the nicholls worth

� ursday, February 17, 2011 A Nicholls State University Student Publication Volume 56 — Issue 18

FormerMajor

Leaguervisits Nicholls

...page 7

Index: Sports...7 Lagniappe...13 Editorial...17www.thenichollsworth.com Please Recycle

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worth

Nicholls student misses Egypt...page 3

On the road again

Damaged sewer lines are underconstruction...page 4

Biology professor branches out to

other interests...page 13

02.17.11 � e Nicholls Worth

HAPPENINGSbrief

14th annual Lafcadio Hearn dinner to feature Besh, Gulotta

Celebrate Louisiana cuisine Monday, March 14, at the 14th annual Lafcadio Hearn Award Dinner and Distinguished Visiting Chef Series, presented by the John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls.

The event will honor executive chef John Besh, proprietor of six New Orleans restaurants and one San Antonio restaurant. The evening’s din-ner will feature dishes created by distinguished visiting chef Michael Gulotta, a graduate of the John Folse Culinary Institute who subsequent-ly trained under the guidance of Besh. Gulotta currently serves as Chef de Cuisine of Restaurant August in New Orleans.

The award dinner will begin with a cocktail reception at 6 p.m., fol-lowed by the distinguished visiting chef’s presentation and dinner at 7 p.m., in the Cotillion Ballroom. For ticket information, call (985) 449-7114. Tickets must be reserved by Monday, March 7.

3rd annual Swamp Stomp festival to feature regional bands

The entire region is invited to the third annual Louisiana Swamp Stomp Festival, a musical celebration of south Louisiana culture slated for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, March 18-20, at Nicholls.

The festival will take place in the parking lot adjacent to John L. Guidry Stadium. Admission is $10 per day or $25 for the weekend, free for children 11 and under. Tickets will be available at the gate. The festi-val gates will open to the public at 2:30 p.m. Friday, March 18, at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday and at 10 a.m. on Sunday.

Musical talents scheduled to perform include Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble, the Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band, Grammy-nominated Feufollet, Foret Tradition, Grammy-nominated Cedric Watson and Bijou Creole, Ryan Brunet and the Malfecteurs, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Tab Benoit and Waylon Thibodeaux, Grammy-nominated Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band, T’Canaille, Grammy-nominated the Pine Leaf Boys, and Geno Delafose and the French Rockn’ Boogie. Free Zydeco Cajun dance lessons will be offered an hour before the fi rst band starts playing on each day.

Visit www.nicholls.edu/swamp_stomp for complete event details, in-cluding information for area artists and craftsmen who wish to be ven-dors at the festival.

Nicholls’ spring enrollment stats refl ect growth

Offi cial enrollment statistics for the spring 2011 semester indicate growth in several key areas:

* Since last spring, enrollment in the Department of Physical Sciences and Department of Languages and Literature increased by 17.9 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively.

* Graduate programs in the College of Business Administration boost-ed 15.4 percent.

* Enrollment of fi rst-time freshman students increased by 8.1 percent.* Retention of African-American fi rst-time freshman students grew

to 88.94 percent, exceeding the overall retention rate of 85.55 percent.* The number of valedictorian scholarship students in the returning

freshman class rose from 24 to 29.* The average course load among graduate students increased by 4.6

percent to 6.19 credit hours.* Enrollment of continuing students, those returning after the fall 2010

semester, grew to 83.6 percent, a 1.2-percent boost compared to last spring.

Although enrollment at Nicholls decreased by 1.7 percent, from 6,495 to 6,385, administrators say the fi gure matches projections.

For additional information, go to www.nicholls.edu/ir/.

On the cover:Graphic by Derek Matherne

Nicholls Calendar of Events

Monday Tuesday Wednesday

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

Thursday

24

• President Obama’s fi rst two years from 10:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Le Bijou Theater

• Black History Month Tribute from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. in the Captain’s Room and Plantation Suite

• Student Publications MS awareness table from 9:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Student Union

• Spring 2011 Nursing Career Day from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Mag-nolia Room and Cotillion Ballroom


• African American history fact contest from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Student Union

• Women’s basketball vs. Central Arkansas from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. in Stopher Gym


• SGA meetings from 2:30 to 6:00 p.m. in the Planta-tion Suite

• Fellowship of Christain Athletes bible study from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the Bowie Room

• Men’s basketball vs. University of Texas at San Antonio from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Stopher Gym

• Renaissance Ball from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. in the Cotillion Ballroom

• SPA movie night from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. in Le Bijou Theater

• Town Hall meeting from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the Student Union

• RELATE: “Freedom” open mic night from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the Student Union

• Thursday Night Live from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in Le Bijou Theater

Police Reports

Graphic By: Ashley Falterman

Feb. 10

A person reported an auto crash on Madewood Drive by the president’s offi ce. One driver was attempting to park and hit another parked car. There were no injuries and some minor vehicular damage.

Feb. 11

A fi re alarm in Beauregard Hall activated. The alarm panel indicated that the sprinkler system on the second fl oor in the mechanical room was re-ceiving no water fl ow. The system was checked; no problems were found, and the alarm was reset.

A student reported that someone threw an egg at her car parked on Madewood Drive by Ellender Hall. University Police observed the egg on the rear driver side door. There were no witnesses, and the car was not within view of the cameras.

- Starting Feb. 14, students will be put on disci-plinary probation if caught smoking.

- The parking lot by Scholars Hall is now strictly residential. Some commuter parking spots by Peltier Hall and Gouaux Hall are temporarily out of use due to construction.

- Free attorney services will be available in the SGA offi ce Friday from noon to 2 p.m.

- Sigma Sigma Sigma and NAACP won spirit awards last week.

- Melissa Cloutet was sworn in as Business Sen-ator.

- Mr./Mrs. Nicholls nomination packets and co-curricular forms can be found in the SGA offi ce and are due March 3.

- SGA and SPA nomination forms are due March 4.

Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

Louisiana’s Wacky Weekend Weather

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To have anorganization’s

events ormeetings in thecalendar, sendinformation to

[email protected].

The Nicholls Worth 02.17.11 page 3

Student’s family flees Egypt during mass protests

submitted photo

By David GuidryReporter

The Egyptian Revolution of 2011 is Egypt’s largest nation-al demonstration in over thirty years. Even though the event took place in another country, the social movement affected the lives of one Nicholls student and her family.

Jordan Castille, nursing soph-omore, lived with her family in Egypt for seven years before re-turning to the United States in 2009 to study at Nicholls. It was a move she made with difficulty because of her close relationship with her family and Egypt.

Jordan’s father, Mark Castille, relocated his family to Egypt eight years ago for his job in en-

gineering. Jordan and her four younger siblings were home schooled in Egypt.

Communication was made difficult once the government ordered all cell phone and Inter-net services be temporarily shut off.

“My mom had posted on her Facebook that they were go-ing to Cairo and there would be

protests right outside their ho-tel,” Jordan said. “A few days later, I saw things on the news and got worried. I tried calling my family but the cell phones and Internet were down. I start-ed getting worried. I prayed so hard, and God definitely gave me comfort, and soon the phones started working for a short time, and I was able to

talk to them and learn what they were going to do.”

