The Daily Reveille - November 10, 2009

THE DAILY REVEILLEWWW.LSUREVEILLE.COMVolume 114, Issue 54 Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Question of the WeekCheck out lsureveille.com to see what students’ wishes will be on

at 11:11 a.m. on 11/11.

Soccer team earns No. 4 seed in NCAA

tourney, page 7.

SPORTS

A typical lab may involve safety glasses and white coats, but biology stu-dents in Rebecca Effl er’s ecology class donned life jackets and took up paddles for class yesterday morning. Canoeing the University lakes is not completely unusual for these students to learn lab techniques in the fi eld.

Ten students paired in canoes and equipped with measuring tape and a GPS

locator paddled to the Bird Refuge in the middle of University Lake to measure duck box dimensions and their distances from land and from the road Monday morning.

The wooden boxes sit on top of stilts sticking a few feet out of the shallow lake water and provide a safe nesting area for wood ducks which inhabit the area. The measurements will allow students to com-pare what dimensions and locations best serve the ducks and protect them from predators.

Another section went out later

Monday afternoon, and more will be visit-ing the peninsula throughout the week.

The wood duck project was suggested by a student who saw the boxes around the lakes and became interested in their purpose, said Effl er, a biological sciences instructor who teaches the principles of ecology lab.

The challenge is planning and obtain-ing resources for the projects, she said.

At the beginning of the semester,

Baton Rouge is expected to be partly cloudy today with no chance of rain, sidestepping any signifi cant effects of Tropical Storm Ida.

As of print time Monday, the National Weather Service projected minimal wind gusts in Baton Rouge, with only one or two such gusts at tropical storm force and less than an inch of rain in the early morn-ing hours. Ida was expected to make landfall around midnight near Mo-bile, Ala., said Danielle Manning , National Weather Service meteo-rologist. Manning said the tropical storm’s winds were forecast to weak-en to about 50 knots from 60 before landfall.

Areas in Alabama were expect-ed to receive 3 to 6 inches of rain and a relatively small storm surge of 4 to 6 feet , compared to 20 feet for a strong hurricane, Manning said.

The University Emergency Op-erations Center kept a close eye on the storm and open ears to state agen-cies like the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Department of Social Services, keeping safety as the top priority, said Kristine Ca-longne , assistant vice chancellor of Public Affairs. No class cancellations had been announced as of press time Monday. Any updates will be posted on LSU’s Web site.

Italian Renaissance-style ar-chitecture distinguishes the campus grounds as one of the University’s outstanding aesthetic features. But many campus buildings show signs of age from more than 80 years of wear.

University attendants are con-stantly challenged with maintenance issues including breaking fl oors and white lines across campus’s many tan stucco walls caused by settling structures.

All buildings move over time, and the damage from this movement depends on the quality of the archi-tecture, soil and the funds available

to maintain the structures.Completed in 1978 , Patrick F.

Taylor Hall , formerly CEBA , pro-vides one of the most poignant ex-amples of cosmetic deterioration on campus.

Paul Favaloro , Offi ce of Facil-ity Services director of facility re-sources, said Patrick F. Taylor Hall was built without structural expan-sion joints.

Favaloro said the walls and brick fl oors of Patrick F. Taylor Hall were laid in a solid slab without rubber joints to control movement, causing the fl oor to bubble and crack over time.

As Facility Services repairs those bubbles, Favaloro said rubber joints are added along with new brick

pavers. He said repairs are made as needed, and the introduction of ex-pansion joints helps resolve future problems.

Thomas Sofranko , associate dean of the school of architecture, said the expansion is caused in part by the penetration of water into the structure, causing the steel inside to rust and expand.

“Everything has got to give a little bit,” Sofranko said. “Like an old instructor of mine said, ‘If you don’t put the joints there, mother nature will put them there for you.’”

Sofranko said maintaining these kinds of problems can become a dai-ly battle, often inhibited by lacking resources which have consistently lengthened the University’s deferred

maintenance list.As hundreds of tons of brick

and concrete press on the soil during a period of years, uneven structural settlement can also cause cosmetic damage.

Khalid Alshibli , associate pro-fessor of civil and environmental engineering, said Baton Rouge’s proximity to the Mississippi River has made its soil soft and wet.

Alshibli said before the le-vees were built, fl ooding probably brought in river silt and soft soil lay-ers over many years.

“Usually, when you build on soft soil, settlement depends on wa-ter being squeezed out over time,”

KRISTEN M’LISSA ROWLETT / The Daily Reveille

[From left] Biology seniors Jesse Beckemeyer, Ericka Johnson, Hannah Rockett and Daniel Noel check a wood duck box Monday during their ecology service learning class.

BR not expected to feel Ida’s effects

WEATHER

SERVICE

Projects take students out of classroomBy Olga KourilovaContributing Writer

By Ryan BuxtonStaff Writer

SERVICE, see page 15

SETTLING, see page 15Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]

CRACKINGUP

photos by MEGAN J. WILLIAMS and BENJAMIN OLIVER HICKS / The Daily Reveille

[Top left] Audubon Hall’s white lines shows where cracks where repaired. [Top right, bottom] Construction continues on Patrick F. Taylor Hall because of natural settling.

Natural settlement and construction errors cause cosmetic building damageBy Adam DuvernaySenior Staff Writer

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

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Nation & World THE DAILY REVEILLE

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2009 PAGE 2

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Brazil college backs down on mini-dress expulsion

SAO PAULO (AP) — A Brazil-ian woman whose short, pink dress caused a near riot at a private college and led to her expulsion will be al-lowed to return to class.

The private Bandeirante Uni-versity backed down Monday on its decision to expel 20-year-old Geisy Arruda following a fl ood of negative reaction in a nation where skimpy at-tire is common.

Thousands celebrate 20 years since fall of Berlin Wall

BERLIN (AP) — Ulrich Sauff and his wife stared at the mammoth domino pieces marking the path where the Berlin Wall once stood and reminisced about life in the bar-rier’s shadow.

The Sauffs were among those who gathered Monday to celebrate 20 years of unity, as thousands cheered together, marking the day the wall came down.

Paterson calls for action on gay marriage, defi cit

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Gov. David Paterson on Monday urged lawmak-ers to legalize same-sex marriage in New York, calling it “an issue that touches on the very core of our citi-zenship.”

His request raises the hopes of gay advocates who suffered a major defeat in Maine when voters repealed that state’s same-sex-marriage law last week.

In New York City, Christine Quinn, the openly gay council speak-er, quickly weighed in by offering an impassioned plea for the state Sen-ate to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage.Federal judge asked to end Yellowstone bison kills

BLLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A coali-tion of environmental and Ameri-can Indian groups sued two federal agencies Monday to stop the mass slaughter of bison that migrate

outside Yellowstone National Park in search of food.

During the last decade, federal agencies working with the state of Montana captured and shipped to slaughter more than 3,300 bison to prevent the spread of an animal dis-ease to cattle.

Critics of that program have tried — unsuccessfully — to stop the practice through lobbying of govern-ment agencies and appeals to Con-gress.

Man confesses to shooting Kansas abortion provider

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Defi ant and unapologetic, a man accused of shooting a Kansas abortion pro-vider confessed to the slaying Mon-day, telling The Associated Press he killed the doctor to protect unborn children.

