ameri-can’s sodium consumption by 20 percent. Companies including H.J. Heinz Co., Kraft Foods Inc. and Starbucks will commit to the vol-untary National Salt Reduction Ini-tiative, a public-private partnership initiated by New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Monday. Heinz has already cut so-dium in Bagel Bites frozen pizza snacks by more than 20 percent.

Firing over anti-creationism e-mail leads to appeal

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The former director of the science pro-gram for Texas’ public schools asked a federal appeals court Mon-day to revive a lawsuit over her fi r-ing for forwarding an e-mail about a forum opposed to teaching cre-ationism.

The agency that runs Texas public schools argued that Chris-tina Castillo Comer’s e-mail broke its policy of neutrality toward any potentially controversial issue, in-cluding creationism. A lawyer for Comer says the agency has an un-written, unconstitutional policy of treating creationism as science.

A three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard arguments Monday in Comer’s lawsuit against Robert Scott, commissioner of the Texas Education Agency. A federal judge in Austin, Texas, dismissed her claims in March 2009. Comer is appealing that decision.

Jindal nominates Scott Angelle as new lieutenant governor

(AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal has nominated his natural resources secretary, Scott Angelle, to serve as lieutenant governor.

If approved by lawmakers, Angelle will take over the offi ce after Mitch Landrieu leaves next week to become the mayor of New Orleans.

Commissioner of higher education voluntarily cuts her pay

(AP) — Louisiana’s commissioner of higher education is voluntarily cutting her pay by more than half in the upcoming budget year, as colleges have been hit with several rounds of cuts.

Sally Clausen is reducing her salary from $377,000 a year to $199,000. And she won’t take the $12,000 car allowance and $36,000 housing allowance she’d been receiving each year. That’s a $226,000 pay cut.

TODAY ON@ lsureveille, @TDR_news,

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Read the latest blog about recruiting for the 2011 basketball team.

Check out the photo blog to see a monkey swinging from an imaginary vine.

Keep up to date at Find out what makes Fionn Regan’s “The End of History” perfect soothing music.facebook.com/lsureveille

5th Annual Graduate & Professional School Open HouseHosted by: Black Graduate & Professional Student Association

Tuesday, April 27th, 3:00-5:30Shirley & Bill Lawton Squad Room @ Tiger Stadium

Free, Open to the public, light refreshments

DO YOU HAVE AN OCCURRENCE?Call Isaiah at the Student

Media Offi ce578-6090, 9AM- 5PM or

E-mail: offi cemanager@lsureveille.com

HILARY SCHEINUK / The Daily Reveille

Check out some pictures of rainboots at the Jazz and Heritage Festival.

The Paul M. Hebert Law Center again ranked in the top 100 U.S. law schools, according to the 2011 U.S. News and World Report Best Graduate Schools .

The Law School placed No. 80 in the survey, a fi ve-spot de-crease from last year.

“It is my job to make the Law

School better and nev-er have us rest on our laurels. Now that we are fi rmly ensconced in the Top 100, I would like to see our rank move higher,” said Law School Chancel-lor Jack Weiss.

The pass rate on the bar exam and em-ployment rate of stu-dents after graduation are strong factors in the Univer-sity’s ranking, he said.

“The employment rate is particularly strong given the seri-

ous deterioration of jobs for lawyers in other states,” Weiss said.

Weiss said funding plays an important role in remaining competi-tive. Scores will not rise without proper funding, he said.

“Given the lim-itations ... we are

doing exceptionally well,” Weiss said.

He said while necessary, rankings are imprecise and sub-

jective.“The rankings game is

somewhere between voodoo and witchcraft, and I don’t want to bet our future on it,” Weiss said.

Schools are ranked by aver-aging various factors and com-puting a raw score.

The University’s raw score decreased by one point this year, Weiss said.

U.S. News and World Report reviews 188 law schools but only gives rankings for the fi rst 100 .

The University earned its highest ranking in last year’s re-port.

The Law School ranked No. 75 in 2009 , a 13-place rise from No. 88 in 2008 — one of the highest moves in the country, according to the University Law Center Web site.

The Law Center moved into the top 100 rankings in 2004.

Other SEC schools also ranked on the list — Vanderbilt ranked No. 17, Florida State Uni-versity ranked No. 54 and the University of Georgia ranked

The fall semester will bring with newly renovated spaces in the Student Union and a rebuilt Tiger Lair food court.

Jason Tolliver, auxiliary ser-vices director, said there are three spaces currently being constructed on the fi rst fl oor of the Union — a renovated barber shop, an optical shop and a test preparation center.

“The barber shop will be a lit-tle nicer, which will suffi ce until we can get to the full salon we want on campus,” he said.

Tolliver said the barber shop will expand once construction be-gins on the new parking garage and bookstore where Highland Dining Hall is now. Using part of the space of the original bookstore in the Union, a full-scale salon for men and women will be created.

The optical shop will have a li-censed optometrist on staff and will sell eyeglasses and contact lenses to students, Tolliver said. It will not be affi liated with the Student Health Center but will accept Uni-versity staff and student insurance.

He said the test preparation center will offer practice tests and allow students to register for exams like the LSAT, MCAT and others. He said he was unsure if any of these services would be tailored specifi cally to the University.

Tolliver said Kaplan and The Princeton Review are currently competing to rent the space, and the company chosen will be announced during the coming weeks.

The Union has experienced a larger decline in revenue than of-fi cials originally anticipated.

Tolliver said the spaces will attract new customers and drive revenue up, but the University will also receive money from compa-nies paying rent to lease the spaces.

Jordan Vallet, English sopho-more, said he doesn’t visit the Union as much as he used to be-cause of construction and the lack of options there. He said he would consider visiting more often when the new spaces open in the fall.

“The test preparation center seems cool,” Vallet said. “I’m con-sidering grad school, so I’d be in-terested in that.”

The newly renovated spaces

will cost about $325,000, Tolliver said in an e-mail.

“It’s an exciting time to be here right now,” he said.

THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 3TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010

The University’s Information Technology Services and the Offi ce of Communications and University Relations are teaming up to create a new portal to PAWS called My LSU.

ITS won’t make changes earli-er than 2011, said Sheri Thompson,

IT communications and planning offi cer.

But ITS hopes to have the basic portal in working order this summer after fi nal grades are posted.

ITS hopes to make My LSU a personalized portal to access the PAWS homepage, Moodle and Ti-germail. Students will still be able to enter all three directly.

The main reason for the update is so students will only have to go to one place for school information.

“We want to have a one-stop shop,” Thompson said.

Another reason for the change

is to update technology, she said .“When PAWS was created

back in the ’90s, it was the latest technology. Everything was done in one place,” Thompson said.

ITS started looking into the new addition to PAWS about a year ago. ITS and the Offi ce of Commu-nications and University Relations had their fi rst meeting in December, Thompson said.

My LSU will incorporate a lot of the same features as PAWS, Thompson said.

My LSU will be likely be more like iGoogle, where students can

add their own widgets, Thompson said.

ITS is looking into several technologies to create My LSU. The product it chooses will determine the new features offered.

For example, one product would offer a chat feature on My LSU similar to Facebook, Thomp-son said.

Thompson said ITS is looking into what the focus groups said was important.

“We just fi nished a bunch of focus groups on what people really wanted, and chat wasn’t very high

on the list,” Thompson said.Focus groups did show the

ability to customize My LSU was a high priority with the focus groups.

Students in the focus groups also expressed interest in a weather widget, Facebook widget, a Uni-versity Tools tab, campus map tab, emergency notifi cations, a Tiger-Bites II interface, a TigerWare wid-get, a mobile version of PAWS and a fully integrated calendar.

TECHNOLOGY

PAWS to be updated with My LSU portal in 2011Future chat widget similar to FacebookBy Joanna ZimmermanContributing Writer

Contact Joanna Zimmerman at jzimmerman@lsureveille.com

CONSTRUCTION

ACADEMICS

Auxiliary Services plans new offi ces in Union

Law School ranked in top 100, a drop from last year

Tiger Lair food court also rebuilt

Other SEC schools higher on the list

By Rachel WarrenContributing Writer

By Grace MontgomeryStaff Writer

Contact Grace Montgomery atgmontgomery@lsureveille.com

Contact Rachel Warren atrwarren@lsureveille.com

View Union fl oorplansat lsureveille.com

‘‘‘The rankings

game issomewhere

between voodoo and witchcraft.’

Jack WeissLaw School chancellor

ERIN ARLEDGE / The Daily Reveille

Union construction continues on April 23. Newly renovated spaces, including a barber shop, optical shop and test preparation center, will attract new customers.

It’s the responsibility of college students to build the fu-ture of this country, Marc Mo-rial , CEO of the National Urban League and former New Orleans mayor said Monday night in the Journalism Building.

“[Students] stand at a time when we are at a crossroads of American history,” Morial said.

Leaders of today must de-termine how the United States should rebuild the economy, he said.

“You can’t accomplish big things in a nation of this size un-less everyone is pushing toward the same general goal,” he said.

The nation constantly expe-riences roller coaster highs and

lows, plunging downward when faced with chal-lenges, he said.

Morial said the population is more diverse than ever before, and the baby boomers who have long worked to sustain this na-tion’s economy are approaching retirement. Other nations are making signifi cant techno-logical and educa-tional investments.

“It’s your generation of lead-ers that have to navigate,” Morial said.

He said the fi rst step the na-tion must take is to establish objectives. He described key objectives of the Kennedy ad-ministration, including the Free-dom at Home plan which assisted the civil rights movement and the Freedom Abroad plan which

helped win the Cold War. The United States

should follow Kenne-dy’s example in estab-lishing realistic goals that will positively im-pact this nation, Mo-rial said.

“We have work to do to build long term growth,” Morial said.

He also discussed the importance of edu-cation.

“It should be ille-gal for the government to consider putting a

knife to higher education,” Mo-rial said.

He said students must ensure the state legislature hears voices that do not support cuts to higher education. His experience with the state political system showed him that telephone calls, e-mails and faxes count.

“There’s never enough mon-ey to do everything,” Morial said. “Budgeting is about priorities.”

Louisiana’s fortune will change with better educated peo-ple, and education ought to be a top priority, Morial said.

He described North Carolina

education as superior because it has a constitutional provision promising affordable education. Louisiana needs to follow its ex-ample, Morial said.

“We still have the best edu-cated people in any nation ever devised, constructed or con-ceived,” he said.

This country’s political sys-tems are superior, he said.