When Mark’s company, Lock-heed Martin, provided the fam-ily with a flight out to Paris, the family and their 8-year-old Yorkshire terrier traveled to the airport in a van.

The protesting largely occurred

in Cairo and Alexandria. The Egyp-tian people were calling for an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year presidency.

Heeding the demands of pub-lic protestors, President Mubarak announced on Feb. 1 that he would not seek another term as president, and after nearly three

“I am really upset thatwe won’t be able to go back.

The Egyptians were thenicest people. They treated

everyone as family.”

— Jordan Castille

weeks of violence and unrest, Vice President Omar Suleiman publicized that Mubarak had stepped down as president on Feb. 11. Authority was trans-ferred to the Supreme Council of

see EGYPT page 5

Pioneers and Leaders...

photo by Meagan Gervais

Sabrina Perkins, nursing senior from Baton Rouge, speaks during a student presentation entitled “African-American Pioneers and Leaders in Nursing” on Tuesday in Ayo Hall. The presentation was held in honor of Black History Month.


Faculty to debate President’s first two years in office

photo by Patrick Boudreaux

Paul Wilson, history professor, Rusty Thysell, government professor, and Allen Alexander, associate professor of English, will debate Obama’s fi rst two years of presidency today in Le Bijou Theater.

By David GuidryReporter

Whether you like him, hate him or find yourself somewhere in the middle, President Barack Obama has had a historical and busy two years as president, and students and faculty will discuss both sides of the political spec-trum today at 10:30 a.m. in Le Bijou Theater.

“The history department has held these sorts of events in the past, where we examine certain important issues,” Paul Wilson, history professor, said. “We fig-ured it would be a good time to assess the Obama campaign af-ter its first two years.”

In previous years, forum dis-cussion topics have included

terrorism and other presidential campaigns.

The forum will feature four faculty members on panel. Wil-son, Norbert Michel, economics professor, Rusty Thysell, gov-ernment professor, and Allen Alexander, associate professor of English, will each give an opening statement before a ques-tion and answer session. Panel members will discuss various issues among themselves for the audience to respond to.

The event will remain rela-tively informal. Audience mem-bers will be able to ask ques-tions at some point during the discussions.

“We’re including two con-

see OBAMA page 5

Out-of-date sewer lines replaced around campus

photo by Maryna Fowler

Mud covers the ground on Monday outside Powell-White, where a new plumbing system is being installed.

By Kami EllenderStaff Writer

Sewer lines in the quadrangle were replaced over the break, and the entire project will be complete in a few weeks.

Mike Davis, assistant vice presi-dent of facilities, said that this was done as “preventative mainte-nance” to catch problem areas be-fore they become a bigger issue.

“Imagine if all of a sudden, sev-eral of our buildings jammed up,” Davis said. “We would have to rush to fi x the problem, and we would have paid a lot more money for it. It would have been a total disaster.”

He said the timing worked out well because the University was able to choose when to fi x the sew-er lines with the smallest amount of disruption to the students.

Davis said that the University has experienced minor sewage problems in the quadrangle peri-odically.

“We were looking into it a little bit further to see what would have to be done, and it actually turned out to be a much-needed project,” Davis said.

He said that most of the sewer lines leading to and from the quad-rangle buildings are the original lines that were put in the ground in the 1950s and early 1960s.

The pipes are made of terra cotta, a clay-based unglazed ceramic, which breaks as pressure builds. In the quadrangle, some of the pipe was already cracked and roots had entered.

Davis said the University had a

see SEWER page 6

� e Nicholls Worth 02.17.11 page 5

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SGA regularly offers free legal services to studentsBy Melissa Holman

Staff Writer

Students seeking free legal ad-vice or services can see attorney Andrew Wise when he stops by the Student Government Associ-ation offi ce tomorrow from noon to 2 p.m.

The local attorney is a 1987 Nicholls graduate who received his law degree from Louisiana State University. He began his career in private practice with

his father for 17 years, with the practice now being solely under his name. He is also a public defender for Lafourche Parish, representing those who can-not afford their own attorney in criminal cases.

Mariam Matteuzzi, SGA di-rector of public relations, said the organization pays Wise to offer his services to University students free of charge. Wise said he has been coming to the University since August 2003

Attorney Andrew Wise does paperwork in the Student Government Offi ce last week. Wise offers free legal advice and notary services to students weekly.

photo by Tressa Lafont

and offers advice to students on a variety of legal topics ranging from family matters to criminal matters.

“A lot of people come in and have questions about a lease for their apartment, or they may have gotten a ticket somewhere or something like that,” Wise said. “Any kind of legal ques-tions, I try to help them with.”

Wise also notarizes documents for students. Documents that have to be sent back to an attor-ney, fi nancial aid paperwork or

any other legal document can be brought to Wise.

Matteuzzi said he sees students in whichever SGA executive board member’s offi ce is avail-able at the time and always has students coming to see him.

“Every time he comes in, he has students. They use him for every type of legal issue you could think of.”

Wise said he sees on average two to six students each time he visits, and Matteuzi said spots

usually fi ll up fast so students should make an appointment with the SGA offi ce.

“He does take walk-ins, but there’s a chance, if you don’t call, that you won’t get an ap-pointment,” Matteuzi said.

The job was a natural progres-sion, Wise said. Having fi lled in for attorneys John Weimer and Danny Cavell who previously offered the service to students, Wise learned what it took to do the job and eventually took over.

“They were looking for some-one and I, having done it on oc-casion before, took it on,” Wise said. “It’s a way for me, as a Nicholls graduate, to keep in touch with the school and give back.”

Students are asked to contact the SGA offi ce at 985-448-4557 to schedule an appointment with Wise on one of the dates he is available, a list of which can be found at www.nicholls.edu/sga/services/legal-aid.

“A lot of people come in and have questions about a lease for their apartment, or they may have gotten

a ticket somewhere or something like that.”— Andrew Wise

the Armed Forces.Though Jordan said many peo-

ple are glad to see that her family is back safe in the United States, her feelings about Egypt are bit-tersweet.

“I am really upset that we

won’t be able to go back. The Egyptians were the nicest peo-ple. They treated everyone as family,” she said.

The Castilles left behind most of their possessions, and the chances of returning to Egypt re-

main unknown.“As for returning, my family

will probably not be returning to live, only to get their things. And it’s not even certain when that will happen,” Jordan said. “It will be at least two months.”

EGYPT continued from page 3

OBAMA continued from page 4

servative professors and two liberal professors,” Wilson said. “Hopefully we’ll have some disagreements, but they’ll be cordial. Students will be able to see that intelligent people can

disagree without yelling and screaming at each other.”

This forum on our first Afri-can-American president’s first two years in office is appropri-ately placed in the middle of

Black History Month. It is one of many events scheduled for the month.

Nicholls students and facul-ty are welcome, as well as the general public.

Letters to the Editor should besubmitted to [email protected]

by the Monday before thenewspaper is released.

02.17.11 The Nicholls Worth

Expires 11/30/10Expires 2-28-11

Counterfeit bill found valid by stateBy Melissa Holman

Staff Writer

A recent attempt to use what was thought to be counterfeit money on campus is proof the se-curity system the University has in place works.