Scott Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, Mo., spoke to the AP in a tele-phone call from jail, saying he plans to argue at his trial that he was justi-fi ed in shooting Dr. George Tiller.

Louisiana educators turn to trades to cut dropout rate

WEST MONROE, La. (AP) — Beginning next year, a lot of Louisiana high school class-rooms could look like Wes Sebren’s: equipped with welding gear, safety goggles and circular saws.

Sebren, a teacher at West Ouachita High School near West Monroe, is at the forefront of public schools’ response to a 2009 law passed by the Legis-lature that encourages teaching skills students will need in the work force.

The law created a “career diploma” that — in an effort to reduce the dropout rate — will go to students who opt for lower academic standards in math and English, while taking classes such as welding, woodworking and small engine repair.

Sebren has been teaching such classes in rural Louisiana for more than a decade.

Judge hears argument on campaign fi nance restrictions

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — It’s now up to a federal judge in New Orleans to decide whether to put a challenge to campaign fi nance restrictions on a faster track to the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Ginger Ber-rigan heard arguments Monday by attorneys for Republican offi cials challenging the restrictions and from Federal Election Commission attor-neys defending them.

Man lost in Mississippi River as Ida grazes SE Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Au-thorities feared a 70-year-old man drowned when he tried to help two fi shermen stranded in the Mississippi River as Tropical Storm Ida churned ashore Mon-day, fl ooding low-lying areas outside levee systems and closing schools and offi ces in southeast Louisiana.

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As Tropical Storm Ida makes her way through the Gulf of Mexi-co, the stretch of Mississippi River running along Baton Rouge is lin-gering at fewer than 2 feet below its fl ood stage of 35 feet.

But Baton Rouge is unlikely to see fl ooding from the Missis-sippi River throughout the week regardless of rain Ida may bring, said city-parish drainage engineer Jim Ferguson.

Weather forecasts for Mon-day predicted an 80 percent chance of rain with signifi cantly less rain through the remainder of the week, said Louisiana state cli-matologist Barry Keim.

Cold fronts are anticipated to push Ida eastward, and Baton Rouge is not likely to receive sig-nifi cant rain, said Fred Zeigler, National Weather Service meteo-rologist.

Zeigler said the river was at 33.7 feet Monday.

It is anticipated to rise to 34.2 feet Tuesday, 34.4 feet Wednes-day and 34.5 feet Thursday, and it is forecast to stabilize Friday.

The average depth of the river in late October and early Novem-ber is below 20 feet at a signifi -cantly lower depth than the river has this month, Zeigler said.

Whenever the river rises above 35 feet, Ferguson said the Brightside Drive area begins to sweat water, and ditches start to overfl ow.

“Whenever it hits 40 to 41 feet, the Coast Guard usually halts all barge traffi c just to minimize that wave ac-tion,” Ferguson said. “Our lowest levee is about 47 feet ... Back in 2008, it stayed at 43 feet for about a week.”

Ferguson said East Baton Rouge Parish offi cials begin lining the levee with sand bags whenever the river reaches 43 to 44 feet .

Baton Rouge has not seen fl ooding from the river since the levees were built in the 1920s, Ferguson said.

Zeigler attributed high water levels to the fl ooding in the Mis-sissippi River Valley.

“We’ve had a signifi cant amount of rain upstream in Arkansas and parts of Missis-sippi,” Zeigler said. “The runoff goes into the river, and the river becomes elevated.”

Corps personnel in the Flood Fight team have been discharged to patrol the levees along the River, said Amanda Jones, public affairs spe-cialist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

But she said the Corps is un-likely to have to mechanically

maintain water level.Previously, the Corps opened

the Bonnet Carré Spillway in 2008 to push water from the river into Lake Pontchartrain to maintain its fl ow.

The old adage “love is blind” is reaffi rmed in the Theatre Depart-ment’s latest production — “Talley’s Folly,” an unlikely love story about a middle-aged Midwestern woman and an older Jewish accountant in the second World War.

“Folly” is the Pulitzer Prize-winning play written by Lanford Wilson and features only two ac-tors, one set and no scene changes.

“I’m drawn to shows that have good character relationships,” said director Chris Nelson . “[Charac-ter relationships] are one of my strengths as a director, and they compel me as an audience mem-ber.”

Theatre senior Jason Duga plays the part of Matt Friedman, and theatre junior Wendy Bradford plays Friedman’s love Sally Talley .

“You defi nitely have to have a fun director for this play,” Duga said. “After every rehearsal, we sit down together, and we make these wonderful discoveries about the play, the characters and the work we put into it.”

Duga and Bradford were cho-sen by Nelson for “Talley’s Folly” from a large general audition the Theatre Department held at the be-ginning of the semester.

“To get cast in a two-person show is like somebody saying, ‘I think you’re talented enough that I’m going to give you this play and that you can handle being on stage for 97 minutes,’” Duga said. “You really want to do a play like this in college because you really want to be challenged.”

Because the “Folly” has such

a small cast, the actors were giv-en much more freedom than they would have in a cast with multiple members, Bradford said.

“My favorite thing about this play is it comes from a really or-ganic place,” Bradford said. “With a lot of directors, you do exactly what the director says, and it doesn’t re-ally come from you or your char-acter — in our rehearsals, Chris let us just go. We did whatever we felt, and it made me feel like I really got to participate in the creation of the play.”

The relationship between the cast members is especially impor-tant in a two-person play because of the reliance they have on one an-other, Duga said.

“It’s a great feeling to know that the other [actor] will always be there,” Duga said. “I always know where she is, and it’s kind of a crazy tug-of-war thing.”

“Talley’s Folly” runs at the Reilly Theatre from Nov. 10 to the 13 at 7:30 p.m. and with two per-formances on Nov. 15 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door.

THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 3TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2009

THEATER WEATHER

SAHIR KHAN / The Daily Reveille

Theatre seniors Jason Duga and Wendy Bradford act out the parts of the only two characters in “Talley’s Folly” during dress rehearsal Nov. 8.

Production features only two cast members

‘Talley’s Folly’ anunlikely love storyBy Emily SlackEntertainment Writer

Contact Emily Slack at [email protected]

River reaches abnormal heightStorm Ida not to overtop Mississippi

Contact Lindsey Meaux at [email protected]

By Lindsey MeauxContributing Writer

‘‘‘Our lowest levee is

about 47 feet ... Back in 2008, it stayed at 43 feet for about a

week.’Jim Ferguson

city-parish drainage engineer

THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 4 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Three forcible sex offenses have been reported to the LSU Po-lice Department this year, includ-ing an alleged rape Nov. 1 .

Maj. Helen Haire , spokes-woman for LSUPD, said it’s diffi -cult to quantify a trend in forcible sex offenses, which include acts from rape to fondling.

Four forcible sex offenses were reported on campus in 2008 , according to the University’s 2009 Annual Safety Report. Only one was reported in 2007 , and two were reported in 2006 .

“I wouldn’t say that there’s a trend,” she said. “You can see [the numbers] go down and back up.”

Simon Taylor , a 20-year-old University transfer student from the United Kingdom , reportedly raped a woman in a portable restroom and in his dorm room in LeJeune Hall two Sundays ago, said LSUPD Sgt. Jason Bettencourtt .