“We shouldn’t let apathy and cynicism be our enemy,” Morial

Students traveling this summer have another option to take them to the New Orleans airport. A newly-opened private shuttle service, called Tiger Airport Shuttle, offers trans-portation from Baton Rouge to the Louis Armstrong New Orleans Inter-national Airport and back.

Terry Leon, owner of Tiger Air-port Shuttle, said the shuttle service is cheaper than alternative airport services offered.

“It costs around $135 for a

one-way taxi,” Leon said. “We of-fer a lower fare than taxis because multiple passengers share a nine-passenger van.”

He said the shuttle service costs $69.95 to take a student to or from LSU to the New Orleans Airport or $39.95 to or from the home offi ce on

Andrea Drive.Andrew Roberts, biology junior

from California, said he often tries to fl y out of New Orleans because the New Orleans air-port offers more direct fl ights.

“It’s often hard to get a ride from a friend, and a taxi is very expen-sive. The new shuttle is something I will con-sider,” Roberts said.

Student Govern-ment offered a shuttle service last se-mester to and from the Baton Rouge and New Orleans airports during Thanksgiving and Christmas holi-days.

Students paid $20 for roundtrip

service to New Orleans during the holidays.

Noah Miller, former SG director of transpor-tation, said the holiday shuttle went well last se-mester.

Miller said service is geared toward holiday transportation and will not be offered around fi -nals.

He said SG is look-ing into offering the ser-vice again during the

2010 Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

THE DAILY REVEILLE TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010PAGE 4

Shuttle offers door-to-door New Orleans serviceHoliday transport cheaper than taxis By Jacob MostContributing Writer

Contact Jacob Most atjmost@lsureveille.com

Contact Sabrina Trahan atstrahan@lsureveille.com

TRANSPORTATION

EDUCATION

Former New Orleans mayor speaks on youth responsibilityCountry depends on student involvementBy Sabrina TrahanContributing Writer

EMILY SLACK / The Daily ReveilleTiger Airport Shuttle owner Terry Leon (left) hands a customer luggage after a drive from New Orleans International Airport to the La Quinta Inn on Acadian Drive.

‘‘‘It should be illegal for the governmentto consider

putting a knife to higher

education.’Marc Morial

former New Orleans mayor

‘‘‘It’s often hard to get

a ride ... and a taxi is very expensive.’

Andrew Robertsbiology junior

YAZOO CITY, Miss. (AP) — Morgan Hayden and Joe Moton stepped carefully through nails, broken glass and pink tufts of in-sulation, the remnants of a home leveled by a tornado. Severe storms killed at least 10 people in rural Mississippi and 2 in Ala-bama.

The couple had planned to marry Monday, but with little left besides the clothes on their backs, they weren’t sure what to do.

“It’ll work out, though,” 27-year-old Hayden said Sunday, a day after the tornado ripped through as she and Moton, 31, huddled in a bathtub. The bath-room was the only room that wasn’t destroyed.

They were unhurt, and the stories of other survivors show how much higher the toll could have been as authorities tried to get a better handle on the de-struction from violent weather that churned through a half-dozen Southern states over the weekend.

Dale Thrasher, 60, was alone in Hillcrest Baptist Church when the tornado ripped away wood and metal until all that was left was rubble, Thrasher and the commu-nion table he had climbed under as he prayed for protection.

“The whole building caved in,” he said. “But me and that table were still there.”

Sunday was sunny and breezy as Thrasher and about three dozen members of the Yazoo City church stood in a circle and sang “Till the Storm Passes By.” Thrasher re-minded the group that the church has survived tough times before. They rebuilt after their building was destroyed by arson about 10 years ago.

“The Lord brought us through the fire, and brought us back big-ger and better,” Thrasher said. “The Lord will bring us back big-ger and better this time, if we stick together.”

Hundreds of homes also were damaged in the tornado, which carved a path of devastation from Louisiana to east-central Missis-sippi. At least three dozen people were hurt. National Weather Ser-vice meteorologist Marc McAli-ster said the tornado had winds of 160 miles an hour and left a path of destruction at least 50 miles long.

“This tornado was enor-mous,” said Gov. Haley Barbour, who grew up in Yazoo County, a county of about 28,000 people known for blues, catfish and cot-ton. The twister wreaked “utter obliteration” among the pictur-esque hills rising from the flat Mississippi Delta, the governor said.

Mississippi’s Choctaw Coun-ty had the most confirmed deaths: five, including a baby and two other children. Sherry Fair rushed to her aunt’s home in the county. She said an hour and a half after the tornado passed, a woman lay dying in a ditch along a dirt road

beside the body of her husband.“She was laying there just

crying,” a shaken Fair said. “She was broke up bad. It hurt me watching, but nobody could get to her. The ambulances couldn’t get through because of the trees.”

Authorities have not released a list of the dead. All inquiries were referred to Coroner Ricky Shivers, who nearly became a victim himself when the twister flipped his truck four times. He went back out in his hospital gown to help identify bodies and was back in the hospital late Sunday.

Tornadoes also were reported in Louisiana, Arkansas and Ala-bama. The storm system tracked northeastward, downing trees in northwest Georgia early Sunday and later damaging at least one school and several mobile homes in Darlington County, S.C.

In Alabama, authorities attrib-uted two deaths to severe weather. A 50-year-old woman was killed when she slipped and hit her head as she headed to a storm shelter Saturday, and a 32-year-old man was killed when the car he was rid-ing in struck a tree that had blown down across a road. More than 30 other injuries were reported in the state, none serious.

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley planned to visit Albertville on Monday in northern Alabama to look at storm damage in the area along with local legislators and Albertville Mayor Lindsey Lyons.

THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 5TuEsdAy, APril 27, 2010

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Crews raced to protect the Gulf of Mex-ico coastline Monday as a remote sub tried to shut off an under-water oil well gushing 42,000 gallons a day from the site of a wrecked drilling platform.

If crews cannot stop the leak quickly, they might need to drill another well to redirect the oil. This laborious process could take about two months while oil washes up along a broad stretch of shore, from the white-sand beaches of Florida’s Panhandle to the swamps of Louisiana.

The oil, which could reach shore in as little as three days, is escaping from two leaks in a drilling pipe about 5,000 feet below the surface. The spill has grown to more than 1,800 square miles, an area larger than Rhode Island.

Winds and currents can change rapidly and drastically, so officials were hesitant to give any longer forecasts for where the spill will head. Hundreds of miles of coastline in four states

are threatened, with waters that are home to dolphins and sea birds. The areas also hold prime fishing grounds and are popular with tourists.

Oil began spewing out of the sea floor after the rig Deep-water Horizon exploded April 20 and sank two days later about 40 miles off the Mississippi River delta. Eleven of the 126 workers aboard at the time are missing and presumed dead; the rest es-caped. The cause of the explosion has not been determined.

As of Monday afternoon, an area 48 miles long and 39 miles wide was covered by oil that leaked from the site of the rig, which was owned by Transocean Ltd. and operated by BP PLC.

Crews used robot subma-rines to activate valves in hopes of stopping the leaks, but they may not know until Tuesday if that strategy will work. BP also mobilized two rigs to drill a re-lief well if needed. Such a well could help redirect the oil, though it could also take weeks to com-plete.

BP plans to collect leaking oil on the ocean bottom by low-ering a large dome to capture the oil and then pumping it through pipes and hoses into a vessel on the surface, said Doug Suttles,

chief operating officer of BP Ex-ploration and Production.

It could take up to a month to get the equipment in place.

“That system has been de-ployed in shallower water, but it has never been deployed at 5,000 feet of water, so we have to be careful,” he said.

The spill, moving slowly north and spreading east and west, was about 30 miles from the Chandeleur Islands off the Loui-siana coast Tuesday. The Coast Guard said kinks in the pipe were helping stem the flow of oil.

The oil spill reached as far as the eye could see from the air Monday afternoon. There was lit-tle evidence of a major cleanup, with only a handful of vessels near the site of the leak.

The oil sheen was of a shiny light blue color, translucent and blending with the water, but a distinct edge between the oil slick and the sea could be seen stretching for miles.

George Crozier, oceanog-rapher and executive director at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama, said he was studying wind and ocean currents driving the oil.

He said Pensacola, Fla., is probably the eastern edge of the threatened area, though no one

really knows what the effects will be.

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “The problems are going to be on the beaches themselves. That’s where it will be really visible.”

Aaron Viles, director for the New Orleans-based environmen-tal group Gulf Restoration Net-work, said he flew over the spill Sunday and saw what was likely a sperm whale in the oil sheen.

“There are going to be sig-nificant marine impacts,” he said.

Concern Monday focused on the Chandeleur and Breton bar-rier islands in Louisiana, where thousands of birds are nesting.

“It’s already a fragile sys-tem. It would be devastating to see anything happen,” said Mark Kulp, a University of New Or-leans geologist.

Oil makes it difficult for birds to fly or float on the water’s surface. Plant life can also suffer

serious harm.Whales have been spotted

near the oil spill, though they did not seem to be in any distress. The spill also threatened oyster beds in Breton Sound on the east-ern side of the Mississippi River.

“That’s our main oyster-pro-ducing area,” said John Tesvich, a fourth-generation oyster farmer with Port Sulphur Fisheries Co. His company has about 4,000 acres of oyster grounds that could be affected if the spill worsens.

“Trying to move crops would be totally speculative,” Tesvich said. “You wouldn’t know where to move a crop. You might be moving a crop to a place that’s even worse.”

If the oyster grounds are af-fected, thousands of fishermen might have to curtail operations.

By The Associated Press

Massive oil spill gushing toward Gulf of Mexico coastline

Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at news@lsureveille.com

Could reach four states in three days

Storms kill at least a dozenHundreds of homes damaged in tornadoBy The Associated Press

Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at news@lsureveille.com

NATION

NATION

Today’s KLSU Specialty Shows: 9 p.m. Rusty Cage; 11 p.m. Martian Mix

THE DAILY REVEILLE

TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010RevelryPAGE 6

7:20 a.m., 8:20 a.m.

Noon, 3:20 p.m.4:20 p.m., 5:20 p.m.

