Despite growing awareness of hate crimes, the share of those crimes reported to police has fallen in recent years as more victims of violent attacks express doubt that police can or will help.

Nearly 2 of 3 hate crimes go unreported to police, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics reported Thursday. For the years 2003-06, 46 percent of hate crimes were reported to police. But more recently, in 2007-11, just 35 percent were reported.

There was an increase in the percentage of victims of violent hate crimes who didn’t report the crime because they believed the police could not or would not help, from 14 percent in 2003-06 to 24 percent in 2007-11, the bureau said.

“It’s shocking to see that much of an increase in the feeling of futility that hate crime victims are apparently experiencing,” Jason Marsden, the executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, said in an interview. Shepard, a gay college student, was killed in a 1998 attack that police said was motivated in part by his sexual orientation. His parents started the foundation.

Hate groups are becoming increasingly violent, which raises the possibility that victims

are afraid to report the acts to police out of fear of reprisal, said Jim Bueermann, president of the Police Foundation, the nation’s oldest police research organization.

Among various studies that point to rising violence in hate crimes, the statistics bureau found a growing percentage of violent hate crimes as opposed to property crimes. Violence accounted for 84 percent of the hate crimes during 2003-06 but rose to 92 percent during 2007-11. This comes as the Southern Poverty Law Center reports that it has identified more than 1,000 organized hate groups in each of the last three years, compared with 600 to 700 such groups in the period 2000-02.

The decline in reporting disclosed in the statistics bureau’s new study comes despite increasing attention paid to the subject of hate crime by police and community groups.

“What’s surprising about this is that knowledge of hate crimes is far more prevalent across the country than it ever has been at any time in our history,” Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, said in an interview. The forum is a Washington police research organization.

Congress has defined a hate crime as a criminal offense motivated by bias against a race,

religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.

The data in the latest report comes primarily from the National Crime Victimization Survey, which

has been collecting information on crimes motivated by hate since 2003. The statistics bureau

Technology and Network Services looks to improve ‘consumer functions’ and the infrastructure to improve Southern University as a whole.

TNS plans to improve budgetary maximization, create an implement mobile and cloud technology and offer hybrid classes as an alternative to coming to campus for class.

Carlos Thomas, TNS’ chief information officer, as a previous consumer feels he has the ‘consumer perspective’ on the issues TNS needs to improve.

“Having been a consumer of our TNS (Technology and Network Services) functions, I understood from a consumer perspective what some of the things a consumer would want to improve,” Thomas said.

Thomas has been employed at Southern University for over five years as a professor in the College of Business; he took on the position of CIO in the Summer of 2012.

Thomas plans to make Southern University more accessible through technological infrastructure.

“My goal for this department is to improve the infrastructure of the university and make it more accessible,” Thomas said.

TNS is funded through Title III and student technology fees, but that isn’t enough for the projects that lie ahead.

“The funding for our department is limited to say the least…our department primarily through self-generated funds,” Thomas said.

Due to decrease in enrollment, there was a $190, 000 cut this semester in from TNS.

Despite the financial cut, TNS was still able to implement projects on-campus this semester.

One of those projects continued this semester, is the student technology fee committee, who decides on ways to best utilize the student technology funds.

The student technology fee committee is composed of students, faculty and others who work on the business side of the department.

This committee meets every semester to plan for the following academic year. This meeting is open to the all students for opinions and suggestions.

Makayla Peters, senior nursing from Kokomo, Ind., said internet access should be the first priority of TNS.

“I think the TNS needs to work on the internet access in all the dormitories before working on any new projects,” Peters said.

One of the projects TNS began working on was a mobile application called “Jag Mobile.”

“With Jag mobile, students will be able to access Banner and see Banner,” Thomas said.

Jag Mobile will be a free application available for Apple and Android devices. Shatara Hafford, senior nursing major from Pineville, La., said she is in favor of the mobile applications and the access they will provide.

“I think that these updates, such as the Android and Apple applications, once implemented will add value and ease of access to the SU Banner system,” Hafford said.

Thomas discussed a project that will be used by faculty called LectureCapture.

“Lecture capture is where teachers will be able to tape their lectures, by cameras installed in the classroom and have it accessible to the students. It will be available online,” Thomas said.

Thomas added using this service will help develop more online courses.

“That way they can do more online courses versus students having to come on campus. They can have hybrid classes,” Thomas said.

TNS is responsible for collecting data from campus security cameras, TNS has plans to update the cameras in the Smith-Brown Memorial Union.

“Our project, this year was to refurbish labs in the library and as well as security cameras for the Union,” Thomas said.

With the power of cloud technology, TNS is planning to start a project with this technology in the fall semester. Thomas explained the cloud as another resource of storage and sharing.

“Cloud Technology is the ability to access files from anywhere you have an access connection,” Thomas stated.

Thomas used an example to clarify ‘Cloud Technology’.

Police Foundation President Jim Bueermann, poses for a photograph in his office in Washington, Thursday. Despite growing awareness of hate crimes, the share of those crimes reported to police has fallen in recent years as more victims of violent attacks express doubt that police can or will help.

Alex Brandon/AP Photo

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thE official studEnt nEwspapEr of southErn univErsity and a&m collEgE, baton rougE, louisiana

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013 VoluMe 60, Issue 11

Brittany PattersonThe Southern Digest

Pete yostThe Associated Press

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Sees haTe crIMes page 3

It’s Mafia Take-over Did you know it’s Ju-nior-Senior week? pg.2

Kingi Knox Gramblinite chooses Blue &Gold pg.4

Veronica Marsgoes digital pg.5

Jags return homeRoman Banks and Jags return to fans pg.6

Jags work to keep the game tight See the Jags in action against Gonzaga pg.7

Chinua Achebe diesSee more about his life pg.8

Farrakhan defends himselfSpeech at Tuskegee pg.9

Jindal = Tony ClaytonCaesar talks power of influence pg.10

Are you holding back others?Get out of my way pg.11

If we ran... See what we would change about campus food pg.12

TNS looks to improve services

Hate crimes: victims still fear if police will act

A serenAde to springA serenade to spring the South-ern University chancellor’s concert will be held April 21 at 5 p.m. at F.G. Clark Activity Center. The concert will include performances by The Southern University Wind Ensemble, Lawrence Jackson, director. The concert is free and open to the public.

