NEWS
Who got gov’t Gulf work?
SPORTS
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
UAM throttles Southern. pG. 5
Lady Gaga wins 8 VMAs. pG. 6
West, swift live up to hype
Weevils “boll” over jaguars
Contracts doled out to groups pG. 3
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
VOL. 56, ISSUE 6
SU chancellor grilled over drop By norman j. Dotson jr. diGest editor-iN-cHieF
“Big footsteps to walk in,” is the task that Chancellor Kofi Lomotey has in front of him according to Board of Supervisors Chairman Tony Clayton at Friday’s board meeting. With enrollment increasing at Southern-New Orleans and projected growth at SouthernShreveport, SUBR is the only campus throughout the system failing to make progress. Some board members attribute this drop in enrollment at the system’s flagship school to its leadership. According to media reports, SUBR’s fall enrollment is 300 students less than the enrollment this time a year ago. Lomotey pointed to statewide budget cuts to higher education, along with concerns from potential students about tougher admission
standards as the reason for the four-percent dip. “I must express my absolute disgust in the fact that you (Lomotey) have been here three years sir and we have seen no improvement in this one particular area,” said board member Pat McGee. “Without students, we cannot survive. Whenever I engage young African American kids I ask them if they have considered Southern and it’s amazing how many college aged kids say no.” Even though Lomotey and his team have come up with partnership deals with schools in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, many board members feel that this just isn’t enough. However, Clayton felt that with the limited amount of financial resources entitled to him, Lomotey is doing the best he can do for the campus. “We don’t have any money.
DiGest file photo
sUBr chancellor Kofi Lomotey took some heat during Friday’s sU Board of supervisors meeting as the board discussed sUBr’s 300-student enrollment drop.
Money just isn’t flowing the way it used to flow,” said Clayton. “We have to look at the big picture here, we have to start from the top, and we have start giving and giving and raising money to help support these
campuses. So there isn’t one person we can point the finger to in this situation.” Southern decided against tightening admission standards this fall at the last minute. Lomotey said those increases
will go into effect next fall instead to give high school students and their parents more time to prepare. Fewer employees in financial aid, admissions and recruiting offices also have hurt, he said.
BP claim czar considers making key concession By harry r. WeBer associated press writer
HOUMA, La. — The administrator of the $20 billion compensation fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill said Monday he might waive the current requirement that wages earned from helping out in the cleanup be subtracted from people’s spill claims. Doing so would be a key concession following strong criticism from residents about the claims process. Meanwhile Monday, BP crews resumed drilling the final 50 feet of a relief well meant to allow them to permanently seal the blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico. John Wright, who’s leading drilling efforts aboard the Development Driller III vessel, told The Associated Press in an e-mail that the operation had resumed. BP said crews started drilling at 1:40 p.m. CDT. BP and the government have said it would take about four days from the time crews started
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drilling again to intersect the blown-out well. Once the relief well intersects the blown-out well, crews will pump in mud and cement to permanently seal the well. At the town hall meeting in Houma, La., fund czar Kenneth Feinberg told hundreds of people who packed a convention center that he is reconsidering the requirement that cleanup wages be subtracted from claims. He said he understands the loud concerns raised by people who are still hurting. “I’m taking it under advisement,” Feinberg said. “The last time I said, no way, I’m deducting it. Now, it’s open for discussion.” The April 20 rig explosion killed 11 workers and led to 206 million gallons of oil spewing from BP PLC’s undersea well into the Gulf of Mexico. The flow of crude was first stopped by a cap placed atop the well in midJuly. Glenn Poche, a 61-year-old shrimper from Lafitte, La., said
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after the town hall meeting with Feinberg that he felt like he had more questions than answers about why he only received a $600 emergency payment for six months. He said he was making thousands each month from his business before the waters he worked in were shut down because of the spill. “He gave me $3.30 a day to live on,” Poche said. “I can’t pay my bills.” Like other people at the forum, Poche said he believes it is unfair for claims evaluators to give payments based on 2009 wages when shrimp prices were lower last year than they have been in 2010. Feinberg told those gathered that several types of financial documents could be used to show income, not just 2009 tax returns. Feinberg also said he would consider giving people in certain situations a supplemental payment after their emergency payment. Currently, people are getting an emergency payment and then, down the road, a lump-
sum final payment. The final payment requires recipients agree not to sue BP. “I will come back again and again to face the music, hear the criticisms, listen to the concerns,” Feinberg said. One after another, shrimpers, boat workers and other victims came up to a microphone and yelled their demands at Feinberg. Some cursed. Others shouted insults. Their concerns included the slow payment process, the fact that some people in similar situations are receiving vastly different payments and the bureaucracy they have to go through to get their money. Feinberg said the fund has paid out $150 million since he took over processing claims three weeks ago. Before that, BP was in charge of paying out claims, and it paid nearly $400 million. Feinberg said his team hoped to finish processing remaining emergency payments in the next 30 days.