MELLOW MUSHROOMOpen Mic is Back! Interested players contact Charlie

mellowopenmic@yahoo.com

FRED’STonight: $2.50 Bud Light Lime & Wheat; $5 Jack Daniels doubles

Wednesday: $2.50 Imports, $3 Doubles, & $2 Shots all nightThursday: 8-10 Ladies Night

Every Night: $2 Shots 12-2 and $1 SoCo & Limes all night

8-8:30 AM Your Source9-10:30 AM New Moon11:30-12 PM Your Source12-1:30 PM The Fourth Kind3-3:30 PM News Beat Live4:30-5PM Sports Showtime Live5:30-6PM News Beat Repeat

6-6:30PM Your Source6:30-7PM SketchMo7-9:30 PM Carriers10-10:30PM News Beat Repeat10:30-11PM Sports Showtime Repeat11-11:30PM Your Source11:30-12PM Sketch Mo

Find out the Robs’ take on the NFL draft on lsureveille.com.

Tuesday 225• “A Cry of Players” Wednesday to May 9 7:30 p.m. Reilly Theatre•11th Annual Dance Concert: Sat-urday and Sunday, Shaver Theatre, MDA Bldg.

2: Theater acts to see on campus

MOVIES•“A Nightmare on Elm Street” — opens Friday

5: New releases to check out

•Citizens of Humanity Kelly bootcut jeans, $150; anthropolo-gie.com•Forever 21: Doodled Silk Dress, $27.80; forever21.com

2:Ways to bring white back to your wardrobe

photo courtesy of Vastine Stabler

BOOKS•“Dead in the Family: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel” by Charlaine Harris

ALBUMS•B.o.B. : “B.o.B. Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray”•Peter Frampton: “Thank You Mr. Churchill”•6 Pack Deep: “Just the Tip” EP

SportsTuesday, april 27, 2010 paGe 7

Today in sports: Baseball against UNO at 6:30

Editor’s note: This story is the third in a five-part series involving attendance at LSU athletic events.

The key to sustaining large crowds in the world of sports is simple: Win games.

The LSU men’s basketball team saw a 37 percent decrease in actual attendance this season compared to last season when

the Tigers won the Southeastern Confer-ence regular season championship.

“The better the players, the better the team plays, the more people will be in the stands,” said LSU coach Trent Johnson. “It’s about winning. People like win-ning.”

Based on Johnson’s statements, the recent attendance plummet is accurate.

The Tigers are fresh off an 11-20 sea-son, including a 2-14 record in the SEC.

The record was LSU’s worst since 1997 when the team finished 9-18 under former LSU coach John Brady.

An average of 4,211 fans per contest walked through turnstiles in 2009, and LSU only managed to fill the 13,472-seat

capacity PMAC more than 50 percent on one occasion — Feb. 6 against then-No. 4 Kentucky, according to the LSU Ticket Office. A total of 9,168 fans made it out for that game, which was LSU’s biggest crowd of the season.

“Most of the seats in the lower and middle levels are sold to season ticket holders, and most of the people come to the games, but some of them don’t unless you’re winning,” said LSU Senior As-sociate Athletic Director Herb Vincent. “The upper level seats people perceive aren’t as good, so they are harder to sell.”

The main problem has been people

Here’s the good news for LSU base-ball coach Paul Mainieri’s squad: The last time his team had a three-game los-ing streak was late 2008. The Tigers lost a midweek game to UNO before losing the first two games of a weekend Southeast-ern Conference series to Georgia.

LSU tied their next game, and then came the wins — 23, to be exact.

The No. 15 Tigers (32-9) can hang their hats in hopes of a turnaround after a weekend sweep at the hands of No. 14 Ole Miss. The Tigers move on to an in-state matchup against UNO (10-29) tonight at home.

The bad news: LSU dropped to sec-ond in the SEC Western Division with three conference losses.

The Tigers lost for the first time all season when leading after seven innings (previously 27-0.) They lost two games in which they scored at least eight runs after starting the season 20-1 in that statistic.

A day after the Tigers lost on a walk-off single, Mainieri was upbeat about the performance of his team. The Tigers lost by a total of four runs during the weekend.

“Our team played their hearts out this weekend,” Mainieri said. “There were a lot of positive individual efforts, but we just came up short. It was a tough envi-ronment ... We played just as good as Ole Miss, but when you go on the road, you have to outplay the other team.”

Some individual efforts came from LSU relief pitching.

The LSU starters combined for 12 1/3 innings, 21 hits and 17 earned runs. Relief pitching fared better, giving up seven runs.

Junior Ben Alsup, coming off a strong midweek performance against Northwestern State, relieved junior An-thony Ranaudo in Saturday’s 11-9 loss. After Ranaudo had surrendered nine runs, Alsup threw five innings of one-run ball.

“We were down, 9-2, and he came in and stemmed the tide,” Mainieri said.

LSU tied for No. 3 in the South-eastern Conference with six players drafted to the NFL this weekend.

But the list of eight LSU play-ers signing as undrafted free agents with NFL teams since the draft has brought the total number of former Tigers entering the professional ranks to 14.

Safety/linebacker Harry Cole-man signed a deal with the New Or-leans Saints, joining fourth-round pick and former LSU defensive tackle Al Woods. Wide receiver Chris Mitchell also earned an invi-tation to the Saints’ rookie camp.

Local draft analyst Mike Detil-lier said Coleman’s “physicality” and intelligence on the field can benefit the Saints on both defense and special teams.

“In round seven, he was the guy I really wanted the Saints to pick,” Detillier said. “He’s a terrific athlete, a hard-charging kid and a really strong open-field tackler. It will be a numbers game with him ... special teams may be his early ticket to the NFL.”

Former LSU offensive tackle Ciron Black was also not drafted this weekend. Black, who played overweight for much of his senior season and suffered from knee soreness, is expected to sign a free-agent deal in coming days.

“Despite the fact that I knew Ciron had some knee concerns and was heavy, I thought somebody would take a shot on him in the sev-enth round,” Detillier said. “There are players with similar-type ail-ments who were drafted, so that came as a surprise to me.”

Two former Tigers signed free

FightingFormer Tigers sign as free agents

NFL

By Rachel WhittakerChief Sports Writer

By Andy SchwehmSports Contributor

By Sean IsabellaSports Contributor

Lady Tigers’ Final Fours sustain attendance

Tigers try to come back from series sweep with midweek game against in-state rival UNO

Daily Reveille file photo

The student section, commonly known as the “Maravich Maniacs,” cheers for the men’s basketball team Jan. 14, 2009.

Tigers struggle to fill PMAC during losing seasons

FANS, see page 15

DRAFT, see page 15

Back

[Top] LSU coach Paul Mainieri talks to the baseball team Feb. 19 during the season opener. [Bottom] LSU outfielder Mikie Mahtook, left, is tagged out at first by Ole Miss’ Miles Hamblin, right, on Sunday during the Rebels’ win against the Tigers, 7-6, in Oxford, Miss. Ole Miss swept the series last weekend, giving LSU its first three-game losing streak since 2008.

J.J. ALCANTARA / The Daily Reveille

BRUCE NEWMAN / Oxford EagleLEAD, see page 15

THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 8 TuEsdAy, APril 27, 2010

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Jacksonville State quarterback Ryan Perrilloux, who began his ca-reer at LSU, is getting a tryout with the Minnesota Vikings.

The Birmingham News re-ports that Perrilloux will get the tryout next weekend at the Vikings’ three-day rookie camp.

The JSU Web site says Per-rilloux signed with the club. The news said he was not among the 10 players the Vikings listed as un-drafted free agents who agreed to terms Saturday.

Perrilloux, who starred at JSU after leaving LSU, was an All-American in 2009.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity to continue my foot-ball career,” Perrilloux said in a news release. “It has always been a dream of mine to get an opportuni-ty to play professional football, and now I’ve got a chance to do that.”

Perrilloux was also named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year. He led the conference in passing efficiency with a rating of 172.58, and he set single-season records for total touchdowns with 31, total offense per game with 279.3 and total offense per play with 8.36.

A LaPlace native, Perrilloux finished his senior season with 2,350 passing yards — third-best in school history. His 42 career passing touchdowns and career completion percentage of 61 per-cent are also good enough for third

in school history.Perrilloux’s teammate, defen-

sive lineman Torrey Davis, also signed a free-agent contract on Sunday. Davis will try out with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Davis played in all 11 of Jack-sonville State’s games in 2009 af-ter transferring from Florida. He tallied 16 tackles, including nine solo. He also had 2.5 sacks with one pass breakup and one recov-ered fumble.

He was named to the All-OVC newcomer squad for his efforts.

Jacksonville State posted an 8-3 overall record last season with

Perrilloux at the helm. The Game-cocks’ 6-1 conference record was good enough for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference.

“I’m proud that Ryan and Tor-rey will both have a chance to con-tinue their football careers,” JSU coach Jack Crowe said. “They were both contributors on the field and were a major reason we finished with an 8-3 record and posted the best record in the OVC last year.”

Former LSU guard Allison Hightower officially kicked off her life as a WNBA player Monday.

The LSU All-American Honor-able Mention player participated in her first practice of training camp with the Connecticut Sun, which se-lected her in the second round of the WNBA draft April 8.

Hightower said she felt calm heading into the practice.

“I don’t have any nerves right now, which is surprising,” she said. “I’m just ready to get started. I’m prepared to go out there and work as hard as I can to get a spot.”

Hightower said getting to know her older teammates has been smooth so far.

“The veterans have actually been pretty nice helping us along the way and showing us some things,” Hightower said. “I’ve heard a lot of

horror stories about how the veter-ans make rookies carry their bags and get their food. We haven’t had to do that yet.”

Allison Hightower said adjust-ing to life in the North has been ex-hilarating.

“Connecticut is different, a lot of trees and mountains,” she said. “I’m definitely going to miss the crawfish and all that, but I’m so ex-cited about this opportunity to play and travel — the whole package.”

Hightower said LSU prepared her to take the WNBA by storm, and she knows there is always room to polish her basketball skills at the professional level.

“It’s all about putting in time and extra work to make every part of your game sharp,” Hightower said. “I’m working on the overall thing — shooting, dribbling and passing. You always have something to work on.”

Hightower’s mother, Regina, said she realized what an impact

her daughter made on the Lady Ti-gers program when she earned four awards at the team’s annual postsea-son banquet.

“Everything really hit me as to how successful she was when my husband brought back all the awards she won at the banquet last week,” Regina Hightower said. “I was just like, ‘Oh my God.’ She doesn’t toot her horn at all ... it’s just amazing.”

One of the awards she received was the inaugural Allison Hightower Outstanding Practice Player award, which the coaching staff will give in future years to the player who demonstrates the best work ethic in practice.