In early January, Mike Naquin, assistant vice president of finance, said a student visited the fee col-lections window and attempted

to pay her tuition fees in hundred dollar bills she had received from the bank. Cashiers at the win-dow, trained to perform a mark test with a counterfeit indicator pen, marked one of the bills and discovered that the mark turned black.

A counterfeit indicator pen, ac-cording to Discovery Company’s howstuffworks.com, contains an iodine solution that reacts to starch found in wood-based paper,

the type of white printing paper common to most people. When the pen marks real bills, which are made from a cotton fiber-based paper unique to the United States Treasury, no mark appears.

Naquin said that once the mark turned a different color, Univer-sity Police was immediately con-tacted.

Director of University Po-lice Craig Jaccuzzo said police

brought the bill to the bank, where various tests were run to prove its legitimacy. The bill was found to be current and valid and was re-turned to the student so she could pay the remaining part of her fees.

Both Naquin and Jaccuzzo said they doubted the student was try-ing to get away with fraudulent activity.

“The student was pretty upset about the whole deal,” Naquin said.

“We did not believe that this student had any intention of de-frauding the University or pos-sessing counterfeit money,” Jac-cuzzo said. “From her reaction and her cooperation, we believed she truly got the money from the bank.”

Counterfeit money is rare oc-currence on campus, Naquin and Jaccuzzo said.

In his entire career as a Uni-versity employee, Naquin said he could only recall one instance in which counterfeit money was used to try to pay for something. Jaccuzzo said in his seven years at the University, this is the first time any situation like this has been reported to his department.

Though the outcome was favor-able, Jaccuzzo said the situation was a learning experience for the University. Those involved were able to learn the process of how to handle counterfeit bills and real-ized that the security measures the University has in place are work-ing.

“They have a system of check-ing bills to make sure they are valid, and the cashiers at the win-dows are informed and educated on the current bills. What they have in place is working.”

“We did not believe that thisstudent had any intention ofdefrauding the University or

possessing counterfeit money.”

— Craig Jacuzzo

contractor clean the pipes to see the damage.

“We sent a camera in through the sewer lines to look at the interior and the contractors could not be-lieve that we were draining,” Davis said. “It was so clogged that they did not understand why our prob-lems had only been minor.”

He said the University and the contractors decided to abandon the old sewer lines. Instead of remov-ing and replacing the lines, new sewer lines were placed beside the old ones.

“The contractor did a very good job,” Davis said. “He dug trenches for the sewer lines and then re-poured the sidewalks and repaired everything so that when we opened up in January there was less of an inconvenience.”

Davis said the contractor was un-able to finish the project by Powell-White Hall as expected.

“There are spread footings under-ground by White Hall that support that covered walkway,” Davis said. “The spread footings were much deeper and wider than the drawings indicated they were.”

He said that the best option was to install a lift station.

“This is a pump to remove the sewage in Shaver, Powell-White and

the president’s house,” Davis said. “We’re waiting for that to arrive.”

Once the lift station arrives, it will be installed. Davis said this should be completed in a few weeks.

“Also, one of the sewer lines passes right under Peltier Hall and out the other side,” Davis said. “That was not smart.”

He explained that particular sewer line is not currently a threat, but if it develops a problem, it will have to be abandoned and new sewer lines will be placed around the building.

Davis said the project cost about $300,000. The money came from the approximate $4.6 million of the deferred maintenance fund given to the University from the state about a year and a half ago.

He said the fund has decreased to about $800,000 because it has been used for projects such as the elevator in Talbot Hall, the air con-ditioning unit in Gouaux Hall, and the fire alarm upgrades that were integrated into several buildings on campus.

“When we get into these proj-ects, we want to do them right the first time so we don’t have to get back into it,” Davis said. “It was money well spent.”

SEWERcontinued from page 4


nichollssportsSportS BriefS

Men’s Basketball

Feb. 12Nicholls State 71Lamar 84

Three different Colonels scored in double-figures in the loss. Senior forward Anatoly Bose led the game in scoring with 22. Junior guard Ben Martin scored 11 points and senior guard Kellen Carter added 15. With the loss, the Colonels now fall to 11-11 and 5-6 in Southland Conference play.

Women’s Basketball

Feb. 12Lamar 70Nicholls State 56

The Colonels were led by two freshmen in scoring as guard KK Babin totaled 19 and forward LiAnn McCarthy added nine. After the loss, the Colonels are now 8-16 on the year and 3-8 in Southland Conference play. The game served as the Colonels’ annual Pink Zone game supporting the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, named in honor of longtime North Carolia State head coach and breast cancer victim Kay Yow.

Softball

The Colonels broke even in the tournament over the weekend as they lost two games Saturday and won two Sunday. The Colonels lost to St. Louis University 3-0 and 9-6 in extra-innings against the University of Missouri-Kansas City on Saturday. The Colonels rebounded well on Sunday with a 5-4 win over Akron and a 7-1 victory over Jackson State.

Tennis

Women’s Results:Nicholls 4, Alcorn State 3

Men’s Results:Nicholls 7, Alcorn State 0

Will Clark speaks at First Pitch BanquetBy Jake Martin

Sports Writer

Former Major League Base-ball player Will Clark spoke at the Colonels’ fifth annual First Pitch Banquet in front of more than 270 people in the Cotillion Ballroom last Friday.

The Colonels raised nearly $10,000 in support of their pro-gram thanks to ticket sales and a silent auction. Not only did Clark speak, but head coach Seth Thibodeaux and senior Scott Moseley spoke to the crowd as well.

“This was a great night for us as a program, for the University and for the city of Thibodaux,” Thibodeaux said. “Anytime you can get a guy of Will Clark’s stature to speak to your program, it’s naturally going to build a lot of buzz. I can’t thank him enough for coming tonight.”

Clark was the MVP of the 1989 National League Champi-onship Series and recorded more than 2,000 career hits and 1, 200 career RBI. He spent 14 years in the major leagues and the ma-jority of his years with the San Francisco Giants. Clark was in-ducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006 after his successful career at Mississippi State.

Thibodeaux met Clark last No-

vember, and the two talked about baseball. Thibodeaux asked Clark if he could speak to the

team, and Clark took up his of-fer.

“We hit it off right from the

get-go,” Clark said. “He’s a great person and he seems like a great motivator and great coach. Hope-

fully, I will get to see his ball club play a little bit. They should have a pretty good team this year.”

Clark delivered several mes-sages on communicating as teammates, staying away from

drugs and steroids, keeping your grades up, battling when you’re pushed back into a corner and not being afraid to fail.

“You were a student-athlete and student came first,” Clark said. “You had to make your grades, stay eligible and then you could run out on the field. That’s what I try to tell these guys, because there are only so many professional baseball play-ers and not everybody can be a pro.”

He gave insight of what it was

photo by Maryna Fowler

Former Major League Baseball player Will Clark tells a joke while serving as keynote speaker for the First Pitch Banquet on Friday in the Cotillion Ballroom.

“Anytime you can get a guy of Will Clark’s stature to speak to your program, it’s naturally going to build a

lot of buzz.”

— Seth Thibodeaux

see CLARK page 11

Louisiana TechClassic

Ruston, LaFeb. 18-20

Houston Hilton Plaza Classic

Houston, TexasFeb. 18-20

vs. Texas-SanAntonio

ThibodauxFeb. 19

3:30 p.m.

at Texas-San AntonioSan Antonio,

TexasFeb. 19

2:00 p.m.