AmbAssAdor seArchAre you a defender of the Gold and Blue? Are you S.O.L.D. on serving SU? The office of S.O.L.D. is currently seeking new students for the Fall 2013 semester. Answer the ‘Call of Duty’ and become an university ambassador today! Email your resume with your concise class schedule to su@subr.edu. The deadline is Monday April 22.

hAlf price fridAysWhile there is no class on Fridays, Smith-Brown Memorial Union is open. Burger Klng, The Bowling Alley and Lacum-ba’s playpen are open. If that’s not enough to bring you out of your room Lacumba’s playpen and bowling are half price on Fridays.

sUs dAy At the cApitol

Save the date…Southern Univer-sity System Day at the Louisiana State Capitol, is Monday, April 29.

mAfiA tAkeoverToday continues Southern

University Junior and Senior class week; Mafia Takeover. Attend “Real juniors of SU” the junior class pageant tonight at 7 p.m. in the Royal Cotillion Ballroom. Wednesday, “Turn up but stay informed” from 12- 2p.m. in the union front courtyard. There will be student informational tables, a DJ and junior class pas out. Meet in the Cotillion Ballroom early to get a good seat for “Moulin rouge” in the Miss Thicker than a Snicker pageant. Thursday stop by the junior-senior BBQ at the Pavilion at 8 p.m.

cAfé lAcUmbAStop by Café Lacumba today for

their weekly special turkey pesto on Sourdough, cup of tomato basil soup and punch bowl cake for only $5. You can order custom sandwiches, wraps or salads, whole fruit, fruit cups, granola bars, baked chips and assorted beverages. Come visit us in Pinkie Thrift room 161 from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

blAck Women in cinemA

March is Women’s History Month, John B. Cade Library and Bentley’s house of fame present Black Women in Cinema. The impact of stereotyping in African American culture come see the last two movies; Love & Basketball and Eve’s Bayou today and tomorrow. Both movies will be shown from 3-5 p.m. in John B. Cade Library 3rd floor classroom A. For more information contact Eddie Hughes at 225.771.2636.

developing A science And engineering

poster presentAtionDr. Sumita Roy, associate

professor, Southern University English department will be giving a technical presentation to teach those interested in how to prepare a technical poster for Southern University sustainability week symposium. The presentation will be on March 27 from12:30-1:50 p.m. in John B. Cade Library Classroom 3. The session is limited to the first 20 students to register, RSVP to Bronwyn_dickson@subr.edu.

Attention prospective spring

2013 grAdUAtesIf you think you may graduate

this semester, Make sure you don’t miss grad prep days at the bookstore. You can order invitations, announcements, class rings, caps and gowns on March 26 and 27 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information contact the bookstore at 225.771.4330.

visUAl Arts stUdent exhibition

Come see the works of artists in the Visual Arts department and join the artists as the exhibit opens Wednesday March 27 from 6-8 p.m. If you can’t make the opening or like what you see the gallery will be open from March 28- May 2. (It will be closed the week of April 1st for Spring break) Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you have any questions contact Robert Cox, gallery director at 225.771.4103 or via e-mail at Robert_cox@subr.edu.

the nUtrition ZoneDoes high blood pressure run

in your family? Are you looking to lose weight in a healthy way? Do you have an interest in preventing or managing any nutrition-related health issues? Stop by the Nutrition Zone can meet your needs. Dietetic interns and senior dietetics can offer weight, height and BMI measurements, dietary analysis, nutrition counseling and nutrition and wellness education classes. The Nutrition Zone is open every Thursday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in 154 Thrift Hall.

opportUnities to stUdy AbroAd

Want to travel and study? Want to gain some language skills and credits? Study abroad with the Center for International Education. You could spend this summer in Belize, Senegal, China or Liberia. Trips range from $3,000-$3,500 and financial aid can be used to study abroad. For an application contact 225.771.2613.

neW services At John b. cAde

Want to try out a tablet? Check out a Kindle Fire from the library. Need a quiet place to study and use the computer? Individual and group study rooms are available for 3 hour checkout. Faxing and printing services are now available in the 1st floor copy center. Need to do an job interview via skype,

there’s a room for that. For more information in these new services visit the Ask Here desk at John B. Cade. All you have to do is show your valid SU ID.

sociology clUb meetings

The Sociology Club will hold weekly meetings from 5-6 pm on Thursdays (twice a month) in Higgins room 218.

bookstore hoUrsThe Campus Bookstore is open

Mondays through Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information about specials and updates like the bookstore on Facebook at www.facebook.com/southernuniversitybookstore The Bookstore hours for Spring Break, March 29- April 7, will be from 9am - 3 pm, Monday - Friday.

Bookstore will be closed on Good Friday, March 29th .

Wesley foUndAtionCome join us at The Wesley

Foundation at Southern University and A&M College for Sunday worship on 1st and 3rd Sundays at 5 p.m. Looking for a place to study the word? Join us for Bible Study Wednesdays at 6:30p.m. The Wesley Foundation is located at 748 Harding Blvd. Next to Villa Apartments and across Harding from the football practice field. For more information contact us at 225.778.0076.

Writing proficiency retAke

Graduating Seniors can retake the Writing Proficiency Tuesday April 16 at 9 a.m. in Harris Hall Room 2024. If you have any questions regarding the WPE, students may email Mrs. Wellons, florence_wellons@subr.edu.

seniors And grAdUAtes

The class of 2013 yearbook and cap & gown graduation portraits are being photographed; Monday April 15 through April 19. Pictures can be taken Monday through Thursday between 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday until 4:30 p.m. The sitting is free and you can view your proofs online. Cap and gown will be provided by the photographer. To make your portrait appointment, go to www.thorntonstudio.com then go to schedule your appointment, click new user, complete form with registration password: subr click submit and login.

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NEWTOWN, Conn. — Some residents of the Connecticut community devastated by December’s school shooting said they’re outraged over automated phone calls they’ve received from the National Rifle Association gun lobby only three months after a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators.

Newtown residents said the automated calls from the NRA began last week and urge people to tell their state legislators to oppose gun control proposals, which are being debated in Connecticut and other states in the wake of the shooting. Some also said they received postcards from the NRA supporting gun owners’ rights.

“It’s ridiculous and insensitive,” Newtown resident Dan O’Donnell told Hartford-area NBC affiliate WVIT-TV, one of several media organizations to report about the robocalls. “I can’t believe an organization would be so focused on the rights of gun owners with no consideration for the losses this town suffered.”

A message seeking comment was left Monday at the NRA’s headquarters in Virginia.

Like Congress and other state legislatures, Connecticut’s General Assembly has been considering gun control measures following a string of mass shootings, including banning

assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

The NRA strongly opposes many gun control proposals including an assault weapons ban, saying government officials should better enforce existing gun laws and not impede on constitutional rights.

Democrats recently said an assault weapons ban would not be part of a federal gun control package. States are free to impose such bans; New York quickly passed the nation’s toughest gun control laws, including a beefed-up assault weapons ban, and California legislators have vowed to pass even stronger laws.

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s tax plan should include a margin of error so the state doesn’t end up facing new budget shortfalls, the leader of a government watchdog group said Monday.

