NEWS

Hill Farm relocation planned for future

Horticulture students concerned Hill Farm Teaching Facility will be moved can rest easy, at least for the moment.
Bill Eskew, facility development director and head of the campus’s Master Plan, said conversations about the ultimate location for Hill Farm is ongoing, but the plans anticipate a move within 10 to 15 years.
“The latest review of the Master Plan states that it appears there will be a need to relocate the Hill Farm at a future date,” Eskew said.
LSU established Hill Farm in 1934 as a 40-acre land plot.
Hill Farm’s site does not meet long-term space needs, Eskew said.
“We’re going to have some other activities and other buildings and programs literally croaching upon that site,” Eskew said.
The need to develop a road between Lakeshore Drive and the proposed Corporation Canal Drive also would cause Hill Farm to move, he said.
David Himelrick, head of the department of horticulture, said the department is opposed to moving Hill Farm and believes the road is unnecessary.
“I think keeping the Hill Farm right where it is would benefit the campus much more in the future than moving it,” Himelrick said. “We hope to make it a much more public, educational facility.”
Himelrick said the Horticulture lab would better serve the students, alumni and the University by staying in its current location.
“I think by allowing us to stay where we are and expanding our activities, we’re going be able to do a better job of that than putting up another parking lot or road that no one is going to use,” Himelrick said.
Last January, Himelrick said the University assured him Hill Farm would not be moved. While interviewing for his current position in Ag Center Chancellor William Richardson’s office, Himelrick said he received a guarantee from LSU System President William Jenkins that Hill Farm would stay.
Eskew said the executive oversight committee, consisting of Jenkins, three chancellors and two members of the Board of Supervisors, will decide Hill Farm’s ultimate location.
Eskew said Hill Farm’s relocation depends on numerous issues, but if it needs to be moved to benefit the rest of the campus, it will.
Eskew said he met with the students and faculty of Hill Farm and offered different options to them.
“They [the horticulture department] were very adamant about not wanting to relocate whatsoever,” Eskew said.
Himelrick said the Master Plan developers spoke with them but are not interested in the department’s views on moving Hill Farm.
“They know exactly what we think and they’re choosing to disregard it,” Himelrick said. “They’re doing something different than what we’ve proposed.”
Horticulture professor Carl Motsenbocker said the Hill Farm move would hurt students who attend class there.
“We need to have that building for class,” Motsenbocker said. “Students have to be able to be within 10 minutes from their other classes.”
Student Senate Speaker Jay Buller said the senate passed a resolution last October affirming to keep Hill Farm in its current location. Buller said he wants students to have their voices heard in the planning stages.
“You have to ask the students. If they don’t want it to move, then we’ll fight and do everything we can to make sure it stays,” he said.
Eskew said an open-campus, open-community meeting will be held in the fall for students to discuss questions and concerns.
In the updated Master Plan, Eskew said certain infrastructure, such as roads and road closings, will be permanent.
“We expect to have the work being contracted under the Master Plan to be done by middle to late fall,” Eskew said.

