An improved relationship with the Old South Baton Rouge area could be crucial if the University plans to grow, Chancellor Michael Martin said. Fostering a symbiotic relationship between the University and Old South Baton Rouge was the subject of Martin’s annual community update breakfast Tuesday.”While we see a boundary between that neighborhood and the University, in reality there is none,” Martin said. “As we grow this institution, I believe it is clearly in the best interest of the student population and faculty and staff that has a neighborhood that serves them and that we serve well.”Brandon Smith, University community affairs liaison, who is the principal organizer for LSU Community University Partnership (LSU CUP) presented the department’s strategic plan for the next three to five years which involves getting the University and other city parties working together in the community.Combined with the current economic downturn, LSU CUP is working without federal Housing and Urban Development grants it received early in the decade.”Although we are in a difficult time in terms of our budget situation, sometimes those present themselves as opportunity to do great things with the bare necessities,” Smith said.An example Smith gave of working to revitalize the community without great funding is Martin’s ongoing Faith Tour in which Martin is visiting churches in the Old South Baton Rouge area.Martin visited the Living Word Church on Nicholson Drive last Sunday. He said he visited with the pastor and congregation to get a sense of how the relationship between the University and church can be better.”It’s more about finding out what are the issues here in the neighborhood,” Martin said. “A lot of that is public safety, lack of shopping and sort of a feeling of being isolated in the middle of the city. The second thing we ask is are there things we can do as an institution to make it better.”—–Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]