The Council for A Better Louisiana, or CABL, suggests that if lawmakers agree to the tax system revamp, it should be phased in over time rather than take effect all at once, to ensure state revenue drops aren’t larger than estimated.

“This is a very risky type of thing, unless we’ve got some insurance,” said Barry Erwin, president of CABL, which released a commentary on the governor’s proposals.

Erwin said without a cautious transition, the Jindal administration and lawmakers run the risk of creating new self-inflicted budget crises in a state that has seen five years of budget shortfalls and deep cuts to public colleges and health services.

The Republican governor wants to eliminate state income taxes for individuals and businesses. In exchange, he wants to raise state sales taxes and tobacco taxes, to charge sales taxes on an array of new items and to scrap some existing tax breaks.

Jindal describes his tax proposals as a way to create more job opportunities in Louisiana and attract more companies to the state. He says states without income taxes, like Texas, have outperformed other states in economic and population growth.

Critics say the governor’s plan would shift more of the tax burden and the costs of operating state government to poor and middle-income residents. The Jindal

administration disagrees with that assessment.

Lawmakers will consider the tax package in the regular legislative session that begins April 8.

Jindal says the proposal would be “revenue neutral,” not generating any additional money or losing the state any revenue. So, the new taxes would need to raise about $3 billion to offset the loss of the state income taxes.

But questions have been raised about whether the numbers balance.

Another nonpartisan group, the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, released an analysis last week that said Jindal’s plan could be as much as $650 million short of being revenue neutral.

Erwin said the state needs to devise a transition time, rather than doing the entire tax swap on

Jan. 1, as Jindal proposes.He said the state doesn’t have

experience with some of the taxes it would newly collect under the governor’s plan, and he said that makes it difficult to correctly project what tax revenue would be raised.

For example, the governor’s proposal estimates $1.4 billion would be raised by putting new sales taxes on services, like haircuts, cable TV, Internet services and veterinary visits.

Jindal’s leader on the tax overhaul, Tim Barfield, said 80 percent of those sales taxes on services would fall on businesses, which would pay new taxes on items like outside accountants, architects, environmental consultants, computer programmers and janitors.

“We’re just going to have a lot

of mistakes, and businesses are going to make a lot of mistakes until this thing shakes itself out. We need to be in a position where we’re comfortable that we’re not going to be losing drastic amounts of revenue,” Erwin said.

In its commentary, CABL noted that Texas made a large tax change in 2006 that replaced its corporate income tax with a “margin” tax designed to sweep in a wider group of businesses. When the change kicked in two years later, the new tax brought in about $2 billion less than estimated, CABL said.

Erwin suggested starting the sales tax hikes all at once, while phasing out the income tax to ensure the sales tax collections are coming in as expected and to give lawmakers the ability to tweak the tax rewrite if projections are off the mark.

Gov. Bobby Jindal gives an overview of some of his tax reform proposals Thursday March 14 in Baton Rouge, La, during a meeting of the joint committee on ways and means.

Arthur D. Lauck/AP Photo

TNs seeks from page 1

NewsTuesday, March 26, 2013 - Page 3

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The seNTINel of aN eNlIghTeNed sTudeNT Body sINce 1926

Melinda deslatteThe Associated Press

The Associated Press

haTe crIMes from page 1

“If a student is working on it at school, that student can save it on a ‘Cloud’ and access it at home…no thumb drive needed,” Thomas said.

Thomas clarified regarding the fact that although TNS does not give computers, they do have Microsoft Office available as well as a research application.

“Students can actually access Microsoft Office Suite here on-campus as well as SPSS, which is a Research application,” Thomas stated.

Microsoft Office will be completely available in the fall via the cloud.

“It will not be on your hard drive, however, this will be available by Cloud,” Thomas stated.

Shannon Jones-Butts, sophomore chemistry and physics major from Vineland, N.J. said Wi-fi and the cloud sound great but, has her own ideals of whether the technology will be used after the recent ‘not completely embraced’ turn to LiveText.

“I believe the Wi-Fi around campus is a good idea. I don’t believe teachers will cooperate effectively with the recording their lectures. The ‘Cloud’ system sounds ideal, but I don’t believe many students or faculty will effectively use it, especially considering the livetext situation,” Jones-Butts said.

Thomas said plans are in the works to improve outdoor and Wi-Fi internet access.

is able to gauge the percentage of crimes that go unreported to police because its victimization survey is based on a large, representative sample of Americans interviewed annually by the Census Bureau about their experiences with crime and responses to it.

The Police Foundation’s Bueermann said there is an increased sensitivity on the part of police to the devastating nature of hate crime.

“I certainly saw that in my career,” said Bueermann, who spent 33 years as a Southern California police officer, 13 of them as a police chief.

“If those statistics are accurate, then police chiefs have to focus on the issue of why the members of their communities believe that the police aren’t willing to investigate,” Bueermann said. “I think this underscores the importance of police chiefs repeating these messages over and over and over” urging victims to report hate crimes.

The study found during 2007-11 an estimated annual average of 259,700 hate crimes against people age 12 or older.

The percentage of hate crimes motivated by religious bias more than doubled between 2003-06 and 2007-11 — from 10 percent to 21 percent. Meanwhile, the percentage motivated by racial bias dropped from 63 percent to 54 percent.

In the years 2007-11, whites, blacks and Hispanics had similar rates of violent hate crime victimization.

CABL doesn’t approve of ‘Jindal’ error

NRA robocalls upset Newtown, Conn. residents

Kingi Knox, host of “The greatest fan” on 104.5 ESPN Radio’s Jaguar Journal, finds herself, proud to be a jaguar after graduating from Grambling.

Knox offered advice to those who aspire to be hosts and some stories of caution for the possible bumps in the road.

“I love the blue and gold. I am a Grambling baby but, a Southern lover,” Knox said.

Knox told the story of how she was discovered by Jamie Foxx at a basketball game with no makeup on and just talking to people.

“Sometimes people watch your character and give you an opportunity,” Knox said.

She is excited to celebrate her 100th celebrity segment this week, after interviewing celebrities like LL Cool J, Marlin Wayans, Charlie Wilson and more.

At the “Jaguar Journal” she has learned a lot about sports, even though her field is entertainment reporting.

“I learned so much about sports. Being able to interview Coach (Dawson) Odums. I’ve learned so much about the tradition and the process behind the sports. Conditioning, recruiting and learning plays are all processes. Coaches are teachers, preachers, etc. I have gained so much respect for them,” Knox said.

Knox is grateful for the opportunities she has gained while in the ‘jaguar jungle.’

“I was able to sit at the table. I am grateful they let this Tiger roar in the

jaguar jungle,” Knox said.Knox’s journey to “The greatest

fan’s 100th segment” included the process in which she contemplated the work it would take to touch the lives of her listeners and what she could do with the platform.