The attacks happened in the early morning hours, Bettencourtt said. Police did not release further information about the woman, such as whether she is a student or her age.

Bettencourtt said the woman

had an alcoholic beverage with Taylor at a bar before the attacks.

The woman went to LSUPD on Sunday to report the crime.

“That’s a personal decision the victim has to make, but it’s very important,” Haire said. “You can report days later, but for evidence purposes it’s important to report immediately.”

She said it’s important for stu-dents to always use the buddy sys-tem and to be aware of who they are with.

Haire said LSUPD is currently investigating the case but couldn’t give further details.

Judy Benitez , executive direc-tor of the Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault , said rape cases usually take one to two years to go through court.

Steve Waller , director of Resi-dential Life, said he heard about the alleged rape in a police report Nov. 2 .

“It’s very unfortunate that this would happen anywhere to any-one,” he said. “We are working with LSUPD in the investigation.”

After 83 years of protesting, vandalism and relocation, the Uni-versity-owned statue known as “Un-cle Jack ” or “The Good Darkie ,” has stirred trouble again in its home town of Natchitoches.

The Natchitoches Parish Citi-zens League, an organization which promotes civic responsibility, dem-onstrated Monday outside Natchi-toches City Hall against the city’s recent request for the return of the controversial statue from the Univer-sity.

The 200-person demonstration began at 5 p.m. at the Natchitoches First Baptist Church and continued to the mayor’s offi ce.

The demonstration also dealt with other racial issues in the city — including high utility bills for the poor and unfairness in city zoning — but the initial cause was the requested return of the statue, said Pat Hoove r, the demonstration’s organizer.

Hoover said the overall tone of the march addressed equity issues in the city and also protested racial issues such as the inclusion of Con-federate soldiers in the Natchitoches Christmas of Light Parade.

The statue, which depicts an el-derly black man tipping his hat, has been the source of controversy since it was fi rst erected in 1926 on Front Street , the main drag of Natchi-toches .

Natchitoches Mayor Wayne Mc-Cullen said the city expressed inter-est in the statue’s return to be the cornerstone of the city’s proposed African American Museum.

He said there was a misunder-standing the statue would be put back on Front Street as the museum construction will not begin for at least two years.

The controversy came from ra-cial overtones associated with the statue, which many feel displays nostalgia for a time when blacks were marginalized in the South.

“It means that my ancestors were identifi ed as less than hu-man beings,” said Robert Jackson, Natchitoches Parish Citizens League president. “The implication is of the kind of people that would be a good darkie and get off the street, or bow his head or say ‘yassuh boss.’”

Uncle Jack was fi rst removed from Natchitoches in 1969 , when blacks in the city began speaking and acting out against it.

“We realize it is a part of our his-tory, but it isn’t a good part,” Hoover said. “It’s like putting up a statue of

Hitler.”The statue now

belongs to the LSU Rural Life Museum and has been there since 1972 when it was donated by Jo Bryant Ducournau , the daughter of the man who commis-sioned the statue.

David Floyd , director of the Rural Life Museum, said the University denied Natchi-toches ’ request and will keep the statue.

The city of Natchitoches has asked for Uncle Jack back on numer-ous occasions since the ’70 s, and the University denied the city each time, Floyd said.

Floyd said the statue was origi-nally commissioned to refl ect on the contributions of blacks to the cultural and agricultural history of Louisiana.

“It’s a relic, an artifact of our past,” Floyd said. “It’s not some-thing we would create today. It’s not a pretty part of our history, but it’s important to remember — even if it’s just so we don’t repeat it.”

THE DAILY REVEILLELOCAL

‘Jack’ statue still stirs controversy

Contact Adam Duvernay at [email protected]

Contact Kyle Bove at [email protected]

By Adam DuvernaySenior Staff Writer

By Kyle BoveSenior Staff Writer

Three forcible sex offenses so far in ’09

CRIME

Natchitoches protests monument

‘‘‘It is a part of our history, but it isn’t a good part. It’s like putting up a statue of Hitler.’

Pat Hooverdemonstration organizer

THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 5TuEsdAy, novEmbEr 10, 2009

(AP) — When it comes to con-troversy, LSU System President John Lombardi doesn’t wilt, and he’s launched an attack on one of Louisiana’s sacred political cows by pushing cuts to the free college tuition program called TOPS.

The program, whose full name is the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, named after the late oilman Pat Taylor, costs nearly $130 million and grows annually. Its price tag has topped $1.2 billion since TOPS began more than a de-cade ago.

Lombardi argues giving free tuition on the state’s dime with-out regard for a student’s need or family income might have been a good idea once but should be re-considered amid years of projected state budget shortfalls — and with higher education on the chopping block.

“There’s a significant number of TOPS recipients who clearly don’t need it ... I’d like to say to people making a hundred grand and above, ‘Maybe you need a TOPS certificate, but maybe you don’t need the money,’” Lombardi

recently told a panel looking at ways to restructure public higher education in Louisiana.

Taking on TOPS is like at-tacking motherhood and apple pie, and the idea of scaling back the program isn’t gaining many fans outside the university community. The Legislature has killed similar proposals in years past, and Lom-bardi’s arguments aren’t expect-ed to change many minds at the Capitol, despite the state’s budget woes.

High school students in Loui-siana have been told if they meet certain standards and take certain courses, the state will pay their tuition, that they will be given a “scholarship.” To change the rules now, said Sen. Ben Nevers, chair-man of the Senate Education Com-mittee, “will be going back on a promise that the Legislature made, and I don’t think that we should do that.”

The real rub to Lombardi — and to other university leaders who are quieter about their discontent with TOPS — is the program’s tie to any discussion of raising tuition in Louisiana.

Any tuition increase causes the cost of the TOPS program in the state budget to rise, so law-makers doggedly refuse to relin-quish control over tuition hikes. Higher education officials looking

to student charges to fill budget gaps are stymied in that approach, partly by TOPS.

TOPS covers four years of tuition at in-state colleges for any Louisiana student who meets high school course requirements, graduates with a midlevel grade point average and reaches certain benchmarks on the college en-trance exam. Additional stipends are given to students who meet higher standards.

The program started in 1998. Over the years, lawmakers have questioned its disproportionate na-ture, that more white students get the free tuition than black students, that LSU has more TOPS students than other campuses and that some students could afford school with-out state help.

Of the TOPS recipients claimed as dependents by their parents, nearly 38 percent come from families bringing in more than $100,000 a year, including about 6 percent whose families earn above $250,000, according to self-reported data compiled by the Louisiana Office of Student Finan-cial Assistance.

Nevers said the parents’ in-come doesn’t matter in the TOPS debate.

“Would you say a student earned that scholarship or their parents?” he said. “Students have

no control over what their parents make.”

Besides modest tweaks, at-tempts to scale back the program — by looking at students’ needs or forcing students who drop out of college to pay back the money — have never gone anywhere in the

Legislature.That reality hasn’t stopped

Lombardi from taking shots at the program.

Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at [email protected]

FINANCIAL AID

LSU system president challenges TOPS program

By The Associated Press

Tuition increases raise state costs

Waller said his department trains University resident advisers how to deal with these types of situations.“We have security systems, but unfortunately, we can’t control what students do off campus,” he said.

THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 6 TuEsdAy, novEmbEr 10, 2009

The LSU football team’s loss Saturday against Alabama featured numerous lineup changes, mostly be-cause of injury.

Junior quarterback Jarrett Lee replaced sophomore quarterback Jor-dan Jefferson, who left the game with an ankle injury in the third quarter.

Sophomore running back Stevan Ridley entered the game at tailback after senior running back Charles Scott left the game with a broken col-larbone.

And sophomore tight end Dean-gelo Peterson started the game in-stead of senior tight end Richard Dickson, who did not play because of an unspecifi ed injury.

“[Peterson and I] usually talk about how we wish we were in there, and we would analyze stuff,” Ridley said. “But this time we got our chance, and we took advantage. Now it’s our turn.”

Peterson certainly took advantage of his playing time and had his career-best performance in his second start of his young career.

The Baton Rouge native caught two passes for 40

It seems the LSU soccer team will have some history to celebrate after all.

The No. 16 Tigers (14-4-4) earned their fi rst-ever No. 4 seed in the 2009 NCAA tournament Mon-day night and will host Arkansas Pine Bluff (12-6-4) at the LSU Soc-cer Complex on Friday .

It is the fi rst time an LSU team has hosted an NCAA tournament game.

“It’s super important for us,” said LSU soccer coach Brian Lee . “We’re just happy to be at home. It’s hard, with the regionalization ... You’re so dependent on the team around you winning as well.”

The news doesn’t quite ease the sting of LSU’s most recent game, a shootout loss to No. 14 South Caro-lina in Sunday’s Southeastern Con-ference tournament championship game. The Tigers held a 1-0 lead with less than three minutes to play but could not hold on.

“That one is going to take a long time. Those last two minutes are go-ing to stick with you for the rest of your life,” said senior midfi elder Malorie Rutledge . “We can’t hang our heads too low — we’ve got a big weekend coming up. If you can’t get hyped about the NCAAs, you can’t get hyped about much.”

The Gamecocks and No. 10 Florida joined LSU as fi rst round hosts. South Carolina earned a No. 2 seed in the same bracket as No. 1

LSU coach Les Miles said most of the injuries the Tigers suffered Saturday against Alabama do not appear to be threatening, with the exception of senior running back Charles Scott’s season-ending frac-tured collarbone.

Miles said he expects sopho-more quarterback Jordan Jefferson

to be back on the practice fi eld this week after injuring his right ankle Saturday, as will sophomore cor-nerback Patrick Peterson and senior tight end Richard Dickson.

“Patrick Peterson — it was re-ally just cramps,” Miles said. “We expect Richard Dickson to return to practice sometime this week.”

Miles said he has had phone conversations with Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive and the head of offi cials since Saturday about a controversial call that Peterson did not get a foot in-bounds on an apparent interception of Alabama junior quarterback Greg

McElroy in the fourth quarter. “They were in great position

to see the play but could not see it,” Miles said. “I looked at the television feed, and I do not know what the in-stant replay offi cials are looking at ... I’m going to fi gure that if there’s an issue, they’ll get it fi xed.”

With Scott out for the season, Miles said several LSU running backs will have to step in to replace him.

“[Scott] had so much experi-ence, and there were so many differ-ent ways we used him,” Miles said.

Sports THE DAILY REVEILLE

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2009 PAGE 7

FOOTBALL

Jefferson expected to practice this week after injury

MAGGIE BOWLES / The Daily Reveille

Coach Les Miles and the Tigers wait to run out on the fi eld in Tuscaloosa, Ala., at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday. The Crimson Tide defeated the Tigers, 24-15.

SOCCER

Tigers earn No. 4 seed in NCAA tourney

ALABAMA, see page 10

TOURNAMENT, see page 11

Waiting for a chance

PETERSON, see page 11

Deangelo Peterson steps up in new role for the Tigers

DAVE MARTIN / The Associated Press

LSU sophomore tight end Deangelo Peterson scores a touchdown as Alabama senior linebacker Cory Reamer defends at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday.

“Right now, I’m nowhere near where I want to be ... Next year ... I’ll be really bigger, faster and stronger.”

Deangelo Peterson, LSU sophomore tight end

Miles: Running backs need to step upBy Rachel WhittakerChief Sports Writer


By Jarred LeBlancSports Contributor

lsurev

eille.

comLog on to see a video of football players

discussing the loss to Alabama.

By David HelmanSports Writer


Someone seems to blame a close loss on officiating every week.

Now, after LSU has suffered defeat, it’s my turn.

These Southeastern Confer-ence refs are terrible, and they have been all season.

The latest display of their incompetence occurred Saturday night in LSU’s loss to No. 2 Ala-bama.

With Alabama driving and clinging to a six-point lead mid-way through the fourth quarter, Crimson Tide junior quarterback Greg McElroy threw an appar-ent interception to sophomore cornerback Patrick Peterson on a ball intended for sophomore wide receiver Julio Jones.

The play was ruled an in-completion on the field, but it called for an additional replay re-view from the booth.

The referees saw the play from a litany of angles, and they were able to somehow determine the play was an incomplete pass despite video evidence suggest-ing otherwise.

The refs screwed this one up plain and simple.

Both of Peterson’s feet were clearly inbounds when he made the play. He even dragged one of his toes and created a divot in the grass.

This play may not have mat-tered in the long run, as LSU would have still needed to drive about 60 yards for a touchdown to win the game, but the Tigers weren’t even given the chance.

Instead, Alabama was able to continue its drive and ended it with a field goal to take a nine-point lead.

This is at least the third time this season it could be argued the officials’ missteps cost an SEC team an opportunity at winning a game.

The first big snafu of the sea-son came in LSU’s game against Georgia.

Georgia sophomore wide re-ceiver A.J. Green caught a late touchdown pass and was penal-ized 15 yards for excessive cel-ebration on a celebration that was anything but.

LSU returned the ensuing kickoff to around midfield, and

two plays later senior running back Charles Scott scored the game-winning touchdown.

Southeastern Conference coordinator of football officials Rogers Redding manned up the following Monday and admit-ted mistakes were made — as if it helped anyone to simply ac-knowledge the fault days after the event.

The next instance — coin-cidentally or not — involved the same officiating crew from the LSU-Georgia matchup and took place in Arkansas’ loss against Florida.

The officials called a per-sonal foul on Arkansas senior de-fensive tackle Malcolm Sheppard on a play where he committed no such offense.

The crew was eventually sus-pended for their mistakes, though SEC commissioner Mike Slive didn’t seem to be fazed by the ob-vious mistakes and the notoriety that surrounded them.

“A series of calls that have occurred during the last several weeks have not been to the stan-dard that we expect from our of-ficiating crews,” Slive said in a

news conference days after the Arkansas-Florida game. “I be-lieve our officiating program is the best in the country. However, there are times when these ac-

tions must be taken.”

How could he possibly feel the offici-ating program is the best in the country?

Too many h i g h - s t a k e s games are coming down

to bad calls from the officials in the SEC, and the three prior in-stances alone should disqualify them from being the best in any-thing.

To make the claim at being the best, you have to catch the obvious mistakes and correct them before it’s too late.

The “best officiating pro-gram” doesn’t make these rookie mistakes.