Mon-Thurs: 10am-8pm Fri: 10am-6pm Sat: 10am-3pm Sun: Closed

Colonels look ahead to Houston Hilton Classic


Senior infi elder Tori Lay makes a catch during practice on Friday at the softball fi eld.

TIME OPPONENTDATE

3/53/63/8

3/163/193/203/234/134/164/174/264/274/305/1

1:00pmNoon

6:00pm4:00pm1:00pm1:00pm6:00pm6:00pm1:00pm

Noon5:00pm5:00pm1:00pm

Noon

Sam Houston St.Sam Houston St.

SouthernAlcorn St.

Texas A&M-CCTexas A&M-CC

LSUSouthern Miss

Texas St.Texas St.

SELUSELU

Northwestern St.Northwestern St.

graphic by Derek Matherne

By Katelyn ThibodeauxEditor

After sweeping their double head-er last Sunday in the Lion Classic, the Colonel softball team will try to continue their winning streak as they travel to Houston this weekend to take on nationally ranked teams in the Houston Hilton Plaza Classic.

Head coach Jenny Parsons says

this tournament will be “tough” and “all of it is just going to make us bet-ter.”

The Colonels will face No. 18 Louisiana State University once and No. 22 Oklahoma State University twice in weekend match-ups.

“I’m interested to see how well we do against LSU and Oklahoma State. Where they are at, I want to see where we are at and how we re-

act,“ Parsons said. After going 2-2 in the Lion Clas-

sic, Parsons was pleased with the team’s overall performance in the tournament.

“I was happy with how we per-formed,” Parsons said, “I was dis-appointed with the game we let get away from us. Overall, I was pleased at how we hit the ball, scored runs and played pretty good defense. So far so good.”

The Colonels will have to wait until March 5 to fi nally play on home turf. This game will also mark the start of conference as the Colonels host Sam Houston in a double header.

“We were picked to fi nish eighth, but if you looked at the standings at the end of last year, anybody one through eight could have beaten anybody,” Parsons said.

Despite playing tough conference competitors as defending confer-ence champions McNeese State University, runners up Texas State and regular season champs Stephen F. Austin, Parsons said, “We expect to win and do well in conference.”

“The University of Central Ar-kansas didn’t make the tournament but they swept the best team in the conference. It’s a tough confer-ence,” Parsons said.

“We want to win conference and

win the regular season. We have in-dividual goals, but we want to com-pete every weekend to make sure were better,” Parsons said.

The Colonels have six true fresh-men and two junior college transfers adding into the lineup this season competing for spots with Nicholls’ veteran players.

“It’s a matter of matching up who is going to perform well against what team. It’s a matter of how peo-ple are going to react and respond to what is ahead of them.”

The Colonels will take on Sam Houston, Southern University, Al-corn State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, LSU, Southern Mississip-pi, Texas State, Southeastern and Northwestern University at home this season.

“If you want to see an excit-ing product and a fast pace game, you need to come check us out. We work hard and play hard. The game in itself is an exciting game to watch. If you haven’t seen us before you have to come check us out.”


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Women’s basketball transfer brings productivity to Nicholls


Junior guard Sumar Leslie waits for the next play during the Jan. 26 game against McNeese.

By Carolyn NobleSports Writer

After a strong start to her colle-giate basketball career at Univer-sity of Louisiana at Monroe, junior transfer Sumar Leslie has contin-ued her scoring ways as she aver-ages 11.5 points per game.

Prior to her injury, the Houma, La. native started 11 consecutive games for the Colonels, averaging 29 minutes per game. However, Leslie suffered a wrist injury and has been out of the Colonel line-up for three weeks.

As a ULM Warhawk, Leslie had a 200-point freshman season with 79 assists, 58 rebounds, a .400 3-point percentage and a .364 fi eld goal percentage for her best colle-giate season thus far.

After just a year and a half at ULM, Leslie decided to transfer closer to home and closer to her family.

“It’s good to be away from home to fi nd yourself and your maturity level,” Leslie said. “I learned a lot and experienced a lot on my own, but I am a family person and I felt that being back home, my parents would be able to come watch me more.”

But returning to her family wasn’t the only reason Leslie de-cided to transfer to Nicholls.

“I transferred back home be-cause I felt that I could really help the Nicholls program along with the really great teammates I have now,” Leslie said.

Leslie admits that if head coach DoBee Plaisance was the coach at Nicholls when she was making her decision about which college to at-tend, Nicholls would have been her fi rst option.

“Coach Plaisance is a great coach, she really is a great per-

son,” Leslie said. “She’s all about basketball, but at the same time she has a spiritual aspect on things too, and that’s very important in a team.”

Now in her third semester at Nicholls, Leslie feels at home.

“My teammates and the people around here are always smiling,” she said. “It’s down to earth, it’s

a pleasure just having fun around here. I live one day at a time and I love this school.”

According to Leslie, being a Colonel is signifi cantly different than being a Warhawk.

“Colonels take pride in what we do and that’s what I stand for,”

Leslie said. “Taking pride in what I do and just being enthused, work-ing hard, being dedicated and com-mitted to what you do; that’s a true Colonel for you. Not a Warhawk, Warhawks just fl y.”

Leslie began playing basketball at the age of seven after watching how much her brothers enjoyed playing.

“Ever since then I became en-thused and started to put my heart into the game,” Leslie said. “I’ve been playing ever since.”

The thought about playing Divi-sion 1 basketball did not cross Les-lie’s mind until she started playing in high school at Vandebilt Catho-

lic.“I was just playing the game for

the fun of it,” Leslie said. “I never really thought about college until I started progressing to high school. That’s when I fi gured I’d like to play college ball.”

At Vandebilt Catholic in Houma, Leslie was a two-time all-state per-former and was named to the All-

Region team her senior year. She was also named to the All-District team in her senior season and holds Vandebilt Catholic’s records in scoring with 2,344 points, assists with 562 and steals with 495.

Being one of eight children, Les-lie understands the importance of family.

“I’m happy I’m not the only child,” Leslie said. “My siblings keep the momentum and energy going. We love each other; we’re just like a big bowl of gumbo if that’s what you want to call us.”

But according to Leslie, family doesn’t have to be blood related. She says her favorite thing about college basketball is being able

to build a lifelong bond with new players.

“Being able to meet new players, play with them and build that sis-terhood, is not just for a little time, that’s forever,” Leslie said.

As for future plans, Leslie is undecided about which route she wants to take. As a dietetics major, she has many options within the fi eld to explore as far as careers go, but also admits she has considered going overseas to further her bas-ketball career.

“I don’t like to say what I’m go-ing to do; I just let God take care of that for me,” Leslie said. “Wher-ever he takes me, that’s where I’ll go.”

“Colonels take pride in what we do and that’s what I stand for.”

— Sumar Leslie


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Questions & AnswersQuestions & AnswersBy Katelyn Thibodeaux

Editor

Senior baseball outfielder Kasey Culverson is one of seven Nicholls baseball seniors look-ing to finish out their final year on a strong note.