“The greatest fan developed with Hurricane Katrina. I was stuck in Los Angeles without my family and friends and it took a toll on me. I was hurt and I took it personal,” Knox said.

From this tragedy, came the greatest fan’s birth.

“I did the greatest fan with Saints Fans to boost morale. The NFL liked it and put it up on their website, it followed me to Jamie’s Foxxhole (XMradio). I was on-air working for the fans,” Knox said.

Knox often feels she carries a weight as well to balance staying true to herself and her fans.

“The burden is what you do doesn’t represent you but the brand,” Knox said.

She said sometimes the burden of not letting down the fans forces you out of your comfort zone and into the

hot seat, and sometimes the celebrity as well.

“Asking a tough question. I still have to ask it. Radio gives time for the person to get comfortable and I can ask it again. Sometimes people are coming to you and telling you what celebrities they want. I write them down and hope to get to them,” Knox said.

Knox has covered Essence Festival, Super Bowl, Tyler Perry opened up his studio to her to do interviews with the cast.

Despite her journey and established career, she still struggles to choose.

“Stat true to yourself. I’m just honest. If I can do it, I do it. If I can’t, I can’t. I am representing a great show,” Knox said.

Knox recommends perseverance to anyone interested in breaking into entertainment.

“You have to work hard for four years. 365 days times four. Until then you can’t complain. Most people don’t want to do the work. Most people want microwave,” Knox said.

Knox wanted to thank the Jaguar Nation for “letting this Tiger roam in the jungle with the Jaguars.”

“I had so much fun. I have such appreciation for the culture and history,”

Knox said.She wanted to leave the students

with one thing to meditate on.“You could have chosen anywhere

but you chose Southern. You can attend an HBCU and be successful; you can attend an HBCU and be a star and you can attend an HBCU and have a voice,” Knox said.

evan taylorThe Southern Digest

culTurePage 4 - Tuesday, March 26, 2013 The seNTINel of aN eNlIghTeNed sTudeNT Body sINce 1926

southerndigest.com

Tiger roaming in the Jaguar Jungle

Kingi Knox, a Gramblinite turned Southern lover, found her way from Los Angeles to Baton Rouge working for ESPN radio’s “Jaguar Journal”. Knox on “The Greatest Fan” conducts interviews in 60 seconds, literally with celebrities and connects fans to their idols. Knox will celebrate the 100th segment of “the Greatest Fan” as she celebrates her birthday. Evan Taylor/DIGEST

Kingi KnoxBorn March 30Grambling grad (Accounting)

Works for 104.5 ESPN Radio’s Jaguar Journal

NEW YORK — After years of hope, stalled efforts and studio frustration, “Veronica Mars” creator Rob Thomas watched a long-held dream come to fruition in a sudden digital rush.

“There were a few minutes of nothing happening,” he says. “Then in an hour, watching that ticker go was mesmerizing. I had an attention span of, like, four seconds because everything on my computer screen I wanted to look at at the same time. The Twitter feed was going crazy, the emails were going crazy and then watching that Kickstarter total go up.”

Thomas last week launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a movie of his cult TV show, which was canceled after three seasons in 2007. It met its stated goal of raising $2 million in less than 11 hours, meaning it would be greenlit to begin shooting this summer. It’s surpassed $3.7 million with more than two weeks still to go.

The resounding, immediate success of the crowd-funding campaign sent shockwaves through the movie business. Films had found much-needed financial support on Kickstarter before, but “Veronica Mars” is different. It’s a studio project, owned by Warner Bros., which produced the show.

The money given by the fervent fans of “Veronica Mars,” which starred Kristen Bell as a teenage private eye, will go not to a filmmaker operating on his own, but one with the distribution and marketing muscle of a very large corporation — just one that hadn’t previously been convinced to bankroll a “Veronica Mars” film.

Were donating fans spurring a goliath to action, or its unwitting pawns?

The wide majority of “Veronica Mars” fans couldn’t care less. They will get the movie they craved, as well as the proud feeling of having played an essential role in the show’s resurrection. Maryland fan Matt Clipp typified the eager contributors, writing: “I am MORE than happy to donate $100 to this project. This movie has been a dream of mine ever since the series ended back in 2007. ... LET’S GET THIS THING MADE, ‘VERONICA MARS’ FANS!”

While the emotional side is surely the biggest motivation for most donors, they’re also paying for tangible goods. Rewards range from an emailed copy of the script ($10 contributions), all the way up to a speaking part in the film as a waiter who says, “Your check, sir,” (a single $10,000 donation). All money is refunded if for any reason the film doesn’t get made.

“Most of the people who are pledging are getting in at the $35 and $50 range where they’re getting a download of the movie, a T-shirt, a copy of the script at $35, and all of that plus the DVD and the making-of documentary at the $50 price point,” says Thomas. “So I don’t think anyone’s being taken advantage of. I feel like the rewards are worth it.”

Typically in film financing, any investor has the chance to earn his money back and potentially share in the profits. Slate claimed the “Veronica Mars” project sets a “terrible precedent.”

Joss Whedon, whose devoted fanboy following is similar, if larger, than Thomas’, said that he reacted in “unfettered joy” at the “Veronica Mars” Kickstarter campaign. But Whedon, who realizes he’ll now be hounded to follow suit with another movie of his canceled cult TV series “Firefly,” acknowledged some trepidation about the financial arrangement for fans.

“I understand that it feels not as pure, and that the presence of a studio makes it disingenuous somehow,” Whedon told BuzzFeed. “But people clearly understood what was happening and just wanted to see more of the thing they love. To give them that opportunity doesn’t

feel wrong. If it was a truly wrong move, I don’t think it would have worked.”

Thomas says he’s been in daily contact with Warner Bros., which approved the plan in advance. The studio hasn’t sought to flaunt its involvement. Executives for its digital wing, which is planning a limited theatrical release followed by video-on-demand early next year, declined to comment.

Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler, too, declined to comment when asked through a spokesman about whether corporate involvement compromises Kickstarter’s mission. Kickstarter takes a 5 percent fee from money raised for successful projects.

Since being founded in 2009, Kickstarter has raised more than $500 million for some 35,000 creative projects. The “Veronica Mars” film is far and away its most lucrative movie project.

Earlier this year, the documentary short film “Inocente” became the first Kickstarter-backed Oscar-winner, having raised about $52,000 on the platform. Kickstarter has drawn several big Hollywood names, including David Fincher (a producer of an animated project that raised more than $440,000) and Charlie Kaufman (whose short animated film “Anomalisa” brought in $406,000).