Regina Hightower said she an-ticipates her daughter to carry that same effort and determination when she dons her No. 23 jersey for the Sun. Connecticut’s first exhibition game is May 4 at home against the Atlanta Dream.

“I expect the same tenacity she had at LSU,” Regina Hightower

said. “Of course, she’ll be stepping up her game some more. It will be another learning experience for her.”

Regina Hightower described her daughter as “a team player” and “a focused kid” both on and off the basketball court. Allison Hightower will graduate in May with a degree in general studies.

“The thing I’m most proud of is what Allison was able to achieve ac-ademically with her grueling sched-ule,” she said.

Regina Hightower said she is living vicariously through her daughter as she embarks on her pro-fessional career.

“I’m really excited because she is achieving the dream she’s had since she was a little girl to play in the WNBA,” Regina Hightower said.

Perrilloux to try out for Vikings FOOTBALL

Former LSU QB sets records at JSU

Contact The Daily Reveille’s sports staff at sports@lsureveille.com

WNBA

Hightower kicks off training camp with Connecticut SunFormer LSU guard adjusting to NorthBy Rachel WhittakerChief Sports Writer

J.J. ALCANTARA / The Daily Reveille

Former LSU guard Allison Hightower runs down the court during the Tigers’ 55-39 win Feb. 18 against Vanderbilt in the PMAC. She now plays for the Connecticut Sun.

Contact Rachel Whittaker at rwhittaker@lsureveille.com

By The Associated Press

THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 9TuEsdAy, APril 27, 2010

WTF, Denver!?! Trading up to get Tim Tebow in the first round of the NFL draft was not a good idea. I’m not saying you took Tebow too early — you took him way too early.

At least the Tebow watch will slow down for a little while. But now the post-draft de-bate begins. Let me save you all some time and tell you who the three best and the three worst teams were in

this year’s draft.

THE BESTNew York Jets: After an off-

season spent stocking the locker room with Pro Bowlers, the Jets brought in a plethora of young tal-ent that should be able to help them on the field instantly.

They selected arguably the best cornerback prospect on the board taking former Boise State cornerback Kyle Wilson in the first round.

The Jets added another weap-on to the best cornerback tandem in football with Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie. After cutting running backs Thomas Jones and Leon Washington, the Jets drafted USC running back Joe McKnight,

who should be a good backup to LaDanian Tomlinson and Shonn Green.

Carolina Panthers: The Pan-thers had the best draft. After cut-ting starting quarterback Jake Del-homme, the Panthers drafted two highly touted prospects at quar-terback — Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen and Cincinnati’s Tony

Pike. Scouts have called Clausen the most NFL-ready of the quar-terbacks in this year’s draft, and he will definitely compete with current Panther starter Matt Moore.

The Panthers also added depth to its wide receiving corps by draft-ing LSU’s Brandon LaFell and Ap-palachian State’s Armanti Edwards. They could make a playoff run if

either of these guys emerges as a legitimate threat.

Oakland Raiders: Oakland made one of the worst first-round picks in draft history by taking Dar-rius Heyward-Bey with its first pick in 2009. Heyward-Bey tallied nine catches all season.

But the Raiders made smart picks this year — very smart. They selected a guy in the first round who cannot only contribute right away on the field but will have a positive impact on the locker room in Ala-bama linebacker Ronaldo McClain.

All of his former teammates said he was great leader, and he should definitely have a positive impact on the Raiders.

The Raiders also picked up some very good offensive line pros-pects which should help protect an-other draft day acquisition, quarter-back Jason Campbell.

Campbell is a good fit for the organization. He can throw the deep ball and can escape the rush something Raiders quarterbacks struggled with last season.

THE WORSTDenver Broncos: Tim Tebow

in the first round — there isn’t much else to be said.

Chicago Bears: The Bears didn’t seem to add any players who could make an immediate impact.

The major problem the Bears had last season was quarterback Jay

Cutler. Cutler tossed an NFL-high 26 interceptions, many of which came at key moments in games the Bears had a chance at winning.

What the Bears needed was help at wide receiver where they lacked anyone capable of giving them consistent production.

Jacksonville Jaguars: It is hard to comment on the moves the Jag-uars made because, aside from the team’s first-round pick Tyson Alua-lu from California, they drafted no one from a big school.

Most of the Jaguars’ prospects will be projects, and none of them seem to be ready to compete at the NFL level right away.

The Jaguars also didn’t get a quarterback. After all the talk about them taking Tebow, they didn’t take anyone for the position.

They did however take three defensive ends, which doesn’t make any sense at all.

But we won’t know if these guys will end up being solid con-tributors or busts until the NFL’s season kicks off.

Amos Morale is a 22-year-old his-tory senior from Houston. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_amosmo-rale3.

FAMOUS AMOS

Panthers, Jets are big winners in the NFL draft

Amos morAleSports Columnist

ED ANDRIESKI / The Associated Press

Quarterback Tim Tebow, the Denver Broncos’ first-round draft pick, holds up a jersey Friday during an NFL football news conference in Englewood, Colo.

Contact Amos Morale at amorale@lsureveille.com

THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 10 TuEsdAy, APril 27, 2010

Justin Hamilton said he want-ed to be closer to home when he left Iowa State. So he went back through the recruitment process, hoping to land somewhere nearer to Alpine, Utah.

He touched down farther away than anyone expected. Much far-ther.

Hamilton chose to continue his collegiate career at LSU — 1,683 miles from Alpine and 1,029 miles from Ames, Iowa, where Iowa State is located.

LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson waved his recruiting wand to snatch Hamilton, a 6-feet-11-inch, 260-pound center. The ad-dition only strengthens Johnson’s already impressive incoming re-cruiting class.

“I wanted to be closer to home, but it didn’t work out that way when I was getting recruited,” Hamilton said. “I knew how [Johnson] de-veloped big men, and when I went down to LSU and saw all the fa-cilities and how the University is, I loved it. I really wanted to be a part of the program.”

Johnson does have an impres-sive track record with big men. Two notables include the Lopez brothers

— Brook and Robin — who starred at Stanford under Johnson. Brook currently plays for the New Jersey Nets, and Robin plays for the Phoe-nix Suns in the NBA.

Johnson is excited to have Hamilton around.

“He’s bigger than anybody we have in the program,” Johnson said. “Plus his skill level is fantastic. I’m just trying to get as many good play-ers in here as possible. He would give us some strength and bulk in the post. Balanced is the word I want to use. He gives us that.”

Hamilton originally hails from Lone Peak High School, a school he led to a 23-2 record and the Utah 5A state title game his senior season. He headed to Ames after that.

The forward played immedi-ately. Hamilton played in 32 con-tests, starting 18 of those games, and averaged 4.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in 13.6 minutes of action per game.

He stepped into the starting center role the next season in 2009-10. A 61.7 clip from the field led to 6.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game for Hamilton during the Cy-clones’ disappointing 15-17 cam-paign last season.

“Obviously, he’s a guy who’s played two years of basketball in the Big 12 with some of the best players in the country,” Johnson said. “He’s battle tested. He’s not a high school kid. He’s a man coming in out of college.”

Hamilton had his pick of

schools the second time around. The lure of Johnson’s coaching and the Baton Rouge area were ap-parently enough to overcome any homesickness.

His final decision came down to LSU and Virginia.

“BYU would have loved to have had him,” said Quincy Lewis, Hamilton’s high school coach at Lone Peak. “So would Utah State. UCLA, Cal, all those people want-ed him to come on trips and would have offered him on the spot.”

Johnson was modest about his recruiting ability. He credited Ham-ilton for recognizing the LSU op-portunity.

“Well, he’s smart,” Johnson said. “I don’t know how much con-vincing I did. He saw the opportu-nity he had to come down here and make an impact. He got a great feel of what was going on with the staff and with [junior forward] Malcolm [White].”

White’s presence was another key cog in Hamilton’s decision. Hamilton will have a similar ex-perience to White, who sat out last season because of eligibility rules.

“It was nice to talk to him be-cause he was in a similar situation,” Hamilton said. “I’m going to be do-ing the same thing he’s doing.”

Hamilton and Johnson weren’t unfamiliar with each before the cen-ter’s decision to transfer. Johnson, while coaching at Stanford, saw Hamilton play at Lone Peak while recruiting Tyler Haws, Hamilton’s

teammate. Haws chose BYU, lead-ing Johnson to think it was an un-successful visit. But it apparently paid off.

“I don’t know much about LSU, but I do know Trent Johnson, and I like Trent,” Lewis said. “He’s a good guy, and he does a good job with bigs.”

Hamilton will finish the

semester before heading to Baton Rouge to participate in summer conditioning.

“I’m really excited,” Hamilton said. “I haven’t been this excited since getting out of high school.”

Iowa State transfer to add size, balance to roster Hamilton to join Tigers this summer

MEN’S BASKETBALL

By Chris BranchSports Writer

Contact Chris Branch at cbranch@lsureveille.com

THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 11TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010

METAIRIE (AP) — When the 2010 NFL draft ended, Sean Pay-ton said a couple positions the New Orleans Saints hoped to ad-dress — but didn’t — were run-ning back and linebacker.

The club made moves in the following days to add a few play-ers in those positions and others to the roster, with the signing of 14 undrafted rookie free agents.

The two new linebackers in the group are LSU’s Harry Cole-man and UNLV’s Jason Beau-champ. The three running backs are Mississippi State’s Christian Ducre, Michigan’s Carlos Brown, and Chris Ivory, who played three seasons at Washington State be-fore transferring to Division II Tiffi n.

The Saints also announced Monday the signings of Van-derbilt safety Ryan Hamilton, Jackson State cornerback Mar-cell Young, East Carolina defen-sive tackle Jay Ross, Stillman defensive end Junior Galette, Texas Tech defensive end Bran-don Sharpe, Norfolk State wide receiver Chris Bell, Texas Tech guard Brandon Carter, Indiana (Pa.) guard Joe Tonga and TCU long snapper Clint Gresham.

The undrafted free agents, along with players invited on a tryout basis, will be joining the Saints’ six draft picks at a rookie camp at the club’s training head-quarters from May 7-9.

Coleman, who is 6’2, 212 pounds, was a two-year starter for LSU, but played linebacker in his senior year after moving from safety. The move paid off as Coleman posted career-highs with 82 tackles, nine tackles for losses, four sacks and three forced fumbles in 2009.

