A Macbook Pro and a parking pass to gets through Easy Streets could be just a short video entry away for University students, thanks to the Forever LSU Campaign.The Student Video Contest, announced last week in a broadcast e-mail, is part of Forever LSU’s new student-driven campaign set to launch in the spring.Students who want to participate in the contest must create a 2-3 minute video using a mobile device with video to tell students how they can contribute to Forever LSU and, in turn, the future of the University.”I really hope that the students take the opportunity to participate,” said Beverly Major, director of the Forever LSU Campaign, the University’s fundraising organization. “I want to see their creativity.”Submissions that meet the requirements will be featured on the University’s YouTube page and will be judged by a panel of students, faculty and staff members.The top three finalists will receive a 32-gig iPod Touch and mentoring from Emmy Award-winning producer, director and University alumnus Robert Zimmerman.Those finalists will then gain access to high-tech equipment to reshoot their videos and edit them down to one minute.The grand prize is a 13-inch, 2.53GHz Macbook Pro and one Central “B” parking pass and Easy Streets wand for one year.Major said the prizes were determined by student focus groups.Submissions will be accepted between Nov. 2-16. Students will vote on the top three videos, and the winner will be announced and featured on the score board during the LSU-Kentucky men’s basketball game February 6, according to Forever LSU’s Web site.”[The video] is saying, ‘I believe in LSU, and I believe in its mission, and I want to give back to my institution,'” Major said.The Forever LSU Campaign raised about $659 million to date, Major said. Its goal is to raise $750 million by 2010 as part of the University’s Flagship Agenda.Major said the money Forever LSU raises goes toward things like scholarships, professorships and buildings. The University’s $431 million operating budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year gets about 95 percent of its funding from the state, tuition and fees. The rest is from other sources, like private donations.But the state’s public colleges and universities are looking at a budget cut of about $150 million next fiscal year.”Private funding is essential in fulfilling LSU’s obligations and advancing its aspirations as an internationally recognized Flagship university,” Chancellor Michael Martin said in an e-mail to The Daily Reveille. “Private funding is central in our ability to attract and retain world class faculty through endowed chairs and professorships.”Because of private funding, the University will be able to build a new Business Education Complex and a new band hall, Martin said.The oak tree endowments, several laboratories, the Geology Field Camp, Cox Communications Academic Center and the Bo Campbell Auditorium, the Dalton Woods     Auditorium in the School of the Coast and Environment Building, some new buildings at the Rural Life Museum and the Lod Cook Alumni Center are all part of the University because of private funding.”Completing the Forever LSU campaign and redoubling our fundraising efforts beyond the campaign will benefit every member of the LSU family, current and future,” Martin said.- – – -Contact Kyle Bove at [email protected]