Some have derided Kickstarter’s growing influence (Gawker lamented its “online panhandling”), but few would argue it’s been a positive force for getting dozens of films made in an industry landscape that can be brutal for independent filmmakers.

Thomas admits some of the talk of the “revolutionary” impact of the “Veronica Mars” Kickstarter campaign has been “an overreach,” but he hopes it leads to more low-budget films finding their way in the world.

“I don’t know that I would bet that a Kickstarter model starts to work across the board and that everyone who wants to make a $3, 4, 5 million movie can expect to go to Kickstarter and get financed,” he said. “When there is a brand name product that people have responded to and want to see and there’s already a built in following for it, people can be very successful. I hope that in that respect we are pioneers and we see more of them.”

Many are already seeing new potential to capitalize on small but dedicated fan support. (On the CW, “Veronica Mars” averaged less than 2.5 million viewers.) Shawn Ryan, whose FX drama “Terriers” was canceled in 2010 after one season, tweeted that he was “very interested” in the “Veronica Mars” Kickstarter campaign. “Could be a model for a ‘Terriers’ wrap up film,” he said.

Thomas also co-created another canceled show — the Starz cult comedy “Party Down” — that may be reborn as a film. He’s still hopeful that will happen, but says funding is already lining up more traditionally.

In the meantime, he’s hoping the Kickstarter contributions keep coming. More money means being able to shoot in Southern California (where the show was set) and gradual boosts in production value. The screenplay, of which he has 37 pages written, features a 10-year high school reunion for Mars’ Neptune High — a gathering that will include inevitable strife.

“In the barebones version, angry words would have been exchanged,” says Thomas. “We’re now starting to look comfortable enough to say there will be a brawl.”

It already promises to be a different kind of filmmaking experience. He’ll have 100-plus Kickstarter contributors to use as extras. A documentary on the making of the movie has begun tracking Thomas with cameras. And the production schedule has been built to include two days purely for Thomas, Bell and others to sign the thousands of movie posters and other items they’ve promised their Kickstarter backers.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - Page 5The seNTINel of aN eNlIghTeNed sTudeNT Body sINce 1926

Jake CoyleThe Associated Press

This 2004 file photo originally released by UPN shows actress Kristen Bell in a scene from the teen detective series “Veronica Mars.” Creator Rob Thomas launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a movie of his cult TV show, which was canceled after three seasons in 2007. It met its stated goal of raising $2 million in less than 11 hours, meaning it would be greenlight to begin shooting this summer.

Scott Garfield/AP Photo

Veronica Mars sends shock waves to movie industry

su basketball returns

Left page, Jaguar men’s basketball returns home after second round of NCAA tourney in Salt Lake City. Jags returned to the ‘Jaguar Nation’ cheering them for their efforts. (Arielle Burks/DIGEST)Right page, Jaguars work to keep the fight in Salt Lake City against No. 1 seeded Gonzaga. Left column, center photo courtesy of Austin Ilg/Gonzaga University Photo Editor. Left column, Jameel Grace, Brandon Moore and Malcolm Miller defend the gold and blue. Right column, Yondarius Johnson and Derick Beltran work to put points on the board while head coach Roman Banks makes the tough calls from the sidelines, Thursday against the Bulldogs. (Photos courtesy of Rick Bowmer and George Frey/ AP Photos)

NEW YORK — The opening sentence was as simple, declarative and revolutionary as a line out of Hemingway:

“Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond,” Chinua Achebe wrote in “Things Fall Apart.”

Africans, the Nigerian author announced more than 50 years ago, had their own history, their own celebrities and reputations. Centuries of being defined by the West were about to end, a transformation led by Achebe, who continued for decades to rewrite and reclaim the history of his native country.

Achebe, the internationally celebrated Nigerian author, statesman and dissident, died at age 82 in Boston on Thursday after a brief illness. He lived through and helped define traumatic change in Nigeria, from independence to dictatorship to the disastrous war between Nigeria and the breakaway country of Biafra in the late 1960s. He knew both the prestige of serving on government commissions and the fear of being declared an enemy of the state. He spent much of his adult life in the United States but never stopped calling for democracy in Nigeria or resisting literary honors from a government he refused to accept.

In traffic today in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, hawkers sell pirated copies of his recent memoir about the Biafra war, “There Was a Country.”

“What has consistently escaped most Nigerians in this entire travesty is the fact that mediocrity destroys the very fabric of a country as surely as a war — ushering in all sorts of banality, ineptitude, corruption and debauchery,” wrote Achebe, whose death was confirmed by Brown University, where he taught.

His eminence worldwide was rivaled only by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison and a handful of others. Achebe was a moral and literary model for countless Africans and a profound influence on such American-based writers as Ha Jin, Junot Diaz and Morrison, who once called Achebe’s work an “education” for her and “liberating in a way nothing had been before.”

His public life began in his mid-20s, when Nigeria was still under British rule. He was a resident of London when he completed his handwritten manuscript for “Things Fall Apart,” a short novel about a Nigerian tribesman’s downfall at the hands of British colonialists.

Turned down by several publishers, the book was finally accepted by Heinemann and released in 1958 with a first printing of 2,000. Its initial review in The New York Times ran less than 500 words, but the novel soon became

among the most important books of the 20th century, a universally acknowledged starting point for postcolonial, indigenous African fiction, the prophetic union of British letters and African oral culture.

“It would be impossible to say how ‘Things Fall Apart’ influenced African writing,” the African scholar Kwame Anthony Appiah once observed. “It would be like asking how Shakespeare influenced English writers or Pushkin influenced Russians. Achebe didn’t only play the game, he invented it.”

“Things Fall Apart” has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide and has been translated into more than 50 languages. Achebe also was a forceful critic of Western literature about Africa, especially Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” standard reading for millions, but in Achebe’s opinion, a defining example of how even a great Western mind could reduce a foreign civilization to barbarism and menace.

“Now, I grew up among very eloquent elders. In the village, or even in the church, which my father made sure we attended, there were eloquent speakers. So if you reduce that eloquence which I encountered to eight words ... it’s going to be very different,” Achebe, who attacked the novel in a landmark lecture and essay “An Image of Africa,” told The Associated Press in 2008. “You know that it’s going to be a battle to turn it around, to say to people, ‘That’s not the way my people respond in this situation, by unintelligible grunts, and so on; they would speak.’ And it is that speech that I knew I wanted to be written down.”

His first novel was intended as a trilogy and the author continued its story in “No Longer At Ease” and “Arrow of God.” He also wrote short stories, poems, children’s stories and a political satire, “The Anthills of Savannah,” a 1987 release that was the last full-length fiction to come out in his lifetime. Achebe, who used a wheelchair in his later years, would cite his physical problems and displacement from home as stifling to his imaginative powers.