Beauchamp, who is 6’3, 244 pounds, was the Rebels’ leading tackler in both his junior and se-nior seasons. During his career he posted 26 tackles for losses, in-cluding 13 sacks to go with a pair

of forced fumbles. He had 6 1/2 sacks as a senior.

The 5’11, 225-pound Ducre is a New Orleans-area native who spent one year at Tulane before transferring to MSU, where he saw regular action as a versatile reserve running back who also caught passes out of the backfi eld.

Brown, 6 feet, 212, playing in 30 games with 12 starts for Michi-gan. In 2009, he led the team with a career-best 480 rushing yards on 79 carries, or 5.9 yards per carry. He rushed for four touchdowns and added 10 catches for 122 yards and a receiving touchdown. He also averaged 20.3 yards on 19 kickoff returns.

Ivory, 6 feet, 222 pounds, rushed for 534 yards with four touchdowns in his fi rst three sea-sons at Washington State, where he also returned kickoffs before he was dismissed for violating team rules heading into his senior season. He transferred to Tiffi n,

where he played fi ve games.Hamilton was a four-year

starter for Vanderbilt. The 6’1, 206-pound safety started 36 games, but played in only two games as a senior because of a torn pectoral muscle. He fi nished his Commodores career with 222 tackles, fi ve interceptions, two sacks and three forced fumbles.

The 6’2, 211-pound Bell played two seasons at Penn State before transferring to Norfolk State. He played there one sea-son, catching 51 passes for 958 yards and 13 TDs, before entering the draft with one year of college eligibility left.

Ross, 6’3, 302, was a three-year starter for East Carolina who had 25 tackles for losses dur-ing his career — including eight sacks — and forced two fumbles.

A sweep never helps in the na-tional consciousness.

LSU (32-9) fell seven spots from No. 8 to No. 15 in the new Baseball America rankings . Ole Miss swept the Tigers in Oxford this weekend.

But the Rebels (28-13) are on the rise. Ole Miss moved up fi ve spots from No. 19 to No. 14 .

The games between the two were as close as their separation in the polls. The Tigers lost, 11-9 , 9-8 in 11 innings and 7-6 to complete

a heartbreaking weekend for LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri and his squad.

“It was an intense series and some tough ball games, but we have to move forward. I feel confi dent our team will recover quickly, because we have to,” Mainieri said in a news release. “There’s still a long way to go in the season; we have 12 SEC games left to play.”

On the fl ip side, Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco couldn’t have been happier.

“It was a tough weekend to pitch,” Bianco said in a news release. “LSU is a heavy offensive team. Our relief pitchers were huge for us this weekend and gave us the chance to stay in games after our starters strug-gled in the beginning innings.”

Meanwhile, other SEC teams

are moving up. Florida (28-11) takes top SEC honors with the No. 6 slot, while South Carolina (32-8) holds the No. 7 spot. Arkansas (33-8) sits at No. 9 .

Florida moved up from No. 7 after taking two of three from No. 9 Arkansas . The Razorbacks took the Friday contest, 8-3 , be-fore falling 8-2 Saturday and 2-1 on Sunday.

The Gators clinched the se-ries on a close call at the plate. Freshman catcher Mike Zunino’s single in the bottom of the ninth plated freshman infi elder Cody Dent to push the lead to its fi -

nal tally. “It’s a very disappointing end to

a great game,” said Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn in a news release.

LSU faces the Gators next weekend.

The Gamecocks swept a fading Geor-gia squad by a com-bined score of 24-11 . The teams were forced to play a doubleheader Sunday after stormy weather postponed Saturday’s contest.

“We can’t win close games playing like we play,” said

Georgia coach David Perno in a news release. “Unfortunately, we’re not good. I hate it, and we’re going to keep fi ghting and playing hard. I

was proud of how they battled back today, but we didn’t execute in key situations.”

Vanderbilt (32-11) dropped out of the poll after losing two out of three to unranked Tennessee . The Commodores dropped a pair of close games, 4-2 in 11 frames and 4-3, af-ter blasting the Volunteers 10-1 on Friday.

Volunteer right-hander Stephen McCray , third in the SEC with a 1.99 ERA , shut down the Commodores in Saturday’s contest. McCray threw 7 1/3 innings, scattering three hits and one earned run while striking out four.

Vanderbilt was ranked No. 23 in the polls.

BASEBALL

LSU drops seven spots to No. 15, Florida tops SEC listOle Miss moves up fi ve spots to No. 14By Chris BranchSports Writer

Contact Chris Branch at cbranch@lsureveille.com

NFL

Saints sign undrafted rookiesBy The Associated Press

Contact The Daily Reveille’s sports staff at sports@lsureveille.com

‘‘‘I feel confi dent our

team will recover quickly because we

have to.’Paul Mainieri

LSU baseball coach

THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 12 TuEsdAy, APril 27, 2010

The LSU football coach-ing staff stopped at various high school campuses throughout the region during the first week of the 2010 spring evaluation period.

The staff took a trip to Cov-ington to get a close look at St. Paul’s High School defensive tackle Mickey Johnson.

The 6-foot-1-inch, 310-pound prospect earned a spot on the 2011 ESPNU 150 watch list after finishing his junior season with 49 tackles and eight sacks.

Rivals.com Southeast re-cruiting analyst Barton Simmons said Johnson should be a “no-brainer” four-star prospect when the Web site releases its initial 2011 rankings later this spring.

Rivals.com LSU recruiting analyst Mike Scarborough said Johnson has the ability to be-come an every-down defensive lineman.

“He sheds blocks real well, and he can stop the run,” Scar-borough said. “I think he’s go-ing to be a very good defensive tackle for somebody.”

Johnson attracted the at-tention of many coaching staffs across the country after he earned defensive line MVP honors April 17 at the Baton Rouge Nike Foot-ball Training Camp.

“Sept. 1 of last year Missis-sippi State offered me,” Johnson said. “Since then [the offers] have just been piling up.”

He received a visit last week from LSU defensive coordina-tor John Chavis, defensive line coach Brick Haley and defensive backs coach Ron Cooper.

Johnson said he was excited to have members of the LSU staff on his campus.

“It was cool to see those guys there, and they spent a lot of time talking with my coaches,” John-son said. “They are definitely putting in the work.”

The LSU staff certainly has more work to do if it intends to land Johnson’s commitment. He said he has yet to determine a front-runner among the 21 schools that have extended schol-arship offers to him.

“I don’t have any favorites,” Johnson said. “I am just doing my research on the schools right now. I am looking at the atmosphere and community of the school. Distance isn’t a big thing.”

But he also said there are many aspects of the LSU football program which he finds attrac-tive.

“The atmosphere and the ac-ademic program stood out to me and my family because there is always life after football,” John-son said. “And the athletic facili-ties are state of the art.”

Scarborough said LSU will face stiff competition in the race to capture Johnson’s commit-ment.

“He’s got offers from some very good schools,” Scarborough said. “He’s not averse to leaving the state.”

A number of Southeastern Conference schools, including defending national champion Al-abama, are among that list.

Johnson hasn’t set a time-table for his decision and plans to take all of his official visits. A student-athlete can take five offi-cial visits with all expenses paid by the prospective institutions, according to the NCAA recruit-ing regulations.

“I could commit whenever,” Johnson said. “I will do it as soon as things are right. I don’t know when that will be.”

Johnson, a powerlift-ing state champion who bench presses 450-pounds and squats 695-pounds, also said he will work to improve certain aspects of his play during his senior year.

“I am working on my speed

and how I use my hands,” John-son said. “I am doing a lot of footwork drills, weights and run-ning stadium steps.”

Scarborough said some concerns exist about Johnson’s height as well as his ability as a pass rusher.

“He needs to work on more moves and technique other than just bull rushing,” Scarborough said. “I guess we’ll find out at the next level how well he rushes the passer.”

But Scarborough also said Johnson has the attitude and work ethic to alleviate such concerns.

“He’s a hard worker, an hon-or student and I think he’s highly coachable,” Scarborough said. “I think he will learn.”

RECRUITING

Standout defensive tackle has the attention of LSU staffOther SEC schools showing interest By Cory BoudreauxSports Contributor

photo courtesy of JOEY MICHEL

St. Paul’s High School defensive tackle Mickey Johnson (99) performs during a Nov. 5 game against Fontainebleau High School. The Covington recruit has been extended scholarships from 21 schools.

Contact Cory Boudreaux at cboudreaux@lsureveille.com

THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 13TuEsdAy, APril 27, 2010

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Carlos Delfino scored 22 points with six 3-pointers and the Milwau-kee Bucks pulled off their second straight playoff surprise, beating the Atlanta Hawks 111-104 Mon-day night to draw even in the first-round series.

Brandon Jennings scored 23 points and John Salmons added 22 for the Bucks, who survived a fourth-quarter surge led by Atlanta stars Joe Johnson and Josh Smith. Now the Hawks head home for game five, desperately needing a win to stave off a surprising challenge by a team missing its best player, injured center Andrew Bogut.

The Bucks finally started get-ting to the free throw line and the made the most of it, hitting 28 of 32.

Salmons was 10 for 10 from the free throw line.

It was yet another subpar per-formance away from home for the Hawks, who struggled on the road in the regular season and haven’t performed well on the road in recent playoff appearances. Atlanta beat Milwaukee in convincing fashion the first two games of the series, but the Bucks blew out the Hawks in Satur-day’s game three.

Atlanta did a better job respond-ing to adversity Monday, but still not good enough.

Delfino went 6-for-8 from 3-point range, including a 3-pointer from the corner to put Milwaukee ahead 97-88 with 3:56 left. Smith missed inside and Jennings grabbed the rebound, then hit a floating jump-er at the other end.

Layups by Al Horford and John-son later cut the lead to five with 1:41 remaining, but Milwaukee’s Kurt Thomas made one of two free throws, then took a charge by Craw-ford with 1:20 left.

Horford fouled Salmons, who hit both free throws to give the Bucks a 103-95 lead with 1:05 to go. Atlanta couldn’t get much closer be-cause Milwaukee kept hitting from the line.

Little-used big man Dan Gadzu-ric gave the Bucks a jolt at the end of the third quarter, emphatically blocking a shot by Johnson and then making an acrobatic layup to give Milwaukee an 85-74 lead going into the fourth.

The Hawks came into Mil-waukee up 2-0 in the series, but the Bucks’ blowout victory in Saturday’s game three at least gave the heavily favored Hawks something to think about.

After burying the Hawks with a sizzling start Saturday, the Bucks started strong again, taking a 28-25 lead in the first quarter as Delfino went 3-for-4 from 3-point range.