Culverson was part of the 2009-2010 team who finished Southland Conference play with a 15-win season and who gained a Southland Conference Tourna-ment birth for the first time since 2000.

Culverson made 19 starts and saw action in 23 games for the Colonels and ended last season with a .281 batting average. He

Senior outfielder brings experience factor into new season

photo by Patrick Boudreaux

Senior outfielder Kasey Culverson waits for the ball during practice on Fri-day at the baseball field.

also recorded a career-high six-game hitting streak.

He is a junior college transfer from Alabama Southern Com-munity College and has found his place at Nicholls with the help of a few teammates and friends.

“I had a lot of teammates that either were or here or were com-ing here. When I got the call from Coach Thibodeaux, my friends pushed me towards here and it seemed like a good place to go.”

Q. Why baseball?A. “I grew up with it. My older

brother and me would always go outside and play. It’s just some-thing that we liked to do.”

Q. Who is your favorite Ma-jor League team?

A. “I would have to say the Atlanta Braves. They are right down the road from my house. I just kind of grew up with them.”

Q. Where do you see your-self in five years?

A. “Hopefully doing some kind of athletic training or sports medicine.

Q. If you were going to try out for American Idol, what song would you sing?

A. “Um (laughs), I’d prob-ably have to sing…um. (turns to a coach and asks what song

see CULVERSON page 11

Check out Nicholls Sportsonline at

www.thenichollsworth.com.


CLARK continued from page 7

like to be in the locker room with the Giants and told stories about former major leaguers Matt Wil-liams and Kevin Mitchell.

Clark said Williams was a big, strong guy and very hot-tempered. The Giants had a tun-nel that led to the dugout with three light bulbs in it. Anytime Williams struck out, he broke the light bulbs. Clark came up with the idea to buy an inflat-able Bozo the Clown and put it in the tunnel for Williams to hit when he struck out. Williams struck out and struck the Bozo the Clown toy. It hit the ground and popped back up to hit Mitch-ell and knocked him down. The players in the dugout erupted in laughter and Williams told Clark he was going to kill him. Later, as the game was going on, Wil-liams chased Clark down the first base line.

When asked by someone in at-tendance at the banquet if Clark read Greg Maddux’s lips back in the 1989 playoffs, Clark re-sponded with “yes.”

Clark told the story of how the bases were loaded, and Mad-dux was talking with one of his coaches when he read the All-

Star’s lips saying, “fastball in.” Clark turned to Mitchell, who was on deck, and asked, “Did he say fastball in?” Mitchell said “yes” and asked what Clark was going to do. Clark said he told him he was going to look for a fastball in. Clark then delivered a grand slam that propelled his team to victory.

“That’s why pitchers hold their gloves over their mouths when they talk on the mound now,” Clark said. “I wanted to keep that quiet, but Mitchell told everyone.”

“It was great for our guys to hear directly from a player of his caliber what it takes to achieve their goals, whatever they are,” Thibodeaux said. “It was great for them to hear that even a player of that caliber understands how important it is to be suc-cessful in the classroom. Every-one seemed to have a great time celebrating the program and the University tonight.”

The Colonels will open the 2011 baseball season on Friday when the Colonels head to Rus-ton, La. to take on Louisiana Tech, Grambling and Southern Illinois at the 2011 Louisiana Tech Classic.

to sing…‘I Can’t Dance by Phil Collins.’) Yeah, I would sing I Can’t Dance by Phil Collins. I would sing it because it seems easy and Rudy [Darrow, volun-teer assistant coach] told me to sing it.”

Q. If you had a show about your life, what would it be about and who would play you?

A. “I guess it would be about me back home hunting, fishing and doing outdoor stuff. I grew up watching TK and Mike, and Scott Moseley and me always said we were going to make a show. I guess I would have to name it Outdoors with Mo and KC or something like that. I would want Jim Carey because people say I look like him.”

Q. How do you manage base-ball and school work?

A. “Going through high school,

junior college and now here, I’ve always had a busy schedule to go by so it was always pretty easy.”

Q. Who is your role model?A. “My role model would have

to David Justice because he’s an outfielder and he’s damn good at it.”

Q. Who do you look up to on the team?

A. “I’d have to say Scott Mose-ley. He’s always helped me with my hitting. He’s kept my mind focused.”

Q. Do you have any supersti-tions?

A. “If I put my right sock on first and I have a good game, I try to do the same routine. It’s something to get my mind off the bigger picture.”

Q. Do you have any pre-game rituals?

A. “Sometimes I listen to the

CULVERSON continued from page 10

same song, country music most-ly.”

Q. What has been your most embarrassing moment on the field?

A. “Oh lord! Probably when we were taking in and out last year before a game. My cleat got caught in my shoelace and I fell head over heels.”

Q. What has been your most embarrassing moment off of the field?

A. “I don’t get embarrassed.”Q. If you were stranded on a

desert island, what three things would you have with you?

A. “I would take a fishing pole, Sports Illustrated magazine and my MP3 player.”

Q. What is one food you can-not live without and why?

A. “I guess pizza being as I’m in college.”

“My cleat got caught in my shoelace and I fell head over heels.”

— Kasey Culverson


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Biology professor balances work with multiple hobbiesBy Ross LandryLagniappe Editor

Leith Adams, biology profes-sor, is the most interesting man in the world; he doesn’t always drink beer, but when he does, he

Adams has been a part of the Nicholls family for 14 years as both a student and a faculty mem-ber. He began his undergraduate degree in 1997 as a pre-med stu-dent but later switched to micro-biology.

“I realized that I didn’t really like people enough to go pok-ing and prodding, so that’s why I changed,” Adams said. “It was easy to switch over.”

After he fi nished his bachelor’s

degree, Adams went on to earn his master’s degree.

“Nicholls had just started the master’s program, so I hopped onto that,” Adams said. “I claim to be the fi rst person to graduate from the master’s program.”

Upon receiving his master’s de-gree, Adams began teaching as a graduate assistant. Soon after, the freshman biology 105 and 106 professor retired.

“They needed someone to fi ll his spot,” Adams said. “I never thought I would become a teacher, but it pays the bills.”

Adams said that his favorite part about teaching is seeing people understand something for the fi rst time.

“I was always the kind of guy that would understand things


Leith Adams, instructor of biological sciences, holds his red-tailed boa, Jör-mungand, during his Biology 106 class on Monday in Gouaux Hall.

brews it himself.Pardon the Dos Equis refer-

ence, but based on his life outside of school, many students consider Adams to hold the same title as Jonathan Goldsmith, the beer com-pany’s spokesman.

quickly,” Adams said. “Being able to convey a concept that people don’t get and make them under-stand is the best feeling.”

Adams teaches mainly biology 105 and 106, both lecture and on-line, but said that his favorite sub-ject to teach is the 156 lab course because it is more hands-on and allows people to see things more closely.

Every day begins with a cup of coffee before going to work.

“Got to have my coffee,” Ad-ams said.

Class usually lasts from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. After class is over, Adams spends a few hours in his offi ce.

“During that time, I work on Blackboard, grades and then an-swer e-mails followed by more e-mails,” Adams said.

Adams said that the rest of his time is “splattered” with Facebook along with other things.

“I usually head out of here at about 2, and that’s where the fun begins,” Adams said.