Jason Martin

Meeting discusses budget allocations to fund state schools

The Board of Regents discussed Thursday how to spend last-minute funding allocations from the state legislature.
Commissioner of Higher Education Joe Savoie spoke about the dispersement of $6.4 million in the general operating budget set aside for "performance and quality improvement" of state schools. An additional $8.5 million in one-time capital outlay funds also will go to this fund, and the entire fund will finance projects such as teacher education redesign.
One million dollars will fund graduate student stipends to attract doctoral students to the state’s universities. Priority will be given to minority students and former Louisiana residents who may have gone to undergraduate school out of state, Savoie said.
Additional money will fund enrollment management projects as recommended by Noel Levitz, the firm that developed the Master Plan of growth and improvement for the state’s colleges.
"It is important that our institutions, as they change from a culture of open admissions into selective admissions, have the capacity to handle that," Savoie said.
Noel-Levitz is in the process of identifying "gaps" in schools’ admissions capacity and will make recommendations to the board.
The board also set aside $1 million to do a comprehensive analysis of every facility on each state campus. The assessment’s objective, Savoie said, is to evaluate the needs of each campus’s buildings and facilities instead of funding projects as they come along.
"While we have confidence in all the projects that have been funded or supported to make a contribution, we have not until this point had a comprehensive approach statewide to capital investment strategies," Savoie said.
North Carolina performed a similar assessment of its state schools for $1.5 million, and Savoie said it is the only other state to perform such an analysis.
In other funding discussions, Savoie said $6.8 million in new tobacco tax proceeds will fund a cancer research center in New Orleans. The legislature raised tobacco taxes by 12 cents per pack this session.
The center will be a joint venture with the LSU Health Sciences Center and the Tulane Health Sciences Center. Another $4.65 million will go to the research center to create anti-smoking mass media programs. And, another $4.6 million will create a similar cancer research center at the LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport.
In other business, the board approved changes to its policy for state funding of athletic programs. The amendments provide for tightened "institutional control," giving the chief executive officer of a university responsibility over the athletic compliance officer. Salaries for the compliance officers now must come from the school’s operating budget and not from the athletic department in order to prevent conflicts of interest.
Other changes included a policy of academic integrity, requiring all institutions to maintain appropriate academic accreditation to participate in athletic programs. The amended policy also forces institutions to implement "gender equity" principles by providing up to $125,000 more than the maximum state funding for women’s athletic programs.
"This is a more comprehensive policy," said Marvin Roubique, deputy commissioner for Finance and Facilities. "It is not just a spending policy."
Also in other business, the board’s newest student member, Steven Sumbler, took the oath of office. Sumbler is the Student Government President at Southern University and will serve a one-year term on the board.

Kayla Gagnet

Summer months bring thoughts of sunshine, relaxation and the beach. For many, these dreams include a dark, bronze tan.
Natalie Stratton, a psychology sophomore, does not like to sit outside for hours to get a tan, so she tans two or three times a week in a tanning bed.
“It tans you quicker than tanning outside for 20 minutes,” Stratton said.
Also, outdoor tanning is harmful and can cause various types of skin cancer. However, recent research shows tanning beds are as bad as regular sunbathing, and sunless tanning booths offer a new alternative for people who want a quick tan without the radiation.
“Sunless tanners are the safest tan you can get,” said Karrie Pitre, a nationally registered certified medical assistant at the Baton Rouge Clinic.
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, there are two types of ultraviolet radiation, Ultraviolet A and Ultraviolet B. UVB rays are associated with sunburns and UVA rays are tanning rays.
The sun emits both types of rays. Many tanning beds use UVA rays claiming they are safer than outdoor tanning or using a UVB lamp, but studies show this is not true.
“Any form of ultraviolet light is hazardous to your health,” Pitre said. “There is no difference between artificial sunlight and outdoor tanning.”
According to the National Cancer Institute, using artificial tanning beds can contribute to the two most common types of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. These types of studies are making self-tanning techniques and the new tanning booths a better prospect for tanners.
The study, conducted by Margaret Karagas of Dartmouth Medical School, found people who reported using tanning devices such as tanning beds or lamps, were 2.5 times more likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma and 1.5 times more likely to develop basal cell carcinoma than those who did not use tanning devices.
According to the AAD, tanning can cause three types of skin cancer.
Basal cell carcinoma is the most common type of skin cancer. It usually appears on the upper part of the body as a small, fleshy bump.
Squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common form of skin cancer. It usually is found on the rim of the ear, the face, the lips or the mouth and unlike basal cell, will develop into large masses. When properly treated, both basal cell and squamous cell have a 95 percent cure rate.
Malignant melanoma is the deadliest form of the three skin cancers. Melanoma begins in skins cells that produce a pigment called melanin. Melanin is the pigment that gives skin its tanned color. Melanoma can be cured if found and treated early.
These cancers are mainly found in Caucasians because dark skin is deeply pigmented and does not burn like light skin.
According to the AAD, sunless tanners contain a colorless sugar called dihydroxyacetone, known as DHA, that darkens the skin by staining it. It lasts about a week, giving the appearance of a tan without the ill effects of ultraviolet radiation.
While stores have offered self-tanners for years, they can be messy and come out streaky if applied incorrectly. But, a new phenomenon— sunless tanning booths—may be the answer.
Crystal Norwood, who works for Salon Tropics, said their tanning booths use a self-tanner rather than UV lights. The booth sprays self tanner onto the person and takes 45 seconds. The color develops within a few hours and lasts about a week.
Norwood said the booth is safe, even for pregnant women.
The booth has been around for two years, but it is just starting to get popular, Norwood said.
“It’s the same concept as bottles, except it has no streaking,” Norwood said.

Stephanie DeMoor