Atlanta responded better than it did Saturday, though, and trailed by only four at halftime.

It started out as a strange day for

the Hawks when their team bus was hit by a car as they rode back to their hotel from a morning shootaround.

Nobody on board was hurt, and Hawks coach Mike Woodson said the woman driving the car and the young boy riding with her appeared to be OK as well. Woodson jumped out of the bus to help immediately after the accident.

“I jumped out and went over to the car and opened the door, and the little kid had climbed out of his car seat,” Woodson said before the game. “There was smoke coming from the airbags, so I grabbed the kid. And the mom, they got her out, and we gave the kid back.”

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Dwight Howard kept collecting fouls, and all the Orlando Magic did was become the first team to advance in the NBA playoffs.

Vince Carter scored 21 points, Jameer Nelson added 18 and the Magic showcased their depth and pressure shot-making in a 99-90 victory against the Charlotte Bob-cats on Monday night to complete a sweep of their first-round series.

Howard was held to six points in his fourth straight game in foul trouble, but the Magic never flinched to accomplish their first four-game sweep in franchise his-tory. Orlando will face the Atlanta-Milwaukee winner in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Tyrus Thomas scored a ca-reer playoff-high 21 points for the Bobcats, whose focus will now al-most immediately turn to nomadic coach Larry Brown’s future with the team.

Howard did grab 13 rebounds, but was limited to 23 minutes be-fore fouling out for the second straight game. The Magic, though, got key contributions and big shots from others.

Rashard Lewis scored 17 points, Matt Barnes added 14 and Orlando held Stephen Jackson to 2-of-11 shooting to make sure Charlotte would be the only team not to win a first-round game.

After Charlotte cut Orlando’s lead to one on Tyson Chandler’s two free throws, Mickael Pietrus hit consecutive 3-pointers directly across the floor from Bobcats own-er Michael Jordan’s seat to put the Magic ahead 83-76 with 5:47 left.

Nelson’s 3-pointer less than a minute later — after Gerald Wal-lace missed two free throws — put it away for the Magic, whose only previous playoff sweep was a 3-0 victory over Detroit in 1996.

They made quick work of the Bobcats, whose first playoff ap-pearance turned into a miserable offensive exhibition. Charlotte couldn’t take advantage of How-ard’s long stints on the bench — and now has to wonder if its coach will be back.

Brown, in the second sea-son of his 13th head coaching job in college and the pros, said two weeks ago that Jordan is “the only guy I’m going to coach for.” But Jordan said last month he wouldn’t hold the 69-year-old Brown to his contract if he wanted to leave for family reasons.

Brown’s wife and children live in Philadelphia, and Brown could hold true to his word if he left for a job such as team president with the 76ers and hired his own coach.

Asked during his pregame media availability if this series could help the team in the future, a cranky Brown snapped it would be “stupid” to think about next season, while he continued to bash Charlotte’s deficiencies.

They were magnified by

Howard’s absence.The four-time All-Star’s end-

less foul trouble entering the game made him the focus of ribbing in the morning shootaround. Team-mates told him instead of Super-man, his nickname was now “Foul on You.” Howard played along in raising his arm and clenching his fist as if to call a foul.

But while Howard joked around, coach Stan Van Gundy was more serious. He had Howard watch video of his frustration fouls on Sunday, and stressed he had to keep his cool against Charlotte’s wave of three physical centers.

It didn’t work. Howard was called for two fouls in 16 seconds in the first quarter, the second for tripping. He picked up his third for challenging D.J. Augustin after he had released a reverse layup that turned into a three-point play.

With Howard on the bench, the Bobcats built a 38-31 lead on the strength of Thomas, who hit his first eight shots.

Orlando cut the deficit to 45-43 at halftime and took the lead on a run that included Carter’s first made 3-pointer after an 0-for-15 start to the series.

Howard was called for his fourth foul on Raymond Felton’s drive with 6:58 left in the third quarter — and stayed on the bench for nearly 10 minutes.

The Magic, though, main-tained the lead. After Chandler smothered Carter on his drive to the hoop and was called for a fla-grant-1 foul, Carter hit two free throws to put Orlando ahead 77-73 with 9:35 left.

Howard checked in a minute later, and stayed on the floor until he fouled out with 54 seconds left, finishing with 22 fouls in the series.

Contact The Daily Reveille’s sports staff at sports@lsureveille.com

By Mike CranstonThe Associated Press

Magic beat Bobcats to complete sweep

NBA

Contact The Daily Reveille’s sports staff at sports@lsureveille.com

Bucks shock Hawks with victoryNBA

By Chris JenkinsThe Associated Press

THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 14 TuEsdAy, APril 27, 2010

THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 15TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010

classroom, we need to cut those individuals that are making $100,000-plus that are non-in-structional,” Hebert said.

Similar bills that seek to limit salary increases at state agencies during a budget defi cit will be de-bated later in the session.

Hebert said this measure may not save education from the bud-get crisis, but he argued it will maintian a principle.

“I am not going to sit back and allow the people who teach everyday in the classrooms and have the kids trying to learn face these budget cuts when we have these individuals that are getting these pay raises that are ludi-crous,” Hebert said.

Hebert attempted to enact similar a law last year but only received six votes in favor.

“While the professors and students were in the classroom teaching and learning, the ad-ministrative personnel were at the capital lobbying against the amendment,” Hebert said. “That’s exactly why [it failed].

University Executive Vice Chancellor on Legislative and External Affairs Jason Droddy said the bill could be dangerous

because it would blindly revert salaries with no regard for the purpose of the increase.

Reverting salaries could lead to high-quality administrators being poached by other schools, Droddy said.

The University’s Baton Rouge campus has doled out sev-eral pay increases to high-level ad-ministrators for multiple reasons in the past six months.

Most of these increases are the results of in-creased duties.

The Universi-ty has lost a num-ber of high- level admin i s t r a to r s over the last year and chose not to replace them, but to give their du-ties to remaining administrators.

Eric Monday took over ser-vices as interim vice chancellor of Finance and Administrative Services in January bringing a $69,513 increase to his salary.

University Spokesperson Kristine Calongne said Monday’s salary is less than the College and University Professional Associa-tion for Human Resources, also

known as CUPA-HR, average for his position.

Competitive reasons are also the cause of some increases.

In the case of Vice Provost for Equity, Diversity and Commu-nity Outreach Katrice Albert, the University approved a $25,000 pay raise to compete with an job

offered to Albert elsewhere in the LSU System.

C a l o n g n e said Albert’s sal-ary is also below the CUPA-HR average.

On the other side, educational faculty have not received any large scale merit or across the

board pay increases since August 2008, according to Faculty Sen-ate President Kevin Cope.

“The faculty does not resent or begrudge anyone of a raise,” Cope said. “However, I think that we have to be uniform in our ap-proach and realize that the faculty have achieved in many different ways.”

With faculty not receiving merit raises and some faculty receiving letters of non-renewal,

Cope said faculty are facing a similar situation Droddy said ad-ministrators could face.

“Like it or not, the Univer-sity is a national labor pool, and it is not the case that every school is in trouble,” Cope said. “If you can look out the window and see the next opportunity, you can be sure that there are many other states out there that are eager to select these faculty.”

The University has handed out about fi ve pay raises from state funds over the past six months, but administrators ar-gue the University has a slim ad-ministration compared to other schools.

“LSU has one of the leanest administrations of anybody by far,” Droddy said. “We have peo-ple doing two or three jobs that people would be doing at other universities.”

The University ranks 31st among Southern Regional Edu-cation Board peers for number of administrative personnel accord-ing to U.S. Department of Educa-tion statistics.

showing up for games, not actually selling the tickets.

Nearly 9,000 tickets were sold on average for each home game in 2009, with 4,211 fans actually showing up.

The Tigers took 13 home games in 2008 to fi ll at least half of the arena after a 13-18 record in 2007.

LSU accomplished that feat Jan. 14 against South Carolina when 8,218 fans showed up. The Tigers proceeded to rattle off 12 victories in their remaining 15 contests, including a 10-game win streak.

LSU averaged 10,023 fans per contest during that span, further echoing Johnson’s statement.

Kent Lowe, senior associate sports information director, said a lack of student attendance attri-butes to LSU’s inability to fi ll the PMAC.

A mere 749 students have at-tended games on average dating back to 2005.

“You can’t really sell out the arena in some respects be-cause ... if students don’t show up, you still only have a crowd of 12,000 in the building,” he said. “It’s very hard to get students out when you’re 2-14 in the league. It’s just the nature of the beast unfortu-nately.”

LSU historically hasn’t always had this much trouble bringing in

fans on a consistent basis. The Tigers fi nished in the top

25 for average paid attendance in the country for eight consecutive seasons from 1979 to 1986.

They also enjoyed the same success from 1988-92 during the Shaquille O’Neal and Chris Jack-son era.

But times have changed, and LSU has established consistent national attention via football and baseball, leaving the basketball program in the dust.

Vincent remains optimistic that Johnson, who has only been with LSU for two years, can turn the program around and watch ev-erything fall into place.

“Once we have sustained suc-cess with Trent Johnson, then I think you will see tickets start to become in high demand,” he said.

Meanwhile, the LSU women’s basketball program has enjoyed one of the best fan bases in the country during its recent success.

The Lady Tigers went to fi ve straight Final Fours from 2003-07, helping them establish a core group of fans.

“We’ve had great support for women’s basketball,” said LSU women’s basketball coach Van Chancellor. “Our fans have been loyal and have really had an inter-est in our team.”

There is no question LSU’s dominant home record during the last several years has helped.

The Lady Tigers entered the

2009 season with a 32-3 home re-cord since 2004 and have only lost 22 times at home since 1996.

LSU set a women’s basket-ball record during the 2004 season against Tennessee and the fourth-largest PMAC crowd with a 15,233 paid attendance and 14,019 actual attendance.

“LSU is considered to be among the elite women’s basket-ball programs in the country,” Vin-cent said. “It’s helped to build a crowd to stay there.”

The attendance has marginally decreased since the Lady Tigers’ last Final Four appearance in 2007, but Chancellor, who just fi nished his second year as coach, has been active in marketing the program.

JumpOnTheVanWagon.com was launched prior to the 2009 season to garner more fan support, and Chancellor has spent time dur-ing men’s basketball games navi-gating his way through the PMAC to encourage fans to come to home games.