As of Monday, there were roughly 12,000 claims for emergency payments that have proper documentation that have yet to be paid, Feinberg said. Another 12,000 unpaid claims have inadequate documents. Five hundred claims filed are ineligible for money from the fund because they deal with impact from the oil drilling moratorium, while roughly 1,000 claims appear to be fraudulent, Feinberg said. “I am doing the best I can,” Feinberg said, as the crowd grew louder. “And if the best is not good enough, I am sorry.” Later, when Feinberg said there were many people who still wanted to ask questions and he had only 10 minutes left to address them, one woman, in tears, shouted: “We have the rest of our lives.” Feinberg told The Associated Press after the event that within the next week to 10 days, Gulf residents will have another key question answered: How much he is earning for his services.
CAMPUS BRIEFS...............2 STATE & NATION................4 A & E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 NEWS.............................3 SPORTS......................5 VIEWPOINTS......................7 U N I V E R S I T Y ,
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THE SOUTHERN DIGEST 4 - DAY WEATHER OUTLOOK WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 15
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Campus Briefs TODAY minorities in aGricUltUre, natUral resoUrces anD relateD sciences
Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences is currently accepting membership applications for Fall 2010 and Spring 2011. Science major? Agriculture major? Family and consumer science major? We want you. Apply now at Fisher Hall, Room 102. Ask about our annual national conference. For more information, contact Allison Johnson at 225.771.3660. Union stUDent GoVerninG BoarD
As a student enrolled in Southern University, you are eligible to join the Smith-Brown Memorial Union Student Governing Board. As a board member, you will be able to vote, hold office and exercise your ability to and host events at the union. There are no chapter dues or operation expenses. We invite you to come by and meet our staff, and give valuable information on the boards duties. If you have further questions about the governing board, please feel free to contact either Vanessa Toussant or Andrew Jackson at 225.771.2608 or stop by Room 210 or 213 in the union. sU men’s Golf team
The Southern University men’s golf team will be holding tryouts. For more information, contact
THURSDAY, SEPT. 16
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coach Huston Williams at 225.771.4024 or go to Room 133 in the A.W. Mumford Field House. carDs of thanKs
The family of the late Kevin Lamar “Dean” Jefferson wishes to thank everyone who attended the recent funeral services, and expresses their sincere appreciation for the support they received from family, friends and the community. The Jefferson family extends its gratitude to the faculty and staff of Southern University, and to all who have given their time and sympathies during this time of bereavement. career DeVelopment WorKshops
Southern University’s Business and Industry Cluster invites all students to attend its Fall 2010 Development Workshops. The workshops will take place during Career Week today. The topics include the following: •Corporate Ettiquette: 10 a.m.-11 a.m. at Stewart Hall’s Lawless Auditorium; Effie Durst of Dow Chemical presenting •Interviewing Tips: 11 a.m.-noon at Room 222 T.T. Allain; Stephen Pierre of Dow Chemical presenting •Successful Resume Tips: 1 p.m.-2 p.m. at Lawless Auditorium; Kenneth Heyward of Johnson & Johnson presenting •P.I.E. (Performance, Image, Exposure): 2 p.m.-3 p.m. at Lawless Auditorium; Danny
FRIDAY, SEPT. 17
Address: City/State/Zip: Daytime Phone: (
SATURDAY, SEPT. 18
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Marsh of Johnson & a student empowerment Johnson presenting. series to teach college students to take the lead on tobacco and secondhand liVeteXt sUBscription smoke policy change on coDe DistriBUtion The LiveText their campus. The event will be subscription codes are available to first-time Saturday, Sept. 18 from 9 freshmen and first-time a.m.-4 p.m. at the SUBR transfer students. Code Ag Center. distribution will take place SEPTEMBER 29 in the Title III Computer Lab, located in Room 155 of W.W. Stewart honDa campUs all-star Hall during the following challenGe dates and first letter of the Applications are now student’s last name: available for students to •Today: 9 a.m.-noon participate in the Honda (M-S); 1 p.m.-4 p.m. (T- Campus All-Star Challenge’s Z) campus tournament. •Wednesday: 9 a.m.The tournament will noon (T-Z); 1 p.m.