Outside of the classroom, Ad-ams occupies himself with a vari-ety of activities.

“A long running joke of mine is that while people collect things for hobbies,” Adams said, “my hobby

is collecting hobbies so that I al-ways have something to do.”

Adams’ activities include, but are not limited to, fi xing up old Volkswagen cars, playing music and, just recently, brewing his own beer.

“Being a biologist, mainly mi-crobiology, beer making kind of sparked something for me,” Ad-ams said. “My sister got me started in 2002 when she gave me one of those ‘Mr. Beer’ brewing kits.”

For the fi rst few years, brew-ing was something that he “just fi ddled with.”

“It’s actually become a pretty big project over the past fi ve or six years,” Adams said. “I’ve been talking with a buddy of mine about getting some people together and starting a local brewery.”

One of Adams’ oldest hobbies is playing music. After playing drums in a metal band from Hou-ma, he now plays in a zydeco rock band with some of his high school friends from Larose.

“The original idea was for me to play drums,” Adams said. “I re-cently acquired a Cajun accordion, and I’m trying to learn how to play that to see how it goes.”

see ADAMS page 15

“I’m like a big sponge—always ready to learn something.”

— Leith Adams


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AndreSmith

Student wants to change the world one meal at a time

photo by Bridget Mire

Andre Smith, freshman from Baton Rouge, looks at a photo of one of his favorite comic book characters, Batman, on Tuesday in Ellender Hall.

By Zavier DavisReporter

Moving from the state’s capi-tol to Thibodaux, Andre Smith, dietetics freshman from Baton Rouge, brings a vibrant persona to Nicholls.

Smith’s favorite color changes every day along with the color of his hair. His mohawk color ranges from orange, red, blue, and now, green. He changes his hair color to go with every season, and he plans for his next color to be pink.

Smith says that he wants to change the world’s eating habits one person at a time. He plans to make healthy food for people so there will not be any more cases of obesity and diabetes.

“It will stop people from having to run 10 miles to lose weight,” Smith said. “People can go eat a healthy snack and be done with weight problems.”

Q: What is the song that you are guilty of singing in the shower?

A: To be honest, I’ve sung “Party in the U.S.A.” by Miley Cyrus. It is a shower song. I have a playlist dedicated to showering.

Q: If you can be any super-hero, who would you be?

A: I would be the Green Lan-tern because he is green. And he’s black. But he’s white in the new

movie. Ryan Reynolds is a really beautiful man. It is going to be great.

Q: If you were president of the United States for a day, what would you do?

A: I would have a day dedi-cated to colors. Worldwide color day. People can wear their favor-

ite colors and lots of it. Q: What is the most memo-

rable moment in your life?A: Graduating high school. It is

so cliché, but I graduated and did not try hard to do it.

Q: What is your favorite movie?

A: The Resident Evil series. I

just bought all three for 13 dol-lars at Wal-Mart. I also got the new one. We watched all four the other night.

Q: If you had a TV show about you, who would you want to play your part?

A: The person would have to have a cool head shape to get the

mohawk right. It would be Boris Kodjoe. He is really cool, and he shoots zombies.

Q: What do you like to do in your spare time?

A: I like to comb my hair and listen to Pandora radio.

Q: What is your dream job?A: I would like to coordinate

fashion for people. People have nice clothes, but they just don’t know how to wear it.

Q: What is the best gift you have ever gotten?

A: I got my Nintendo Wii for Christmas from my parents. My favorite game to play is House of Dead. It’s an old arcade game where you save people and kill zombies. It is fun.

Q: If you could take away any subject from school, what would it be?

A: Math! I hate math. People do not use the quadratic formula in real life.

Q: What’s your favorite holi-day and why?

A: My favorite holiday is Hal-loween. People get to dress up and pretend to be somebody else. They can have a different persona and be who ever they want to be.

Q: What is something weird about you that not a lot of peo-ple would know about?

A: I can make my tongue look like a three-leaf clover.


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Students give opinions on food court

photo by Bridget Mire

David Dugas, marketing senior from Pierre Part, waits as Original Burger Company employee Amanda Davis prepares his order on Wednesday in the Student Union.

By Donny BlanchardStaff Writer

The new food court in the Don-ald G. Bollinger Memorial Stu-dent Union was completed for the students at the beginning of the spring semester, and students are beginning to express their opin-ions on the new changes.

The new food court consists of the already implemented Sub Connection with three new addi-tional options.

While some students enjoy the new options, others are not happy about the changes.

Alaina Muffoletto, freshman from Jeanerette, said, “I don’t like that they got rid of Chik-Fil-A. I would change the food places be-cause I’ve never heard of these places, and I don’t like the Sub Connection.”

Emily Bourg, art junior from

Larose explained what she likes and dislikes.

“I really like the Bayou Pizza and Pasta,” Bourg said. “The meatballs and spaghetti are deli-cious, the prices a little cheaper would be nice.”

Kelley Robertson, culinary sophomore from Baltimore, had a few good things to say about the new food court.

“I like the chicken tenders and the onion rings from the Origi-nal Burger Company,” Robertson said. “They could have gotten rid of the Sub Connection though. We already have subs in the caf. Other than that, I like the changes.”

Kimberly Gipson, culinary sophomore from Donaldsonville, compared the food to the cafete-ria’s food.

“I like the pizza,” Gipson said. “It’s better than the one in the caf.”

Gipson went on to say that she also thinks that the school could have gotten rid of the Sub Con-nection.

“I like the changes to the union, but I wish we still had the Selona Grill,” Joslynn Guarisco, mass communication sophomore from Morgan City, said. “That burger place was awesome. The Bayou Pizza and Pasta place is pretty good, and I kind of miss Chik-Fil-A.”

Gaurisco also said that she likes the Colonel’s Retreat because they serve beer.

Adam LeBlanc, freshman from Raceland, had nothing but good things to say about the changes.

“I like the new food court,” Leblanc said. “I feel like I have a lot more healthier choices. I feel like, with money in question here, they are spending it well when it comes to refreshments.”

ADAMS continued from page 13

Adams said that the band al-ready has fi ve original songs but does not plan to go very far.

“If something happens with it, that would be cool, but we all considered being just a fair band and play at things like the Swamp Stomp,” Adams said.

Every student who has taken one of Adams’ classes knows that he sometimes brings his pets to class. Adams owns three snakes, three cats and two bearded dragons. He

also keeps a wooden cage in his of-fi ce that once held his pet iguana.

“He got sick and died right be-fore the semester started,” Adams said. “I actually made the cage, so woodworking is another hobby that I’ve started with.”

The cage houses several potted plants and a few turtles that, ac-cording to Adams, “just chill.”

“Now I’m probably going to just let the plants take over,” Adams said. “I may get a couple of cha-

meleons later on.”Although he is a teacher now,

Adams said that he plans to even-tually get his doctorate degree.

“I’ve tossed it around a few times, but it just hasn’t happened yet,” Adams said. “I consider my-self a lifelong learner. It’s prob-ably why I got into beer making and fi xing old Volkswagens. I’ve never done either of them. I’m like a big sponge—always ready to learn something.”


Students share their favorite classesBy Preston Stock

Reporter

With the large variety of courses that Nicholls has to of-fer, some students fi nd it easy to distinguish their favorite classes from others.

