Since its inception, the University has weathered the Civil War, Reconstruction, two World Wars and numerous budgetary challenges, as well as produced countless distinguished alumni.One hundred fifty years later, the University began looking at its past and committing to its future.University dignitaries, faculty, staff and students gathered at Memorial Tower on January 19 to kick off the University sesquicentennial and outline the celebration’s goals — to reflect, celebrate and commit.”We’re here to celebrate not the past but celebrate the future and recognize the past got us here,” said Chancellor Michael Martin.Martin and former U.S. Congressman W. Henson Moore III mentioned the importance of recommitting to the future of the University as it finds itself on a slippery financial slope.”If we’re going to stay a flagship and top-tier university, we’re going to have to individually commit and create a community of giving back,” Moore said.But Moore said he is confident the University’s future will be prosperous.”As long as there is a Louisiana … there will be an LSU,” he said. “This institution really is forever.”The Sesquicentennial Committee is feeling the effects of budget cuts as well. Co-chair Chuck Wilson told The Daily Reveille last August the committee was discussing funding opportunities to allow for events to commence as planned after budget cuts threatened them.As a result, several private sponsors have come on board to underwrite sesquicentennial celebrations. The sponsors, including AT&T, BlueCross BlueShield of Louisiana, Campus Federal Credit Union, Raising Cane’s, Baton Rouge Coca Cola Bottling Company, Entergy and ExxonMobil, were introduced at the launch event.The sponsors were courted by the University Relations marketing staff, said Herb Vincent, associate vice chancellor of that department. Vincent said the private funds made it possible to celebrate the sesquicentennial at the proper scale.”It’s not a matter of whether we scale back [the plans] or not,” Vincent said. “It’s whether we can put on a proper scale celebration, and we can do that with the funds we secured.”The sponsors provided private funding for the 150th, but some sesquicentennial subcommittees still had to rethink plans, said Iftekhar Rouf, chairman of the Sesquicentennial Student Subcommittee.”The donors and sponsors’ money is going to bigger committees and LSU,” he said. “Those programs are geared to draw everyone to LSU and say, ‘You should come to LSU for its traditions and academics.'”Some of those bigger projects include a documentary on the University’s history, which premiered March 10, a book titled “Treasures of LSU,” to be published in the fall, and LSU Day, which has likely been moved to the fall semester.Rouf said his committee didn’t mind scaling back celebrations in the University’s current financial climate.”We don’t want to have lavish programs when we’re losing faculty,” Rouf said.The student subcommittee is still planning several upcoming events for the sesquicentennial, including a time capsule and a sesquicentennial ball during Homecoming.”Students need to celebrate because we’re reaching a milestone,” Rouf said. “This is our alma mater, and it’s something we will remember for the rest of our lives.”——Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]