Calling an excessive celebra-tion penalty when a guy is hug-ging his teammates or blowing the whistle for a personal foul

when a guy is protecting himself from receiving a cheap shot does not qualify as “the best.”

These are calls anyone could see were made inaccurately, and for Slive and the other brass up at SEC headquarters to get the message fans are displeased, something more needs to be done by the schools involved in these decisions.

Alabama coach Nick Saban had the gall yesterday to say, “Can somebody stand up and fight for these guys and what they do for the game?” in reference to the officials.

This coming from the man with one of the shortest tempers in football who would have prob-ably ripped the officials a new orifice if the same happened to his team.

I want so badly to believe they’re trying their best to be fair, but the evidence of the contrary is overwhelming.

The public will stand up for these guys when they start do-ing their jobs correctly, not for making a slew of mistakes in key games in key situations.

How are we supposed to

stand up and defend the actions of perpetual screw-ups in good conscience?

I know I can’t, and SEC coaches and athletic directors shouldn’t try to either.

Florida coach Urban Meyer had the right idea when he lam-basted officials last week and in-curred a $30,000 fine.

Those at LSU, Georgia, Ar-kansas and any other school that has been hosed by the officials should stand up for their boys.

And Slive calls them the best in the country.

What a joke.

Johanathan Brooks is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Powder Springs, Ga. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_jbrooks.

BABBLING BROOKS

SEC officiating crew is far from being ‘the best’

Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]

Johanathan brooks

Sports Columnist


LSU senior outside hitter Ma-rina Skender gets a first touch on the back row, swiftly glides to her spot on the outside shortly behind the 3-meter line and waits for her number to be called.

It isn’t, so she goes up to the net and waits for her chance to get a block, but the opponent moves away from her. She slides back into her attack position, almost cat-like, and her number is called. She pounces on the opportunity and gets the kill.

The next play, she serves and gets an ace. The following play, she finally gets that block.

It’s all in a day’s work for LSU’s senior outside hitter, who is entering her fifth season at LSU after losing last season to an ACL tear.

“She has become so much more physical after her knee injury that she can be a force on the front and back rows,” said LSU coach Fran Flory. “Whereas before she was a finesse player, now she’s got the physical side and the finesse game. And when you have both sides like that, you become a great player.”

Skender simply does it all on the court for the Tigers as a “six-

rotation player,” meaning she stays on the court during all six rotations. Her team-leading 11 double-dou-bles this season are proof of her all-around skill.

On the offensive side of the ball, the senior is second on the team in kills with 310 this season and has 1,407 for her career, ranking her No. 7 on the career list at LSU.

Skender had 3.16 kills per set in her career at the beginning of the season, and her 3.37 so far this sea-son likely will keep her in the top 10 in LSU history in that category.

The Zagreb, Croatia, native currently ranks No. 2 on the team in service aces per set with 0.30, a category she led the league in dur-ing her 2006 campaign with 0.68

per set.But the senior will be the first

to admit her serve doesn’t have the getup it once did before the ACL tear.

“I can’t get into the rhythm with my serving,” Skender said. “I don’t feel comfortable with the toss-ing, but I’m going to keep working on it and see what happens.”

Then the 2006 All-Southeast-ern First Team member will jump back to her defensive stance after a missed kill opportunity or to await the opponents’ serve.

Skender is one of nine players in LSU history to record 1,000 ca-reer kills and one of five to record 1,000 digs and 1,000 kills in a ca-reer.

Defensively, Skender hasn’t lost a step from her form in 2007, in which her 3.15 digs per set (with a minimum of 400 digs) ranked No. 7 in program history.

“The Croatian Sensation” is No. 2 on the team this season in digs per set with 2.65, and she even stands her own up at the net at 5-foot, 11-inches, with 0.55 blocks per set.

Flory said Skender provided great back-row support for the Ti-gers when the team needed it early in the season.

“Marina is the mother hen of the team,” Flory said. “She ex-udes confidence and empowers the person next to her. She has great

leadership skills, and she makes the person next to her believe they are going to make the play.”

But it may very well be the little things that don’t go in the stat book which make Skender one of the Tigers’ most valuable players.

Flory consistently points to Sk-ender as the glue that holds this sea-son’s team together with her “never say die” attitude, which is conta-gious among her teammates.

“Marina is our go-to player when we are in trouble,” said soph-omore libero Lauren Waclawczyk. “Even coming back from her knee injury, she’s come out so strong, and it makes you want to go harder, and it makes you want to drive to be like her.”

The Zagreb native has a choice to make at the end of the season about the future of her volleyball career.

She said she has plans to play professionally after the season, as she has already graduated with a de-gree in sports management.

“I can’t contact anyone un-til December when the season is over, but I definitely want to go play somewhere overseas,” Skender said.

VOLLEYBALL

Skender dominating presence in all six rotations for TigersSenior outside hitter also back-row forceBy Andy SchwehmSports Writer

Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]


LSU senior outside hitter Marina Skender (12) goes up for a block Oct. 16 during the Tigers’ win against Arkansas. Skender stays on the court for all six rotations.


The LSU women’s basketball team had seven new faces this time last season.

But the Lady Tigers will return nine letterwinners and four starters as they kick off the 2009 season in an exhibition game tonight at 7 p.m. against Loyola in the PMAC.

LSU senior guard Allison Hightower said the team has shown a different energy, and “everybody is hustling” since practice began in October.

“The level of intensity has def-initely picked up from last year,” Hightower said. “We didn’t know anything last year, so [coaches] didn’t expect much of us. But this year they know we need to come out here and work as hard as we can

... on both ends of the floor.”One familiar face who will not

play for LSU in the exhibition game is senior point guard and 2009 co-captain Andrea Kelly.

Kelly suffered a foot injury at the end of October, and LSU coach Van Chancellor said her status is uncertain for the regular season

opener Nov. 15 at home against Centenary.

“Kelly’s foot is not broken — we’re waiting for it to heal,” Chan-cellor said. “It’s put us a bit behind. The best thing for her is rest.”

Hightower, the 2010 South-eastern Conference Preseason Play-er of the Year, is expected to start

the exhibition game along with junior point guard Latear Eason, junior guard Katherine Graham and sophomore forwards Courtney Jones and Taylor Turnbow.

Jones played in every game for LSU as a freshman and ranked second on the team with 43 of-fensive rebounds. She underwent arthroscopic left knee surgery fol-lowing the season.

Eason is also coming off post-season surgery, as she injured her left collarbone in the second round of the 2009 NCAA tournament against Louisville. She started 19 games in her sophomore season, including the final 13 games — a span in which LSU went 9-4 — and averaged 3.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists.

Turnbow was more of a de-fensive contributor for LSU in 2008 and finished second among SEC freshmen with 1.0 blocks per game.

Graham was LSU’s leading re-bounder last season, averaging five

per game.Chancellor said he is confident

in the team’s defense.“I feel really good about our

progress defensively,” Chancellor said. “We’ll be able to carry on this Lady Tiger tradition.”

Hightower said one area of focus this fall has been transition defense.

“Last year it was just horrible, but we’re finally getting that down,” she said. “We want to make sure we play this game [against Loyola] to get better, not just to blow them away or anything like that.”