While many students may suffer from glossophobia, fear of public speaking, Demetri Mcgee, fresh-man from Waggaman, overcame his fear and now Speech 101 is his favorite class.

“It helps shy students get to know new people and helps peo-ple get over the fear of talking in front of an audience,” Mcgee said.

Abigail Leblanc, freshman from New Iberia, said that Western Civ-

ilizations 102 is her favorite class since she has been at Nicholls.

“I have it with Kathy Dugas,” Leblanc said. “She makes history interesting for a change.”

Deeper into his major, Shane Smith, elementary education sophomore from New Orleans,

enjoys Education 441, otherwise known as Multicultural Education for Teachers.

“My professor, Dr. Hypolite, prepares us for teaching in a di-verse society,” Smith said. “It is nice to just converse with fellow education majors and see how di-verse we are, which ties in nicely with the class.”

Kiala Singleton, family and con-sumer science junior from Houma,

said her favorite class at Nicholls is FACS 131, Helping Individuals and Families, with Monica On-cale.

“We did not have to just read stuff from the book and take a test on it. She gave us examples and scenarios that she faced in her

career,” Singleton said. “I really think she is the best teacher at this school.”

Abby Mayfi eld, dietetics senior from Slidell, enjoys HPED 219, Martial Arts I, with James Ellis, because it is an exciting way to exercise rather than having a gym membership.

“I always wanted to learn mar-tial arts and never had the chance as a child,” Mayfi eld said.

“It is nice to just converse with fellow education majors and see how diverse we are,

which ties in nicely with the class.”

— Shane Smith

What do you want to read about? Add your ideas to the Lagniappe Message Board on

www.thenichollsworth.com.

Culture shock!


Sociology instructor Deborah Moorhead leads a discussion entitled “Slices of the African-American Experience” last week in Le Bijou Theater. Moorhead’s Sociology 204 class hosted the event.


the nicholls worth staff

opinion policy

Editorials are based on the majority opinion of a seven-member board. Opinions expressed in letters and columns are those of the writer and not necessarily those of The Nicholls Worth. Letters to the editor are encouraged and ac-cepted at the discretion of the editor. Letters should be fewer than 300 words, typed and should include author’s name, classification, major and telephone number. Faculty and staff should include their title and department. Longer letters may be accepted as guest columns. Anonymous letters will not be printed. The Nicholls Worth reserves the right to edit all letters for grammar, obscenity, accuracy and poor taste. Letters are due at 4 p.m. Monday, the week of publication. Letters can be delivered to the Student Publications building, E-mailed to [email protected] or sent to: The Nicholls Worth Editor, Student Publications, P.O. Box 2010, Thibodaux, La., 70310.

mailing information

Nicholls Worth is published weekly for the Nicholls State University community, except be-tween semesters and exams. The subscription rate is $15 per year. Periodical postage paid at Thi-bodaux, LA (USPS 390-460). One paper is free. Additional copies can be purchased for 50 cents. The newspaper office is located on Ardoyne Drive on the Nicholls State University campus. For more information call the Office of Stu-dent Publications at (985) 448-4259.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes toNicholls WorthP.O. Box 2010

Thibodaux, LA 70310

State budget may cut library resourcesAt the heart of every university is its

library.Perhaps the one place most students

hate to be but can’t seem to stay away from is being threatened by, you guessed it, budget cuts.

What else is new? So the library will have another cut-back on paper and ink. Prices for printing will be raised. So what?

Here’s what: there’s more.

What is the one thing students and faculty alike use the library for? Re-search. And pretty soon, the library’s databases may no longer be there. Interlibrary loans will not exist, be-cause we will no longer have a way to easily contact other universities for their materials.

Though most people don’t think about it, databases and interlibrary loans are what we depend on. Who looks up a book anymore? You’re more likely to go online and re-search the thou-sands of articles available there instead, only grabbing books when a certain pro-fessor requires at least two for your paper.

But those options are only available through LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network, which is, of course, paid for by the state.

LOUIS is located on Louisiana State University’s campus. LOUIS staff mem-bers are the ones who put all of the in-

formation we use every semester on the internet for about 47 Louisiana colleges, universities, museums and more. It was es-tablished in 1992 by the Board of Regents and receives about $3 million in grants and fees every year, according to the LOUIS Web site, www.lsu.edu/ocs/louis.

Obviously, this very important re-source costs a bit of our state’s budget to maintain. It is not free for participants, and Nicholls does pay to use it. To have a similar system of our own would cost even more than it currently does, since the price would not be shared with over 40 other members.

This isn’t the state’s first budget cut, and LOUIS has been threatened before.

Just last year, LOUIS would have been cut if not for fund raising added to the small budget they still had.

This year, LOUIS will probably not be so lucky.

Students, faculty, staff and the com-munity need to once again raise their

red flags and get on the ball. The Board of Regents has not committed any amount to the funding of LOUIS so far, and it is likely to be endan-gered again with the newest string of budget cuts.

LOUIS got lucky last year, but it may not happen again.

People need to start send-ing letters (yes, again) to the Board of Re-gents members and staff, state elected officials and governor Bobby Jindal, asking them to reinstate fund-ing of LOUIS.

Without it, the quality of

students will decline as they fall back on older, inadequate research methods and future students look for schools with bet-ter resources.

And though Jindal has said that higher education needs to learn to be more ef-ficient with less “unnecessary” funding of underused resources, how are students expected to be more efficient without the one, most-used resource they all rely on?

telephone directoryeditor

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editorialnicholls

editor Katelyn Thibodeauxmanaging editor Kristen Fisackerlydesign and layout editor Lindsay Duetonline/design and layout editor Ashley Faltermanlagniappe editor Ross Landrysports editor Jake Martincopy editor Nicole Theriotcopy editor Rebecca Plaisancestaff writer Melissa Holmanstaff writer Kami Ellenderstaff writer Donny Blanchard

staff writer Katie O’Harasports writer Carolyn Noblesports writer Adrian Bourgeoisreporter Preston Stock reporter Zavier Davisreporter David Guidryphoto editor Bridget Mirephotographer Meagan Gervaisphotographer Patrick Boudreauxphotographer Maryna Fowler

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It has been said by the SGA president that even if all of the Nicholls student population signs my petition, it will not be put to a student vote because of a tech-nicality of the wording due to the SGA’s by-laws.

I would like everyone to know the policy is now in full effect and administrators will begin dis-ciplinary actions against those caught smoking; so please voice your opposition to the policy, but do not practice civil disobedience because it will only harm your University record.

We need to try to remind our

SGA leaders that they represent the student body and they should also represent our interests. At the same time we need to show the ad-ministration on our campus we are responsible as students, and our smoking population can follow regulations. It is only when we can prove this that we can follow the rules that our administration will begin to realize we can be trusted to implement a designated smok-ing area policy.

However, I still ask that our SGA leadership not disregard the spirit of the petition I led and still put this issue to a student vote to

allow for the best possible gauge on student feelings toward this is-sue. While they are not required to do this, I believe this is in the best interest of the student body, and we can work together to find a common solution to this problem.