Achebe never did win the Nobel Prize, which many believed he deserved, but in 2007 he did receive the Man Booker International Prize, a $120,000 honor for lifetime achievement. Achebe, paralyzed from the waist down since a 1990 auto accident, lived for years in a cottage built for him on the campus of Bard College, a leading liberal arts school north of New York City where he was a faculty member. He joined Brown in 2009 as a professor of languages and literature.

Achebe, a native of Ogidi, Nigeria, regarded his life as a bartering between conflicting cultures. He spoke of the “two types of music” running through his mind, Ibo legends and the prose of Dickens. He was also exposed to different

faiths. His father worked in a local missionary and was among the first in their village to convert to Christianity. In Achebe’s memoir “There Was a Country,” he wrote that his “whole artistic career was probably sparked by this tension between the Christian religion” of his parents and the “retreating, older religion” of his ancestors. He would observe the conflicts between his father and great uncle and ponder “the essence, the meaning, the worldview of both religions.”

For much of his life, he had a sense that he was a person of special gifts who was part of a historic generation. Achebe was so avid a reader as a young man that his nickname was “Dictionary.” At Government College Umuahia, he read Shakespeare, Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson and Jonathan Swift among others. He placed his name alongside an extraordinary range of alumni — government and artistic leaders from Jaja Wachukwa, a future ambassador to the United Nations; to future Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka; Achebe’s future wife (and mother of their four children) Christine Okoli; and the poet Christopher Okigbo, a close friend of Achebe’s who was killed during the Biafra war.

After graduating from the University College of Ibadan, in 1953, Achebe was a radio producer at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corp., then moved to London and worked at the British Broadcasting Corp. He was writing stories in college and called “Things Fall Apart” an act of “atonement” for what he says was the abandonment of traditional culture. The book’s title was taken from poet William Butler Yeats’ “The Second Coming,”

which includes the widely quoted line, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.”

His novel was nearly lost before ever seen by the public. When Achebe finished his manuscript, he sent it to a London typing service, which misplaced the package and left it lying in an office for months. The proposed book was received coolly by London publishers, who doubted the appeal of fiction from Africa. Finally, an educational adviser at Heinemann who had recently traveled to west Africa had a look and declared: “This is the best novel I have read since the war.”

In mockery of all the Western books about Africa, Achebe ended “Things Fall Apart” with a colonial official observing Okonkwo’s fate and imagining the book he will write: “The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.” Achebe’s novel was the opening of a long argument on his country’s behalf.

“Literature is always badly served when an author’s artistic insight yields to stereotype and malice,” Achebe said during a 1998 lecture at Harvard University that cited Joyce Cary’s “Mister Johnson” as a special offender. “And it becomes doubly offensive when such a work is arrogantly proffered to you as your story. Some people may wonder if, perhaps, we were not too touchy, if we were not oversensitive. We really were not.”

Achebe could be just as critical of his own country. The novels “A Man of the People” and “No Longer at Ease” were stories of corruption and collapse that anticipated the Nigerian civil war of 1967-70 and the years of mismanagement that

followed. He not only supported Biafra’s independence, but was a government envoy and a member of a committee that was to write up the new and short-lived country’s constitution. He would flee from Nigeria and return many times and twice refused the country’s second-highest award, the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic, over the lawlessness in his home state of Anambra.

In 2011, Nigeria’s presidency said Achebe’s refusal “clearly flies in the face of the reality of Nigeria’s current political situation.” Achebe responded that “A small clique of renegades, openly boasting its connections in high places, seems determined to turn my homeland into a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom.”

“I had a strong belief that we would outgrow our shortcomings under leaders committed to uniting our diverse peoples,” Achebe warned.

Besides his own writing, Achebe served for years as editor of Heinemann’s “African Writer Series,” which published works by Nadine Gordimer, Stephen Biko and others. He also edited numerous anthologies of African stories, poems and essays. In “There Was a Country,” he considered the role of the modern African writer.

“What I can say is that it was clear to many of us that an indigenous African literary renaissance was overdue,” he wrote. “A major objective was to challenge stereotypes, myths, and the image of ourselves and our continent, and to recast them through stories — prose, poetry, essays, and books for our children. That was my overall goal.”

Hillel italie & Jon Gambrell

The Associated Press

bill DeckerThe Advertiser

CulturePage 8 - tuesday, MarCh 26, 2013 the sentinel Of an enlightened student BOdy sinCe 1926

southerndigest.com

This undated photo provided by Brown University shows Chinua Achebe at his home in Warwick, R.I. Achebe, an internationally celebrated Nigerian author, statesman and dissident, has died at age 82. Achebe’s 1958 novel, “Things Fall Apart,” is widely regarded as the first major work of modern African fiction and inspired others to tell the continent’s story through the eyes of those who lived there. He joined Brown University in 2009 as a professor of languages and literature.

Mike Cohea/AP Photo

Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist dies

TUSKEGEE, Ala. — Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan said Friday that the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center is wrong when it says he leads a hate organization.

Farrakhan told high school and college students Friday at Tuskegee University that his organization shouldn’t be lumped together with the Ku Klux Klan.

He says he has never done anything to cause white people to live in fear like the Klan has done to blacks.

The director of public relations for the Southern Poverty Law Center, Dana Vickers Shelley, said Farrakhan’s talk of separation does not move the nation forward.

Farrakhan, 79, has over the years denied claims of anti-Semitism, arguing his remarks are often taken out of context and that criticism of Jews in any light automatically earns the “anti-Semite” label. The Nation of Islam has espoused black nationalism and self-reliance since it was founded in the 1930s, though in recent years it has included other groups, including Latinos and immigrants.

Farrakhan spent much of his speech encouraging young people to respect their bodies and avoid alcohol, drugs and tobacco.

During the speech, Farrakhan questioned why some Macon County school children were unable to attend his speech. Several students from area high schools at the event said they were not provided transportation, but no one told them they could not attend.

Someone who answered the phone at the Macon County superintendent’s office but did not identify

himself said students were not encouraged or discouraged from attending the event.

Daphne Calhoun, a 17-year-old junior at Tuskegee’s Booker T. Washington High School, said she was inspired by Farrakhan’s speech.

“He inspired me to believe in myself,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun said no one discouraged her from attending the event.

Farrakhan started his more than hour-long speech by asking some of the high school students to stand up and tell him what they wanted to do with their lives.

Joa Harkless of Tuskegee is a junior at St. Jude School in Montgomery. She said she wants to join the Air Force after she finishes college.

“I was really glad he wanted to know what I wanted to do,” she said

When one girl said she wants to go into forensic sciences, Farrakhan said she might be able to use her career choice to free people from prison “who may not be guilty.”

Farrakhan said he recognized that most of the students from Tuskegee probably come from low-income homes, but said they should not let that deter them from fulfilling their dreams.

