Women’s basketball coach Van Chancellor will dress like Elvis if students fill the PMAC when the Lady Tigers play Middle Tennessee next Wednesday.Chancellor enthusiastically kicked off the next to last Student Government Senate meeting expounding on the Senate the importance of showing support for the Lady Tiger basketball season in hopes of winning more games and attracting tournaments to the PMAC. Chancellor — armed with free T-shirts — told the Senate he would return dressed as Elvis Presley if SG helped him fill the PMAC.SG Director of Athletics Melissa Hart told the Senate the Maravich Maniacs section during men’s basketball games will no longer have seats. The section will still have tiered rows, but students will have to stand.Hart said a lounge area will be available to Maravich Maniacs with free food while they wait before each men’s basketball game.Hart also announced the first 500 students attending the men’s basketball National Invitational Tournament games Monday and Tuesday will get into the game free because of contributions from LSU Athletics and men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson. The free tickets will be distributed beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Monday and either 3:30 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. Tuesday depending on which game the Tigers play in, Hart said. The Senate also passed Resolution 11 which officially voiced the Senate’s opinion there is a parking problem on week nights in the UREC area. The bill’s intention is getting a dialog started on solving the problem, said Andy Palermo, University Center for Advising and Counseling.The bill was controversial among the Senate because some Senators felt it shouldn’t be passed because it didn’t outline any solutions and merely voiced the Senate’s opinion there is a problem. Senator Amanda Gammon felt it was an obvious point there was a parking problem, so therefore the resolution is moot.Palermo said because the resolution has been passed, he will set up a meeting between UREC, Transportation and SG officials to talk about solutions to parking problems. Once some concrete solutions are reached, Palermo said he would bring the possible solutions back to the Senate for feedback. Vice Provost Astrid Merget unveiled a campus-wide feedback system as the University begins planning its flagship agenda for the next decade.Students can provide feedback concerning the goals of the new flagship agenda through the Office of Academic Affairs Web site. The feedback will be anonymously conveyed to the University Planning Council and incorporated into the planning of the new agenda.”We can’t go any further with planning without input from staff and faculty and students,” Merget said.Merget unveiled the stages in which the new agenda will be planned. According to preliminary plans, the provost will hold forums regarding the planning during this month and December. Merget said the council has preliminary plans to have a draft of the new agenda by February 2010. The new draft will be debated at a series of town hall meetings in March and April 2010, and a final draft will be presented to the LSU Board of Supervisors in May.Merget said the two main goals of the first flagship agenda — which was designed to reach to 2010 — have been completed in the University attaining a top-tier status and being recognized by the state as the flagship institution of Louisiana.—-Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]
Van Chancellor promises costume
November 12, 2009