“He’s such a likeable guy, and he tries to spend time with the fans and students,” Vincent said of Chancellor, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007. “He is very involved to try and get people out to games.”

FANS, from page 7

Contact Sean Isabella at sisabella@lsureveille.com

“We had a chance to take the lead, but it wouldn’t have even been pos-sible to get back in the game if it wasn’t for his performance.”

The Tigers will try to regain form tonight against a UNO team that Troy swept over the weekend.

The Privateers, with a 2-19 record, have struggled mightily throughout the season, especially in conference play. They are bat-ting at .270 while their opponents are hitting .334, and their team ERA stands at 8.00 .

LSU will throw right-hander Daniel Bradshaw (5-0, 4.71 ERA) on the hill against UNO righty Joe Zimmermann (0-5, 9.42 ERA.)

Mainieri isn’t worried about providing motivation for tonight’s game.

“We are on a three-game los-ing streak, we get to play at home and we don’t have that many games left,” Mainieri said. “Their pitcher, Zimmermann, has a real good arm.”

Freshman Alex Edward will get the start in left fi eld as LSU contin-ues to search for a replacement for injured outfi elder Trey Watkins .

LEAD, from page 7

agent deals with the Jacksonville Jaguars after the draft — corner-back Chris Hawkins and linebacker Jacob Cutrera.

Detillier said he was surprised Hawkins was not drafted.

“A lot of friends of mine in the scouting business talked to me a lot about Chris, so I knew he was somebody they had a lot of interest in as a late-round pick,” Detillier said.

Running back Keiland Wil-liams will join the Washington Red-skins as an undrafted free agent, a situation Detillier said may not be ideal for Williams because of Wash-ington’s depth at running back with Clinton Portis, Willie Parker, Larry Johnson and P.J. Hill.

Former LSU defensive tackle Charles Alexander will join the Philadelphia Eagles along with sixth-round selection Charles Scott. Alexander suffered from injuries to his foot, ankle and knee throughout

his LSU career, which spanned six years.

Other former Tigers who will make the leap to the NFL this sum-mer include safety Danny McCray , who signed with the Dallas Cow-boys, tight end Richard Dickson, who went to the Detroit Lions, and defensive end Rahim Alem, who signed with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Contact Rachel Whittaker at rwhittaker@lsureveille.com

DRAFT, from page 7

Contact Andy Schwehm at aschwehm@lsureveille.com

SALARIES, from page 1

Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at xwilson@lsureveille.com

‘‘‘The University is a national labor

pool, and it is not the case that every

school is in trouble.’Kevin Cope

Faculty Senate president

With budget cuts causing concrete carnage throughout the state, it’s tempting to start slash-ing salaries and programs left and right.

The impressive salaries higher education administrators currently earn are now on the chopping block. State Sen. Troy Hebert is on a hunt to save money by cutting some administrator’s salaries.

“We are cutting into the meat

now where programs and classes are going to be cut,” Hebert said. “The teaching staff are going to be cut also, but we have hun-dreds of administrative personnel [statewide] that make $100,000 per year.”

It’s true some of the higher administrators here at LSU make enviable six-figure salaries. It seems obvious in the heat of the moment that trimming these numbers will save us money, and

it seems highly unfair for these people to be earning huge sums while everyday workers are be-ing laid off.

It’s part of the “Wall Street cats” vs. “everyday Americans” mentality sweeping the country in the wake of the financial crisis.

We’re not claiming every administrator earning six figures deserves them, but it’s important that salaries not be cut willy-nilly. Large salaries buy top talent and

experience, and there is no time that talent and experience are more necessary than during times of crisis. The state can’t expect to pay small sums and expect to have skilled administrators.

It’s certainly a perfect time to be carefully analyzing the sal-aries we’re paying our state em-ployees, but that analysis has to be rational and systematic.

If it is determined there are positions being grossly overpaid

they need to be cut — but that can only happen after careful comparison with similar posi-tions nationwide and after a mea-sured asessment of performance.

People’s salaries need to be cut if they are earning too much. But we can’t start cutting based on populist outrage alone.

Viewers of the new critically acclaimed HBO series “Treme” follow the stories of several New Orleans residents as they try to put the pieces back together sev-eral months after Hurricane Ka-trina.

The show clearly seeks to capture the essence of New Or-leans in a way that has never been accomplished. The creators look beyond Bourbon Street to give people outside of New Orleans an accurate glimpse into a unique culture while shedding new light on life after the storm — an ex-ceedingly complex task in itself.

I don’t claim to be an au-thority on New Orleans culture — something many would claim is only achieved through birth in the Big Easy — but I moved to New Orleans from my native Baton Rouge to attend Tulane two days before the storm hit. I returned for the spring semester when Tulane reopened and lived in New Orleans during the time period the show portrays.

Given my understanding of the city, I have been thoroughly impressed by the attention to de-tail the show has sought. Unlike the poorly conceived “K-Ville,” which had repeated references to “gumbo parties,” this show has been thoroughly researched.

It has captured the city’s great music through the likes of Galactic and Rebirth Brass Band. It has been unapologetic in its portrayal of the domineering New Orleans Police Department. It has been thorough — with characters drinking Community Coffee and riding in United Cabs.

But one part of the show has led me to raise an eyebrow — its portrayal of Baton Rouge.

Baton Rouge is referred to as New Orleans’s boring, lame, culturally bankrupt brother. I beg to differ on this point (at least in the severity of the disparity), but

it’s an accu-rate portrayal of the attitude many New Orleans resi-dents have.

But a Ba-ton Rouge ref-erence in the last episode of “Treme” re-

ally concerned me.John Goodman sits down to

show his wife a video of their daughter from YouTube entitled “counting the days in Baton Rouge.” The daughter, who has been relocated to Baton Rouge for school, claims an LSU fan called her a “bitch” and told her to “get back to New Orleans” af-ter sporting a Tulane sweatshirt.

We can all probably envision this entirely plausible scenario, but those without direct knowl-edge of the time after the storm might get the wrong impression about our fair city and its treat-ment of those displaced by the hurricane.

As anyone who was in Ba-ton Rouge after the storm knows, the city descended into chaos in the days following the hurricane. Traffic was in a state of paraly-sis. Lines for gas spilled into the streets. The telephone grid was constantly busy. Rumors that rampant crime was sweeping the city kept senior citizens on edge.

But there were many positive things happening in the face of these stressful and chaotic times. Louisiana residents from across

the state opened their doors to those who lost their homes and FEMA workers sent without housing arrangements alike. The PMAC became one of the larg-est field hospitals in history, with volunteers pouring in to lend a hand.

Of course, I’m not claim-ing that after the hurricane there weren’t some growing pains with the city’s population doubling in size. And sure, there must have

been some anti-New Orleanian sentiment as a result of these frus-trations. After all, Baton Rouge traffic was terrible to begin with.

I hope I’m not making mountains out of molehills, but I’m concerned that the message received by outside viewers — even New Orleans residents — will overly portray the negative. It certainly existed, but the story of assistance — where Louisiana was united in helping those af-

fected by the storm — needs to be told as well.

Mark Macmurdo is a 23-year-old history and economics senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_mmacmurdo.

OpinionPAGE 16 TuEsdAy, APril 27, 2010

THE DAILY REVEILLEThe Daily Reveille (USPS 145-800) is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University. The Daily Reveille is an independent entity within the Manship School of Mass Communi-cation. Signed opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, paper or University. Letters submitted for publication should be sent via e-mail to opinion@lsureveille.com or delivered to B-26 Hodges Hall. They must be 400 words or less. Letters must have a contact phone number so the opinion editor can verify the author. The phone number won’t be printed. The Daily Reveil-le reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for space consideration without changing the origi-nal intent. The Daily Reveille also reserves the right to reject any letter without notification of the author. Writers must include their full names and phone numbers. The Daily Reveille’s editor-in-chief, hired ev-ery semester by the Louisiana State University Media Board, has final authority on all editorial decisions.

EdiTOriAl POliCiEs & PrOCEdurEs QuOTE OF THE dAy

“To win without risk is to triumph without glory.”

Pierre CorneilleFrench dramatist

June 6, 1606 — Oct. 1, 1684

Editorial Board

THE DAILY REVEILLE

NICHOLAS PERSAC

JERIT ROSER

GERRI SAX

ELLEN ZIELINSKI

MATTHEW ALBRIGHT

Editor

Managing Editor, Content

Managing Editor, External Media

Managing Editor, Production

Opinion Editor

OUR VIEW

Legislators need to approach admin. salary cuts carefully

Contact the Editorial Board at editor@lsureveille.com

MURDA HE WROTE

Baton Rouge gets bad rap in HBO series ‘Treme’

Mark MacMurdoColumnist BEST AND WITTIEST

cartoon courtesy of KING FEATURES SYNDICATE

Contact Mark Macmurdo at mmacmurdo@lsureveille.com

Nicolas Cage bought a pyramid-shaped tomb in New Orleans for his eventual death.

You see that? I don’t have to write a snazzy lead anymore. I just write what Nicolas Cage is doing. You’re instantly hooked.

The man who was once awe-some is now a caricature. Such is the life of entertainers we grew up watching on the silver screen.

Don’t be a cynical Sally and think Cage never had a good movie. You love when USA runs a mara-thon of “Face/Off.” Even hipsters had a golden day with Cage when he pulled double duty in “Adaptation.”

These good films are peppered in between the bargain bin qual-ity of “Next,” “Knowing,” “The Wicker Man” and “National Trea-sure 5: Where the Hell is The Map, Already?” Movies alone don’t make a great case for Cage’s recent pur-chase.

I’m arguing Cage has become the wide-eyed detective/sorcerer/car-thief he so emulates on screen. And the reason a move like this isn’t surprising and generally accepted depends on which of Cage’s films you enjoy.

He’s been in a billion. You en-joy at least one.

So my defense for this purchase is, “Yeah, but he did give us ‘Con/Air.’” And this is reason enough, simply because “Con/Air,” while kind of terrible, is also kind of a guilty pleasure and awesome — like Foghat’s “Slow Ride.”

This same confusing reasoning comes with other actors.

Val Kilmer has been relegated to star in direct-to-video fodder, but I’ve been told he still acts like he’s Marlon Brando’s son whenever on

set. The response to such a conver-sation is normally “Man, that Val Kilmer is an a-hole.”

Easy for you to say — you didn’t star opposite Tom Cruise in “Top Gun.” Hell, I would never pay a bar tab again if I were Doc Holliday in 1993’s classic “Tombstone.” Let’s not forget Kilmer was in the best ac-

tion movie of all-time: “Heat.”