“Jesus came from humble beginnings. There’s nothing more humble that being born in a stable,” Farrakhan said,

Farrakhan told the mostly black audience that it’s OK to be black. He said he’s tired of seeing blacks use creams and bleaches to make themselves look white.

He repeatedly told the women in the audience to avoid trouble.

“Women, hold on to your virtue,” he said. “Being virtuous is more valuable that silver or gold.”

tuesday, MarCh 26, 2013 - Page 9the sentinel Of an enlightened student BOdy sinCe 1926

bob JoHnsonThe Associated Press

Louis Farrakhan makes a point as he speaks to a group of students from Macon County high schools and Tuskegee University at the Tuskegee campus in Tuskegee, Ala. on Friday. Farrakhan’s visit is part of his ongoing series of speeches at historically black universities.

Mickey Welsh/AP Photo

Farrakhan argues his remarks are often taken out of context

Governor Bobby Jindal’s administration cut ties Thursday with a company that processes the state’s Medicaid claims; just hours after the Advocate broke the news that a federal grand jury is gathering evidence about how the contract was awarded.

Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein once worked as an executive with CNSI, which won the $185 million contract in 2011.

But Greenstein recused himself from the bidding process.

The Lens reports that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration has not provided legislators or the public with enough information on the losers under his tax shift plan.

Although the governor’s point man on the tax shift recently acknowledged that businesses would pay more under the plan, estimates of the plan’s impact on poor and working families don’t account for things like increased cigarette taxes or sales taxes that are passed along to customers.

Remember when the young and most promising governor that Jindal seemed to become overnight, he was the answer most thought would change Louisiana for the better.

Bobby Jindal spoke so much about transparency in his first term, now he hardly utters a word about transparency

these days, as a matter of fact, we do not hear transparency from him AT ALL.

While I do not criticize him, his policies, for the majority, are all under the watchful eye of research firms, the courts and those who have critical minds.

He has pulled the wool over the eyes of so many that some are taken aback to see some of those policies have actually been made law without or with very little protest.

One could easily conclude the governor has not been good for us, in my humble opinion he is not right for anybody here.

Strangely enough he seems to have the power of influence.

When it comes to influence at Southern University at Baton Rouge and the Southern University Board of Supervisors there is one who has an incredible amount, it rests in Tony Clayton.

In the personnel committee meeting Clayton addressed and has taken issue with the board chair, challenging her authority over a decision made to suddenly move the board’s executive assistant, Henrietta Vessell from an office she has enjoyed for a number of years to a cubicle.

Clayton cited Ms. Vessell’s years of service and master’s degree, also stated was Vessell’s request that it not be mentioned, he overruled.

For more than eleven minutes Clayton would not let the incident rest and felt the decision made by board chairperson, Bridget Dinvaut was wrong.

Clayton compared Dinvaut’s decision to a dictatorship, when Dinvaut made justification, he called it discriminatory and made the statement, “I just don’t think it’s right. We can debate it now, debate it later and I’m sticking to it.”

Clayton labeled Vessell as the “Executive Director,” but no one has knowledge of it ever being an Executive Director for the board of supervisors.

However, whether Ms. Vessell is an Executive Director, Executive Assistant or Administrative Assistant does not make a

difference, the decision has been made. Ms. Vessel has been assisting, at the

pleasure of the board for thirty-two years, it has not been written in stone that she remains in that particular office, but her service is invaluable and unmeasured.

There may very well be another reason for Clayton’s highly charged challenge of the board chair.

It may be justified, either way Dinvaut seems to have waged war with Clayton to the point of the item being put on the next board meeting agenda.

Clayton’s influence has led to the development of “building” at Southern University, his influence has led to the choosing of so many who are inadequate and were ineffective personnel choices for this campus.

While I admire Mr. Clayton, appreciate his support and the many contributions made by him to our dear institution, the disagreement comes when our board meetings are interrupted to publicly challenge anyone regarding a personal issue.

He cites Dinvaut as being inappropriate, but his challenge is also inappropriate as it pertains to a board member.

Because he (Tony Clayton) feels it is wrong does not necessarily make it so.

Get ready for the final thrill!

COMMentaryPage 10 - tuesday, MarCh 26, 2013 the sentinel Of an enlightened student BOdy sinCe 1926

southerndigest.com

Caesar sMith Jr.

Talking Politics with Caesar Smith Jr.: Power of influence for good, bad

If we ran... Campus Food service (What Aramark does/does not do)

This series is to entertain but, also challenge the inefficiencies on campus, taking your concerns, questions and our research; we have developed top ten lists of what we (The Southern Digest) would do if we ran the following offices/departments on campus. Hope you enjoy, Join the conversation on Twitter and/or Facebook.

1Southern University Real Food on Campus would be Good Food on campus and all you could eat would mean all you can eat now; of course the food should be edible but I would prefer it to taste like what you label it as. No more mystery meat in gravy and variety will be a key focus. If you want to two double cheeseburgers, ok I’ll give them to you but you better eat them; that’s 100 percent

beef patties from America. No more, you can only have one two pieces of chicken at a time, but there will be a limit within reason.

2Food on campus would be available on campus when you get hungry; Everyone doesn’t eat breakfast between the crack of dawn and 9 a.m.; lunch between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.; or dinner between 4 p.m. and 8p.m. What if I don’t wake up until 9:30 or 11a.m.? I can’t eat breakfast after I am walking out of my dreaded 8 o’clock at 9:20

a.m.? Can students get a midnight snack? What happened to cookies and milk?

3The Union would serve food until we run out and not just until we don’t want to run the machine. Who stops serving pizza at 1 p.m.? So, If I want Burger King after 6:05 p.m. you’re closed? How do you run out of shrimp for a shrimp po-boy ever this close to the gulf?

4The cafeterias would have working televisions and security free wi-fi; what is the point of having TV in Dunn and Mayberry if you can’t watch it? Just let me borrow one of those for the semester so, someone can use it. We pay $167 for cable and internet and we can’t do either in the cafeteria, where we spend 20-

30 percent of our time?

5All your money would be declining balance dollars. When we started having to pay $25 to replace our ‘SU one card’ our money should be accepted anywhere on campus. If Aramark owns it all, and my fees are paid to Aramark, why can’t I choose whether I want to eat at

Burger King every day or drink smoothies as meals? Why should my meals go to waste if I have three friends that want to eat? You mean to tell me that I have money on my card but, can’t use it? Have you seen my paid billing statement?