Chancellor said the exhibition will be a good benchmark for how far the Lady Tigers have come since last season.

“They can get tired of going against each other,” Chancellor said. “We’ll see how they react to the crowd and the refereeing [Tues-day].”

“Keiland Williams, Stevan Ridley may get a little bit more of a look as well as No. 10 [Russell Shepard] and No. 8 [Trindon Holliday] as ball car-riers.”

Williams did not have a carry Saturday in Scott’s absence. Miles said the senior will still be an integral part of the LSU offense.

“There was a place in the [Ala-bama] game where we would have liked to have tossed him the ball, and he would’ve run down the sideline unscathed,” Miles said. “It’s a read we’d like to have back. I can only tell you we are going to call his number as best we can and as often as we can.”

Miles said true freshman full-back Dominique Allen may get some playing time, and he wants to main-tain true freshman running back Mi-chael Ford’s redshirt status.

Miles said Alabama sophomore wide receiver Julio Jones’ 73-yard touchdown catch on a screen pass in the fourth quarter was a turning point in the game. The score gave Alabama a 21-15 lead with 10:24 to play.

Sophomore defensive back Brandon Taylor played at corner-back on that play because Peterson was out of the game. Miles said the reason for the switch was because ju-nior Jai Eugene “had a tweak.”

“[Eugene] was pulled off be-cause of injury, not because of play,” Miles said. “I don’t argue that part of the personnel. “Anytime I can get Brandon Taylor front side, it’s an ad-vantage for us ... he’s one of those guys who is very comfortable at both spots.”

LSU (7-2, 4-2) moved up from No. 9 to No. 8 in the BCS standings Sunday despite the loss. Alabama (9-0, 6-0) is No. 2.

“It’s an interesting fact we go up in the BCS standings after a game we finished second to a very good Ala-bama team,” Miles said. “It speaks to the strength of play our team sees week-in and week-out.”

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Lady Tigers face Loyola in lone exhibition game tonightPoint guard Kelly resting injured footBy Rachel WhittakerChief Sports Writer

BENJAMIN OLIVER HICKS / The Daily Reveille

Senior guard Allison Hightower calls for the ball as part of a layup drill during practice Nov. 2 in the PMAC.

Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]

Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]

ALABAMA, from page 7


yards, including LSU’s first touch-down of the game. The 12-yard touchdown pass from Jefferson to Peterson was Peterson’s first touchdown reception as a Tiger.

“I was just waiting for my chance to get in the game and see what I could do,” Peterson said. “I wanted to show [coach Les Miles] what I really could do and give him the confidence to put me in more.”

Peterson was considered one of the top 25 wide receivers in the 2008 recruiting class, according to Rivals.com.

But with a plethora of receiv-ers on the LSU roster, Miles de-cided to make a change this season and move Peterson to tight end.

“Les Miles came to me in the spring and asked me if I wanted to play tight end, and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it,’” Peterson said. “It gives me a better chance to get on the field quicker.”

Peterson has seen the field in every game the Tigers have played since he joined the team, but he hasn’t gotten many passes thrown his way. Most of Peter-son’s playing time has been on special teams.

Prior to Saturday’s perfor-mance, Peterson only caught two passes for 27 yards, both of which were during this season.

Dickson is on the verge of breaking nearly every tight end re-ceiving record at LSU and is cur-rently tied with Brad Boyd for the most touchdowns in LSU history by a tight end with 10.

“I feel like it’s a privilege for me to be here while he’s still here,” Peterson said. “To learn everything that he did and went through, and when he leaves, I can just pick up from where he left off.”

Miles said he was impressed with the way Peterson played in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and he expects to see more of the same from Pe-terson in the future.

“He certainly is a very dan-gerous receiver on the pass, and I think his career is really just start-ing,” Miles said on Monday. “He’s the kind of guy that will eventu-ally be a first choice for us in a lot of the passing sets.”

But Miles is also looking for Peterson to contribute as a block-er.

“The tight end that can block it and get out on a pass and cer-tainly challenge somebody verti-cally through the middle of the field is your greatest asset,” Miles said.

Peterson said he’s not fully adjusted to the new position yet because he’s still learning how to block well enough to be a tight end. Peterson said his 220-pound frame faces a real challenge when he tries to block 290-pound line-men.

“Right now, I’m nowhere near where I want to be,” Peterson said. “I’ve got [strength and condition-ing coordinator Tommy] Moffitt with me, so next year I think I’ll be really bigger, faster and stron-ger than I was this year.”

seed North Carolina, while the Ga-tors are the No. 3 seed in LSU’s bracket, the Florida State regional.

“Luckily, us and South Carolina are both at home for the sake of the conference,” Lee said. “Those extra two or three days you spend in Or-ange Beach ... if you have to turn around and travel on Thursday, that’s a tough challenge.”

LSU set out this season with hopes of championships in the SEC

regular season and conference tour-nament, as well as an appearance in the Sweet 16.

The Tigers came agonizingly close to accomplishing the first two goals and finished as runners-up in both the regular season and the tour-nament.

Hosting both the first and sec-ond rounds this weekend could go a long way toward helping them with the third.

“It’s something that’s never been in Baton Rouge, so we’re

hoping the soccer community and the student body come out in num-bers,” Lee said.

The selection marks LSU’s third-straight appearance in the NCAA tournament. If the Tigers can advance past the first round, a game against either Memphis or Texas A&M would await on Sunday.

“We have a great bracket — we have a great chance to advance pretty far,” said senior midfielder Melissa Clarke.

Clarke and Rutledge led the

Tigers in scoring this season and re-ceived on-air recognition from the selection coverage on ESPNews, a distinction Clarke dubbed as “pretty tight.”

LSU opened the season with a 3-0 home loss to Memphis. The Ti-gers also played Texas A&M to a 0-0 draw in the team’s spring exhibition season.

THE DAILY REVEILLEPETERSON, from page 7 TOURNAMENT, from page 7

Contact David Helman at [email protected]

Contact Jarred LeBlanc at [email protected]

OpinionPAGE 12 TuEsdAy, novEmbEr 10, 2009

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 [email protected] 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

“We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch.”

John F. Kennedy35th President of the United States

May 29, 1917 — Nov. 22, 1963

Editorial Board

THE DAILY REVEILLE

NICHOLAS PERSACJERIT ROSER

ELLEN ZIELINSKIMATTHEW ALBRIGHT

ERIC FREEMAN JR.MARK MACMURDO

EditorManaging Editor, ContentManaging Editor, ProductionOpinion EditorColumnistColumnist

FREEMAN OF SPEECH

Cao’s “Aye” vote likely to abort his political career“Bipartisan” health care legisla-

tion passed the U.S. House of Repre-sentatives last Saturday.

The quotes are necessary. This historic achievement was

a result of a single Republican vote by a representative hailing from the most Democratic district in the na-tion, located 80 miles from Baton Rouge.

Allow him to reintroduce him-self. His name is Cao.

The Obamacare/Pelosicare bill — depending on which right-wing nut you listen to — moves to the Sen-ate with bipartisan support from the first Vietnamese-American member of Congress. In justifying his vote, Anh “Joseph” Cao — pronounced “Gao” — left the chamber feeling “both courageous and lonely,” ac-cording to the Times-Picayune.

