To see a video of Ryan Buxton explain his story, click here.Plans for celebrating the University’s sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary, are continuing at full speed as the celebration nears — despite a shake-up at the core of the Sesquicentennial Committee.
Committee co-chair Chuck Wilson said progress for the 2010 festivities will be unaffected by the departure of Rusty Jabour, former co-chair of the committee, from the University. Jabour parted ways with the University in late July when his position, vice chancellor of University relations, was eliminated as part of ongoing budget cuts.
Wilson praised the work Jabour had done.”Rusty’s leadership and engagement have really given the sesquicentennial planning a great start,” Wilson said. “My being co-chair was more of an honorary designation. Rusty and his staff really took the leadership role. He gave us a great foundation and brought plans to fruition.”
Jabour said he does not expect the committee to falter without him. He said the vision for the sesquicentennial is complete, and now the goal is realizing that vision within budget constraints — an objective bigger than any single member of the committee.
“These plans and designs are not based on any one person but on LSU and its anniversary,” Jabour said.
Wilson said he expects Chancellor Michael Martin to appoint a new co-chair to work alongside him. Because the sesquicentennial will be such a large University event, Wilson said the committee needs “several arms of the University” to work together and communicate.
Jabour’s job duties were assumed by Herb Vincent, senior associate athletic director, upon the elimination of the vice chancellor of University relations position. But Vincent said he will not be filling the vacant co-chair position on the Sesquicentennial Committee, despite his close involvement with the project.
Jabour will no longer be involved with planning sesquicentennial events but said he understands how plans may slightly change based on the University’s budget, especially after being affected by budget cuts himself. But Jabour said events were always planned to be scalable based on the University’s changing financial situation.
“Each event will be determined based on the budget and what is reasonable within certain parameters and constraints,” Jabour said.
Wilson said one such project that may change is LSU Day, a festival-like event tentatively scheduled for April 2010 meant to showcase every part of the University to the community. Planning regarding LSU Day has slowed, Wilson said, because of budget uncertainties. He said the size of the festival can be adjusted based on what money is available, but the first step is identifying those funds.
“We are discussing funding opportunities,” Wilson said. “The chancellor has called off furloughs for the time being because we have more money than we thought. The question is, do we have the money to bankroll LSU Day?”
Jabour said discussions have been ongoing with potential sponsors and University supporters who may be interested in underwriting events.
Other big sesquicentennial projects, like LSU Serves the World, a Web site dedicated to service in the University community, as well as a documentary film and book on the University’s past 150 years, are coming along on schedule, Wilson said.
The committee is also planning a sesquicentennial presence in all University events in 2010.
“We want to ‘sesquicentennialize’ the events that we have historically had in the past, like the Chancellor’s Day parade, LSU Salutes and Fall Fest,” Wilson said.
Wilson said as the anniversary gets closer, the committee is expanding and has already grown to more than 100 members.
“Communication is important, so as people show interest, we bring them into the committee,” Wilson said.
Jabour echoed the attitude of involving as many people as possible.
“We always had an open invitation for every aspect of campus to be involved,” Jabour said. “There’s something for everyone.”
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