6To-go boxes would be allowed on entry to the cafeteria and sick lunches would be delivered to sick students. If every student pays for a meal plan, if I get the flu shouldn’t you provide me with a sack lunch so, I can get better? I paid for the

meals that two weeks I was sick. If I have a class at 6p.m. and don’t have time to eat until 9p.m. or 9:30 p.m. when my class lets out and the cafeteria is going to be closed, I should be able to get a to-go box. If I would rather eat alone instead of with some people that annoy me, I should be able to do that too.

7You would always eat off clean plates, cups and silverware and the straw, napkin, salt/pepper and plastic dispensers would be stocked and working. How long has the straw machines in Mayberry and Dunn not been working properly? I don’t

want a straw after all these people who don’t wash their hands have touched them? Is that how they do it? The straw is wet before it hits your drink. You serve the greasiest and messiest food with no napkins on the table, really?

8At no time would the cafeteria be more full of flies, insects, roaches (dead or alive) than paying customers. Needs no commentary, self explanatory; that is all.

9There would be no food recycled, wasted, or served without a complimentary food. First of all the baked/rotisserie chicken should not be the bbq/smothered chicken two days later, Cooked but, not served food at the end of the day should be donated

to local churches or homeless shelters; and you can’t have rice with no gravy, gumbo with no rice, red beans with no sausage; there should be no more stirfry with egg noodles incidents.

10Every time fees go up from campus dining, you will be able to see a return on your investment. We will value your dollars and use them to provide more services and amenities in the

cafeterias, union and food kiosks. We would propose features like snack machines and vending that declining balance could be used for and the bookstore would accept Jaguar Bucks. If my cash, credit, Sallie Mae, scholarship, deferment paid my billing statement; the stipulations should stop there.

Now last time I asked you what is holding you back, for those of you who seem to be going through the painstaking process of getting out of your own way (Shout out to Tyrese) but now I ask are you holding someone else back?

For those of us who have been fortunate enough to make it big or achieve some level of success, we’ve always been told (especially African-Americans) to look back and help someone else make it as well.

But honestly, do we always do that?I can recall in high school hearing a dude

ask another dude who maybe worked at say a McDonalds “Hey are they hiring at your job?” and the guy told him not right now but I’ll look out for you if something comes up.

Then I would hear that same person get asked the same question by a female but this time the answer was, “Yeah they’re hiring, you should come by and apply.”

Now I’m not one to try and dictate what people should and shouldn’t do or judge anyone’s decisions but blocking someone trying to get some money just because of their gender?

I don’t know about you but I smell a little hint of horse manure.

It’s 2013 people and when you think about it, didn’t you get your first job because someone helped get you on?

I mean honestly can we just sit back for a second and realize that just because a person isn’t related to you or isn’t someone that you particularly like doesn’t mean that they don’t need a helping hand.

Fellas, think about how many times your girl has come home and as soon as she got in the door and put her bags down, she goes off on a rant about ‘that heifer at work’ who she can’t stand and wish she could punch out on her face clock (if you catch my drift).

We’ve all heard that saying that if you don’t have nothing nice to say then don’t say nothing at all right?

Well here’s a new one: If you can’t help somebody, then don’t hurt them.

You know like that classmate who missed a few classes and comes and asks

you for the notes, but you don’t feel like pulling them out of your bag or you just don’t want to let anybody see them, so you say no.

This is what I’m talking about.That student is paying for school just

like you and he might have missed those classes for a legitimate reason and now they’re going to fail the exam tomorrow because they didn’t have the notes that you could and probably should have let them copy.

I know some people may not believe in karma but it is very real.

Who knows maybe one day something happens where you miss class or you need a job and you become the victim of this “hold-back syndrome.”

Times are too serious where everyone is either trying to get a job, keep their job, or find another job.

But like I said a few weeks back, nothing in this world works without some form of teamwork and we all know there’s no I in team.

We got to get out of that “Team of Me” attitude and realize that when we help others, we help ourselves.

Oh and remember this just in case your still like “yeah, whatever nerd”; Every dog has his day but it’s no fun when the rabbit has the gun!(Think about it)

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STUDENT MEDIA OFFIcEDirector .......................................Heather FreemanPublications Assistant. .................Fredrick BatisteBusiness Manager ..................... camelia Jackson

cONTAcTS (area code 225)Student Media Front Desk ....................771.2231Student Media Newsroom ....................771.5829Advertising Office ..................................771.5833Student Media Services ........................ 771.5819

SPRING 2013 STAFFEditor-in-Chief ......................................Evan TaylorManaging Editor ............................ Marcus GreenNews Editor ....................................................... N/ASports Editor ................................. Aristide PhillipsCulture Editor .................................................... N/ACommentary Editor ..........................Jessica SarpyPhoto Editor ...................................................... N/AStaff Writer .............................................Jade SmithStaff Writer ....................................... Deldrick HuntStaff Writer ....................................Lauren JohnsonStaff Writer ................................Brittany PattersonStaff Writer ...................................Alvonte SampleStaff Writer ...................................caesar Smith, Jr.Copy Editor ..................................... Ka’Lon DeweyStaff Photographer ........................... Arielle BurksStaff Photographer ....................... Marian HoraceStaff Photographer ...........................Trevor James

The Office of Student Media is a division of the Office of

Student Affairs.

tuesday, MarCh 26, 2013 - Page 11

COMMentarythe sentinel Of an enlightened student BOdy sinCe 1926

southerndigest.com

Have a Grievance?Have a point you want to Get across?

see sometHinG on campus you don’t like?

let your voice Be Heard!suBmit a letter to tHe editor

MarCus green

Are you holding others back?

the sentinel Of an enlightened student BOdy sinCe 1926Page 12 - tuesday, MarCh 26, 2013

You study hard all week so getting around to visit friends and family when you get a chance should be a breeze. And it is–with LA Swift! For the price of a meal at a fast-food restaurant we can get you to New Orleans, Baton Rouge and many places in between, all in the comfort of our clean, comfortable coaches. Avoid driving concerns, parking nightmares and high gas prices and enjoy free onboard wi-fi and TVs!

Update your riding status.

Louisiana On The Move

“I go to LSU in Baton Rouge but I live in New Orleans. The LA Swift helps me get to school and save on gas!”

“I ride, my family and friends ride! BR to NO to BR!”

“If It weren’t for Swift I would be spending an arm and a leg to get back and forth to work. Love the price and most of all the comfortable reclining seats. Thanx Swift:)”

“I would not have been able to keep my job in New Orleans had it not been for this service. LA Swift has been and continues to be such a blessing! Thanks LA Swift.”

www.facebook.com/LASwift www.LaSwift.com

All LA SWIFT buses are wheelchair-accessible and bicycle friendly.

Update your riding status.

Love to save money on gas and parking? Love to visit friends & family? Then “Like” LA Swift on Facebook! We give away a free ride voucher, worth $5, each

week to a lucky fan!

PARK & RIDE