His vote was both courageous and lonely, but not nearly as lonely as he will feel in the lead-up to the 2010 midterm congressional elec-tions.

The story of Anh Cao’s politi-cal career began with a freezer full of cash and an embattled veteran Democrat facing bribery and corrup-tion charges. When voters in New Orleans were presented with the devil they knew, nine-term incum-bent Rep. William Jefferson, they rebelled and voted for the devil they didn’t know.

Boosted by antipathy towards Jefferson and an increasingly vast Vietnamese community in New Or-leans East, Cao defeated the incum-bent, 50 percent, to Jefferson’s 47 percent.

The last Republican to represent Louisiana’s 2nd district left office in 1891. The district is currently 60 percent black and voted for President Obama in 2008 by 75 percent.

Cao’s election was nothing short of heroic — if by heroic, you mean a completely expected, fluke anomaly.

Cao didn’t win his district. He ran unopposed in the Republican primary and rode the wave of rage

elicited by Jefferson’s indictment. When it came time for voters to elect a representative, they picked the one not named “Jefferson.”

Many make the same argument about Obama, especially in reference to his Nobel Peace Prize win, which critics claim he won “for not be-ing Bush.” The only difference here is the in-

dictment Jefferson received, while justice still hasn’t knocked on the door in Crawford, Texas.

Cao claimed after his “aye” vote that he was trying to represent the best interests of his district. But his vote came after the approval of the Stupak Amendment, which enhances already existing laws preventing fed-eral funds to be used for abortion. After the Stupak Amendment passed,

Cao believed he could, “in good con-science,” vote for the health care bill while expanding discriminatory lan-guage against women’s reproductive rights.

Cao could, “in good conscience,” vote for the health care bill because women will be prevented from buy-ing private health insurance to cover abortion if they receive a subsidy for insurance and be prevented from get-ting an abortion covered if enrolled in the public option.

He also waited for the right mo-ment, meaning after the bill received enough votes to pass even without his vote. This clearly indicates he didn’t support health reform at all (not wanting to be an even bigger black sheep) but wanted to salvage any chance of re-election in an over-whelmingly Democratic district.

Now Cao has sealed his politi-cal future. The Republican establish-ment is furious and probably won’t support him in the 2010 election, given he’ll probably lose anyway.

But his disingenuous vote for health reform, coupled with his vote for an unprecedented extension of anti-abortion law, combine into an insur-mountable political Catch-22.

Instead of actively fighting for the needs of his constituents — 20 percent of New Orleanians are un-insured — Cao made his political move after the bill was passed, en-suring he wasn’t responsible for ex-tending health coverage to more than 36 million Americans.

Republicans won’t support him. New Orleans Democrats won’t re-elect him.

The “Cao” of some people.

Eric Freeman Jr. is a 22-year-old political science senior from New Orleans. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_efreeman.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Contact Eric Freeman Jr. at [email protected]

Though I agree with Nathan Schull’s point that our world is in desperate need of strong climate change reform, I very much disagree with his view that the way to solve this global climate crisis is through nuclear energy. Though it is true nuclear power is a much safer al-ternative to the coal-burning power plants that make up the majority of our energy sources, the technology is simply not there for nuclear to be a viable energy alternative.

In order for the U.S. and the world to make strides in energy ef-ficiency, we must invest and develop renewable alternatives, like solar-, wind- and biofuels. According to Amory Lovins, a physicist with the Rocky Mountain Institute, nuclear power plants “cost too much to build and incur too much financial risk, and it would reduce and retard climate protection because it saves between two and 20 times less car-bon per dollar, 20 to 40 times slower, than investing in efficiency and mi-cropower.”

The main problem with nuclear power and what makes it an unviable solution, is the disposal of it. There is no permanent waste solution, and

the “airtight” steel-and-concrete can-isters in which waste is currently stored, such as in Haddam, Connect-icut when the spent fuel pond of the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company leaked water containing radioactive material.

However, we have the technol-ogy available now to further develop alternative fuels, including wind and solar power. Wind provides a local, clean source of electricity with the potential to provide 20 percent of the U.S.’s electricity supply by 2030, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, even more if wind farms are built offshore, which can capture energy during the afternoon, when energy use is at its peak. Like wind, solar power only accounts for about 1 percent of the U.S.’s energy use, but has the potential for growth if the U.S. implements the “feed-in tariff” system of Europe, which shifts the burden of subsidizing green energy from taxpayers to electricity ratepay-ers and has allowed the solar indus-try in Germany and Spain to boom.

With the Copenhagen climate conference in December, this is the perfect opportunity to tell our policy-makers clean and renewable alterna-tives are necessary for our country to evolve economically, scientifically and environmentally.

Caroline GilchristInternational studies sophomore and secretary of Envioronmental Conserva-tion Organization at LSU

Alternative energy necessary, nuclear

power not

BEST AND WITTIEST

cartoon courtesy of KING FEATURES SYNDICATE

Eric FrEEman Jr.Columnist

OpinionTuesday, november 10, 2009 PaGe 13

THE DAILY REVEILLE

ANAGLOG AVENGER

America’s taste in music needs a bit more varietyAmerican Indians struggled

during their assimilation into white, “civilized” culture. Dif-ficulty articulating their native emotions using English words was among their many growing pains. How many pearls of wisdom – how much culture – were lost in translation?

A universal language tran-scends these worldly boundaries, though many of us try to uphold them. It’s called “music,” and you needn’t study to understand it. Unfortunately, many Americans’ thirst for English lyrics – or any lyrics – keeps them from a great deal of experience and cultural en-richment.

I was opening up the sand-wich shop where I work last week at 6 a.m., slicing vegetables and listening to Brazilian music from the ’50s – not an English word in sight.

The sun began to rise. I be-came so immersed I may as well

have been in the favela-slums mar-ketplace, the coastal breeze at my back as the singer’s angelic Portu-guese filled the air. The music was palpable. The words didn’t matter. They were just another instru-ment.

I was slammed back into my body without warning when I heard a “BANG BANG BANG” on the window. It was the produce delivery guy coming to bring me the morning’s lettuce. The mo-ment I let him in, he belted out in a surly American accent, “Elevator music, huh!?”

I guess that’s one way to put it. I cringed through my laughter, because though he meant no harm, his dismissive attitude captures America’s insular nature toward music and, in turn, the rest of the world.

This is not to say Bob Dy-lan’s message fell on deaf ears, but it may as well have. His mu-sic was simple, and his lyrics were

profound. But consider this: With-out lyrics, it’s still music. Without a melody, it’s just spoken word – a poem like the millions that came before it.

So why do so many peo-ple need lyrics to appreciate a song? Is it because their minds are not musical? No, music is not es-oteric – it’s the universal language, remember?

Then what is it? What’s wrong with instrumentals? Why must a song be in English only? I would argue people need their thoughts directed. We’re so conditioned to media persuasion we need our songs to literally tell us what to think while listening. It’s easier that way.

These lyrics can be beautiful and sometimes multi-tiered, but

they are, like our own thought pro-cess, bound by our understanding of the English language.

And so, it is comforting for people to hear the wordy, less am-biguous message, wrapped neatly in a three-minute package and topped with a chorus-shaped bow – just to make sure they don’t for-get to “Party in the USA,” “Lick Me Like a Lollipop” or “Take the Power Back.”