Furthermore, I ask for the hy-pocrisy of our elected officials and our administration come to an end. The hypocrisy of which I am speaking is that of the reasoning for this policy being for the over-all health of our student, faculty, and staff. The hypocrisy lies in the simple proven fact that six of the top 10 killers in our country are re-

lated to citizens being over-weight or obese, and our administration has not taken this issue seriously, even though it is a more prevalent killer than smoking.

I have proposed measures to our Food Advisory Administration that were immediately shot down by the SGA representatives pres-ent as wrong for our student body and unnecessary.

So I challenge our SGA repre-sentatives and executive board to re-evaluate the direction that we are going with our student popula-tion.

Are we going to eliminate one

problem while we leave a larger and more deadly issue untouched? Are we going to continue the prac-tice of us verse them politics? Or, are we going to work together, in-cluding those who disagree with us on a regular basis, so we may arrive at the solutions that are best for the current and future students of Nicholls State University, not the administration which time and time again have taken a good idea and added negative provisions to those very ideas?

Sincerely,Peter Jenkins

Student asks Nicholls to consider all healthy options

Check out the MS awareness table in theStudent Union next Monday-Wednesday.

With the release of the new Nicholls Worth Web site, some people have decided to vent their feelings about various subjects through the open comment section under each story.

While we encourage people to comment on stories, there comes a time when people’s comments should be kept to themselves.

Cyber bullying and libel have been posted on the comments sec-tion of various stories on the Web site by students and alumni. These comments have been removed be-cause we have zero tolerance for bullying, and libel is a crime.

Article comments should not be used to call people out on their sexual preferences, to call names, to disgrace the University or for any other purpose besides voicing an appropriate opinion about the presented subject matter.

We do not want to completely delete the comment section be-cause some people feel the need to

abuse the opportunity. However, if the problem stays consistent, we will disable the comment feature.

This is a serious matter that should not be taken lightly.

These comments are a poor rep-resentation of Nicholls students and alums. To think that college students can be reduced to child-ish and hurtful name calling in the face of opposition is ridiculous.

We at The Nicholls Worth ac-cept and cherish constructive criti-cism.

We encourage students and alumnus to voice their opinions. We want them to write letters to the editor and comment on our sto-ries. We only ask that they do so in a professional manner and with respect to fellow students.

Cyber bullying and libel are not acceptable.

Katelyn ThibodeauxEditor

the


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The Nicholls Players presentA Lesson Before Dying in March

Press Release

Ernest J. Gaines’ beloved nov-el will be given new life for one week only as the Nicholls Play-ers bring to the stage Romulus Linney’s A Lesson Before Dy-ing, a play developed for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s Southern Writers’ Project based on Gaines story of segregation and racism in the South.

Adapted closely from the Pu-litzer Prize-winning novel, A Lesson Before Dying is set in 1948 rural Louisiana and tells the story of two young men, both trying to break free of the chains that society has placed on them. This uniquely theatrical interpretation by Linney focuses on the struggles of the poor and oppressed to try and gain pride and dignity within a hostile and racist environment.

A young man is to be executed for a murder he probably did not commit, but in 1940s Louisiana, the question is not whether or not young Jefferson will be ex-ecuted but how he will face his death.

His godmother, Miss Emma, wants him to die a man and seeks the help of a reluctant young plantation schoolteacher, Grant Wiggins, to make sure Jefferson knows just who and what he rep-resents before he takes his final steps.

Bursting with life and free-dom, Grant is torn between his

desire to fly away from Louisi-ana with girlfriend Vivian and his duty to serve the people who gave him the life that he takes for granted. Their struggle through these final lessons is what creates the dramatic arc of this powerful play and novel.

The play stars Warren Snowden (last seen as Con-stantine in Big Love) as Grant Wiggins and Gary Baker as Jef-ferson. Also featured are Nich-olls students Amber Papillion as Vivian Baptiste, Nathan Eg-new as the unexpected ally Paul Bonin, Shalyn Calongne as the irascible Sheriff Guidry, and graduate student Maya Kennedy as Miss Emma. Assistant Direc-tor of the Student Union Mr. Melvin Harrison will play the outspoken Reverend Ambrose, Grant’s bitter enemy in the edu-cation of Jefferson.

Produced in special arrange-ment with Dramatists Play Ser-vice, the show will be held in the Talbot Theater. Tickets can be bought an hour before the show in the lobby area of Talbot Hall. Advance tickets can be pur-chased beginning March 14 in 102 Talbot Hall or by calling the Mass Communication Depart-ment office at 985-448-4586.

Advance sale group rates available for groups of 10 or more. Regular priced tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for student tickets with a val-id Nicholls ID.

MS research needs more fundsBy Ashley Falterman

and Jake MartinOnline Editor and Sports Editor

On June 2, 2010, Nicki Bou-dreaux, director of Student Publica-tions heard the words, “You have MS.”

After fi ghting with the symptoms for many years, Boudreaux had sus-picions that she had the disease, but hearing the diagnosis made it a real-ity.

Inspired by Boudreaux’s diagno-sis with Multiple Sclerosis, Student Publications is joining together with other groups across campus to raise awareness about MS next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in the Stu-dent Union.

MS is an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system that affects 400,000 Americans and 2.5 million people worldwide. Every hour in the United States, someone is diagnosed with MS.

According to Adrienne Bourgeois, The Nicholls Worth’s advertising manager and public relations direc-tor, “The event is long over due.”

“There had been more and more people diagnosed with MS in this community and people need to be aware of the symptoms,” Bourgeois said.

MS interrupts the fl ow of infor-mation from the brain to the body and eventually stops movement of the muscles. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis.

“From the research I have done, the symptoms usually start in early adulthood, which is the college de-mographic. It is pivotal that we bring awareness to the campus,” Bour-geois said.

“Some students might be having MS symptoms, but are writing them off as results of college life.”

Although there is no cure for MS, advances in research and treatment are made possible through fundrais-ers and special events such as the National MS Walk, which will be held on March 26 in New Orleans.

“If we can help bring awareness to the Nicholls campus and raise mon-ey for the National MS Society, we would being killing two birds with one stone,” Bourgeois said.

“Of course, our motives are com-pelled by our love for Nicki, but MS is rapidly growing in the community and The Nicholls Worth sees this as a perfect opportunity to help raise awareness for a great cause.”

Next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, there will be a table set up in the Student Union with infor-

mation regarding MS symptoms, treatments and ways that people can get involved in helping to fi nd a cure for MS.

According to Bourgeois, the stu-dents of Student Publications are al-ready wearing MS bracelets in sup-port of Boudreaux.

“We will be selling orange MS awareness bracelets on Monday, and all proceeds will benefi t the National MS society,” Bourgeois said. “There will also be a sign-up sheet for peo-ple who are interested in joining Stu-dent Publications at the MS Walk in New Orleans.”

On Monday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., Raising Canes in Thibodaux will donate 15 percent of their sales of those who mention National MS Society when they order.

Tuesday, students will have a chance to feel some of the MS symp-toms through special simulations. Also, The Nicholls Worth will have a bake sale to raise money for the National MS society.

On Wednesday, there will be an-other bake sale with goods donated by various organizations across cam-pus with proceeds benefi ting the Na-tional MS society.

Come out to learn more and help raise awareness and fi nd a cure for MS.

the nicholls worth

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