M i c k e y Rourke not only made a name for himself in ’80s classics like “Diner,” he also came back like Travolta, but in better movies

like “The Wrestler.”We all knew he had it in him.

We knew it would take time. He’s now the lead villain in “Iron Man 2.” Do you ever question the fact that he has a fascination with his small Chi-huahuas? Or that he dresses like Don Johnson?

Didn’t think so.No matter what happens, the

new talent Chloe Moretz will always be the iconic Hit-Girl from “Kick-Ass,” a movie that will most likely be a cult favorite in five years’ time. It’s like the girl who starred opposite Macaulay Culkin in “My Girl.” She never really has to try for a job. If she needs to try, she can put in bold, “I was in ‘My Girl,’ you putz.”

Granted, this argument doesn’t work for every actor/actress. Kather-ine Heigl is going to keep making the same faces and unfunny comments in every other movie.

Tim Burton once being awe-some does not give him grounds to make live-action Disney cartoons

with Johnny Depp and wife Helena Bonham-Carter.

I don’t know what the hell is coming out of Jesse Eisenberg’s mouth when he talks on screen. Re-member mumble-core? This balo-ney-sniffer is single-handedly creat-ing muttercore.

To wrap up this argument, you have two parties in showbiz: the ba-dasses and the other guys.

This is the sole reason I root for Tom Sizemore to this day. He was in “Saving Private Ryan.” The one film that has this as a descriptive adjective

phrase: Three-hour epic by Spielberg that made grown men cry.

I’m not arguing it’s OK to do meth and be a part of two shows on VH1 and repeatedly star with Steven Seagal in upcoming thrillers.

But who wouldn’t want to live in a pyramid for a couple of years when the tabloids keep coming after you? Look, I would have spontane-ously combusted on set if I were star-ring opposite Sean Connery and Ed Harris in “The Rock.”

Nicolas Cage didn’t. Cut him a little slack, but don’t expect the

world from him. After all, his most memorable line from that film was, “I love pressure. I eat it for break-fast.”

Matt Sigur is a 22-year-old mass communication senior from West Monroe. Follow him on Twitter @ TDR_msigur.

The most beautiful thing in the academic study of religion is the ability to ask any and all questions — no matter their heretical nature — to find some possible truth in what is usually considered “absolute.”

From term papers examin-ing ‘the psychology of speaking in tongues’ to proposing a new model of Christianity for ‘believers in exile’ like myself, it’s been a wild and often unsettling ride. But being allowed to ask all the “wrong” questions is what separates the realm of academia from the often-totalitarian mindset of institutionalized religion.

Continuing in this freedom of inquiry, I now want to unashamedly ask: Did Jesus’ teachings become what is now modern Christianity? After all, Jesus wasn’t a Christian.

The gospels indeed played a role in forming Christian belief, but there is also a mass of literature that was purportedly authored by a single man: Paul of Tarsus.

Yes, it’s the same “Paul, the

great corrupter of the teachings of Jesus” — as Thomas Jefferson once put it.

I remain unconvinced that Jef-ferson’s curiously slim and abbrevi-ated Bible contains a more accurate depiction of Jesus of Nazareth, but I still applaud the man for dissenting against Paul — a modern monumen-tal challenge indeed.

For the typical layperson, Paul of Tarsus was a true saint. Spread-ing his version of the gospel, facing persecution and saving the sinful multitudes around the Mediterranean — these qualities in themselves are not bad. But who’s to say Paul’s ver-sion of Jesus had anything to do with the Jewish carpenter walking around Palestine and stirring up the masses?

Here’s the scholastic consensus: A Jewish man, Yeshua bar Yosef (Je-sus son of Joseph), preached a mes-sage in Palestine about 2,000 years ago and was killed for it.

That’s about it — and even this much is debated.

Now tack on Matthew, Mark, Luke and John’s perspectives. In the academic world they hold little sig-nificance as historical accounts but are infinitely valuable for the insight they provide into the beliefs of some

of the early followers of Jesus.

F u n fact: We now know of about 60 different gospels that were floating around the Near East be-

fore Christianity came to its current state. My personal favorite of these, the Gospel of Mary, contains more Buddhist concepts than Avatar.

Apart from the four canonical gospels is the rest of the New Testa-ment — and the dominant author of these is reported to be Paul.

Paul’s portrayal of Jesus differs from the gospels on many matters.

The relevance of the life of Je-sus is primarily supplanted by his death. The pre-Easter Jesus of Naza-reth becomes the risen superhero Jesus Christ, whose teachings about compassion and revolutionary love were replaced with concepts of alle-viating our original sin and supply-ing remedial atonement. Considering Paul never met Jesus of Nazareth in the flesh, it’s not terribly surprising to think that there was some inven-tive thought occurring in Paul’s the-ology.

Beyond this, Paul’s Jesus usurps Jewish notions of the messiah, which have nothing to do with gentile sal-vation, a triune god or sacrificial death and replaces them rather with ideas of the soul and futuristic salva-tion reeking of neo-Platonism.

Paul is reported to be as Jewish as matza ball soup, but his paganish theology and clear Greek influences suggest we may be dealing with more of a non-kosher ‘ham sand-wich’ of Jewish thought.

And this, my beloved readers, is just one of an infinite number of historical qualms that exist when one allows an ancient text to speak for it-self. Applying the guise of “faith” to a historical conundrum doesn’t solve it — it only adds to the confusion.

For those interested in the great turmoil that is the freedom of in-quiry, go for it. After a multitude of sleepless nights spent wrestling with the great questions of faith, you’ll emerge the better for it. But be fore-warned — it’s a wild ride.

I took the red pill, and the rab-bit hole is indeed deeper than I ever thought possible.

Go now and do likewise.

Andrew Robertson is a 23-year-old religious studies senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_arobertson.

OpinionTuesday, april 27, 2010 paGe 17

THE DAILY REVEILLE

cancel the apocalypse

‘Heretical’ questions are necessary and often fun

Contact Andrew Roberston at arobertson@lsureveille.com

DaMaGeD GooDs

Contact Matt Sigur at msigur@lsureveille.com

Andrew robertson

Columnist

MAtt sigurColumnist

Some celebs can do what they want without question

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Legislature on several bills regard-ing higher education and said it was one of the best experiences of his life. He said he intends to get several SG members to speak with him.

Scheuermann said it’s impor-tant Hudson continues supporting the proposal her administration created this year for consistency.

“I think they have to still con-tinue conversations with legislators about supporting the LA GRAD Act,” Scheuermann said. “The only way it’ll continue to be effective is to continue with the same message.”

EXECUTIVE STAFFHudson and Borel are

keeping some of the previous

administration’s executive depart-ments but are expanding others, such as external affairs, where Hudson previously served.

Assistant positions will be cre-ated in areas with heavy workloads.

The department will now have a committee of three students from the legislative branch and three students from the executive branch to work during the summer to garner more corporate sponsorships.

“[The previous administration’s] departments, I thought, were very good and represented Student Gov-ernment well, and we’ll be expanding on those,” Hudson said.

Hudson said he is also creating smaller sponsorship options so busi-nesses that cannot afford a full spon-sorship can still donate.

The administration is creating a department of college council affairs to do leg work for college councils, Hudson said.

This department will provide a “big buddy-little buddy” program which pairs freshmen with seniors from their college to make the transi-tion into college easier.

Hudson and Borel accepted ap-plications for executive staff last week and conducted interviews last weekend. Their selections must be reviewed and approved by the Sen-ate on Wednesday before the students can begin work.

“If you have two students in a class, and one is doing very, very low B- work, and one is dong very, very high B+ work, they get the same grade, whereas one student is almost an A student, and one is almost a C student,” Perlis said.

Geography graduate student Shaun Williams said he would sup-port a plus-minus grading system be-cause he has received the same grade as a student whose average was sev-en or eight points below his own.

LaRock taught at Florida State University , which utilized the plus-minus system, before coming to LSU. The ASH committee used FSU’s grading scale as a potential model to follow.

FSU’s model adds or subtracts 0.3 quality points from the A, B, C and D grades to expand the grading possibilities, LaRock said. For ex-ample, an A is worth 4 points , while an A- is worth 3.7 , B+ is worth 3.3 , B is 3 points and so on.

Eight schools in the Southeast-ern Conference use the plus-minus system — the universities of Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas and Vanderbilt University.

Only three SEC schools offer an A+ grade. The University of Ala-bama offers it, and the University of Kentucky and Vanderbilt University both offer A+ to law students.

Perlis said A+ grades worth more than 4 points could be prob-lematic when comparing grades at different institutions.

“Presently, A means 4.0 , and for purposes of students transferring colleges, you don’t want to have the highest grade be above 4.0,” Per-lis said. “If you make that grade an A+, that would be confusing because most places don’t have A+.

Only four of the SEC schools don’t use plus-minus grading — LSU, Auburn University, the Univer-sity of Mississippi and Mississippi State University .

The University of South Caro-lina uses plus grades but not minus, which Perlis said is an option for the University to consider.

The ASH committee has not yet prepared a report or conferred with the Faculty Senate on the matter. Perlis said the committee will decide whether to make a recommendation for Senate study after additional re-search.

Perlis said the idea is far from implementation, and students would be consulted before any decision was made.

“If this would go through the Faculty Senate, I’m sure there would be a year-long discussion,” he said. “A poll of faculty and students would defi nitely be involved.”

Stacia Haynie , vice provost of Academic Affairs, said everyone involved with the discussion under-stands there is more work to come before this could be a reality at the University.

“The ASH committee recog-nizes they need additional input and analysis, including student input,” Haynie said.

Student Government President J Hudson said he is interested in re-viewing grading options and exam-ining the possibility of a change.

“My philosophy is if a student earns a grade, they deserve what they earn,” Hudson said. “If I made an 89, and someone else made an 80, there’s a 9-point difference there that’s not

refl ected on any documents.”Perlis said moving to a plus-

minus system may not be possible even if both the Faculty Senate and students supported the idea because of necessary changes to University catalog and computer systems.

“Given the particularly chal-lenging budget situation, the re-sources it would take to implement such a change could be a challenge for the University,” Haynie said.

Perlis said the ASH committee will decide whether to submit a rec-ommendation to the Faculty Senate by the end of the semester.

THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 19TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010

A L C O H O LKNOW YOUR

L MITS

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the night this way...

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