America, as an island, is an inward-looking society, turning to itself for reinforcement of its own ideas. We make our own rules and often break them – victims of our own fickle, fair-weather device. After all, who was here before us, and from where did our ancestors arrive?

Therein lies the irony: With these “other songs,” we are again asked to turn inward. Only this time, it’s not to our American pack-mentality. We have to look to ourselves for the words – to, in

a sense, “make up” our own lyr-ics. It’s a look in the mirror. And it compels a different degree of in-trospection – of “listening.” How unpatriotic, right?

Perhaps we are afraid of what we might find if we tried. Perhaps it’s because when we helplessly knock at the door of our higher-self, we find no one home.

Different sounding music is a tribute to the variability of the hu-man experience, not a chance to scoff at what we don’t take time to understand. There surely is a place and time for every song. It’s just not always here and now.

Jack Johnson is a 23-year-old mass communication junior from Fort Worth, Texas. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_jjohnson.

JUXTAPOSED NOTIONS

Facebook oversharers need serious reality checkI never realized how many

people I hated until I joined Face-book.

Sure, it’s a social networking site. I understand you’re going to post information about yourself. But there are some things I never want to know about you.

Those things, which are either dull, offensive or simply moronic, are classified as Internet “over-share” — in other words, the ten-dency of 21st century humankind to ritualistically microblog inane drivel, grossly inappropriate details or self-deprecating humor designed specifically to invite compliments.

Granted, my Facebook friends in particular have compara-tively mini-mal instances of overshare compared to the Internet at large. The truly cringe-worthy specimens are only found in

snarky blogs like “STFU, Parents” or the more inclusive “Lamebook,” both of which catalog the most ap-palling instances of social network-ing faux pas in recent history. Still, the effect of overshare is pervasive and annoying even to a remote wit-ness.

Oversharers, you know who you are. Stop it. I want to reach across the Internet and slap you, because the details you regale me with just don’t belong on a public forum.

I could make a list of the things I could live without hearing. I shouldn’t know you’re pregnant before the “baby daddy” finds out.

If you’ve found another cow on Farmville, keep it to yourself. Quit thanking Jesus for your awesome parking spot. If your excretory or-gans are acting strangely, please refrain from gracing us with the intimate details.

Are you getting the picture now?

I don’t want to look at those new half-naked photos you took of your reflection in the bathroom mirror. I’m sure you’re quite im-pressed with your muscles — es-pecially considering how the bathroom light throws them into impressive relief — but can’t we at least confine the narcissism to one album? And who could forget the most entertaining demographic — the heavily pregnant Facebook users?

Honey, I don’t want to know how many centimeters you have dilated. The condition of your birth canal isn’t something I need to be informed about every few minutes. Though I must applaud your ability to simultaneously microblog and birth a baby — be sure to put that on your résumé.

Don’t be mistaken. I’ll prob-ably enjoy looking at pictures of your new kid — as long as they’re fully clothed, that is. Reading messy diaper stories, hearing about “bath time” mishaps and seeing their ac-companying picture is something I will happily forego, along with hearing about how you plan to pre-pare and eat your placenta. If you have the bizarre culinary inclina-tion to consume an organ that facil-itates the expulsion of fetal waste, then have at it — just not where I have to hear about it.

Remember, nothing is ever

truly deleted from the Internet. Nor will it ever be deleted from my brain, unfortunately. Which is probably why I’ve already hid 32 oversharers from my own news-feed.

I still gripe, despite the fact I’ve compartmentalized them to the point of no longer being bothered by them. Why, you ask? Probably because something perverse in me enjoys mocking other people.

But I prefer to think this can serve a dual purpose as a

teachable moment. Let’s go with that. This column is just an ex-tremely passive aggressive note from me to you, and if you think you recognize yourself in here, then you should immediately break yourself of your need to be vali-dated over the Internet. It’s quite simple.

It really is a redeemable situ-ation, I assure you. Just use the examples I gave you as a guide to “what not to do.”

But if you typeeee yourrrr

wordssss likeeee thissss, I’m not sure if I, or anyone else, can help you. Some things just can’t be fixed.

Linnie Leavines is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from Central City. Follow her on Twitter @TDR_lleavines.

Jack JohnsonColumnist

Linnie LeavinesColumnist

Contact Jack Johnson at [email protected]

Contact Linnie Leavines at [email protected]

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students had to sign a form ac-knowledging the field requirement to the class, said Amy Ko, a biologi-cal sciences senior in the course.

“I had canoed before, so I was pretty comfortable,” she said.

Each lab report the students complete requires a trip to the field, but the classes focused on the service-learning component of the course this week by doing initial research about wood duck nesting habitats. Later classes will com-pare the boxes’ usage and efficiency based on the factors students mea-sured, Effler said.

Other excursions have in-volved collecting insects and

measuring invasive species in Blue-bonnet Swamp, said Jesse Beck-emeyer, biological sciences senior.

Many of the wood duck boxes were installed by private individu-als while others were put in place several years ago by members of the University’s chapter of Alpha Gamma Rho, a national agricultural fraternity, Effler said.

“We’ve received a lot of sup-port from the community,” she said.

People who have personally in-stalled boxes have expressed inter-est in having them evaluated by the classes as well, Effler said.

Other initiatives ecology class-es have undertaken include planting cypress trees around the refuge to

increase native plant diversity and widen the land edge, Effler said.

On July 8, students in the ecol-ogy lab summer session conducted invasive species studies at Blue-bonnet Swamp, said Alyssa Hakes, biological sciences doctoral student and lab instructor.

The summer project allowed students to examine whether inva-sive-species removal projects pre-vious classes have conducted were beneficial, Hakes said.

Students found the removal and replacement projects were effective, she said.

Alshibli said. “Every time water is squeezed out, the building settles more.”

Alshibli said soft soil is suscep-tible to moisture changes, and the delayed settlement can cause cracks and even foundation damage.

Sofranko said the most com-mon structural problems he finds in Baton Rouge appear when people do not properly compact the soft soil.

“Literally, it comes down to pounding the soil down, compress-ing it and compacting it,” Sofranko said.

The cracking caused by long-term building settlements can allow greater water penetration, in turn creating more expansion and crack-ing, Sofranko said. He said caulking and routine active maintenance are important to prevent damage.

Almost all the building facades on campus sport splitting hairline fractures from expansion and build-ing settlement, most noticeable in the long white veins around the Quad.

In the past, Favaloro said the cracks were treated with a clear caulk which turned white when ex-posed to ultra violet light. Favaloro said Facility Services now uses a

better material not susceptible to UV light and uses a coloring agent and sand mixtures to blend with campus stucco.

Favaloro said he did not have an exact dollar value for dealing with this sort of damage, but it could cost hundreds of thousands, if not mil-lions, of dollars over years of repair. The repairs are also labor-intensive because of the detail and attention to architectural designs needed and can cost hundreds of man hours in a year.

Contact Adam Duvernay at [email protected]

Contact Olga Kourilova at [email protected]

SETTLING, from page 1

SERVICE, from page 1

THE DAILY REVEILLETuesday, november 10, 2009 PaGe 16

The Daily Reveille - November 10, 2009

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