-4 p.m. be held Wednesday, Sept. (M-S) 29 at the Smith-Brown •Thursday: 9 a.m.- Memorial Union. noon (G-L); 1 p.m.-4 p.m. The deadline for (A-F) applications is Monday, •Friday: 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; Sept. 27. For more all alphabets (A-Z) information, call If there are any LiveText 225.771.4845. questions, contact Ronnie L. Foster at 225.771.2394 maDDen 11 ps3 toUrnament or e-mail ronnie_foster@ The Smith-Brown subr.edu. Memorial Union Recreational Area will SEPTEMBER 16 hold a Madden NFL 11 for Playstation 3 tournament Wednesday, Sept. 29 BooK presentation Jonathan Roberts will be at Lacumba’s Play Pen. giving a presentation on his Registration will be from book “History of Charity Wednesday, Sept. 15, Hospitals in Louisiana” until Friday, Sept. 24. The Thursday, Sept. 16 from registration fee is $5. 2 p.m.-4 p.m. at John B. OCTOBER 1 Cade Library. For more information, contact the SU Bookstore at pinKie GorDon lane poetry 225.771.4330. contest All Southern University SEPTEMBER 18 students are invited to create and submit original poetry on the subject of stUDent leaDership their choice. DeVelopment series Each entrant can submit KicKoff no more than three poems The Louisiana TobaccoFree College Initiative and of no more than 35 lines Fresh Campus present for each poem. Content cannot be vulgar, offensive or contain profanity. Poems can be submitted via e-mail to pinkieglane@ cox.net or online at www. lib.subr.edu. All poems must be submitted by Oct. 1. Winners will be chosen by judges and published in the upcoming anthology. Winners will participate in a Nov. 12 reading at 2 p.m. at Southern University.
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sUite 1064 – t.H.Harris HaLL p.o. BoX 10180 – BatoN roUGe, La 70813 225.771.2231 pHoNe / 225.771.5840 FaX www.soUtHerNdiGest.coM issN: 1540-7276. copyright 2008 by the southern University office of student Media services. the southern diGest is written, edited and published by members of the student body at southern University and a&M college. all articles, photographs and graphics are property of the southern diGest and its contents may not be reproduced or republished without the written permission from the editor in chief and director of student Media services. the southern diGest is published twice-weekly (tuesday & Friday) with a run count of 6,000 copies per issue during the southern University - Baton rouge campus fall, spring semesters. the paper is free to students, staff, faculty and general public every tuesday & Friday morning on the sUBr campus. the southern diGest student offices are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday - Friday. the offices are located on the first floor of t.H. Harris Hall, suite 1064. the southern diGest is the official student newspaper of southern University and a&M college located in Baton rouge, Louisiana. articles, features, opinions, speak out and editorials do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the administration and its policies. signed articles, feedback, commentaries and features do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors, staff or student body. PUBLICATION ASSOCIATIONS the southern diGest is a member of the Black college communications association (Bcca), National association of Black Journalists (NaBJ), University - wire Network (U-wire), associated collegiate press (acp), college Media advisers association (cMa), society of professional Journalist (spJ), Full member of the associated press (ap) and the Louisiana press association (Lpa).
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FALL 2010 DIGEST STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Norman J. dotson Jr.
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PAGE 2 / CAMPUS BRIEFS all submissions must be received by 3 p.m. each Friday for Tuesday’s Issue and by 3 p.m. each wednesday for Friday’s Issue. paGe 2 is only available to officially registered campus organizations, southern University departments. all briefs should include a date, time, contact name & number. submit announcements to: the southern diGest - suite 1064 Harris Hall, attn: paGe 2 CORRECTIONS Fact and accuracy is our goal and our job. as the voice of the southern University student body we are committed to ensuring to most fair, truthful and accurate accounts of our work. in the event of an error we will make all corrections on page 2. Bring corrections to the southern diGest office located in suite 1064, Harris Hall.
NEWS
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - Page 3
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A look at who got gov’t Gulf work By sharon theimer associated press writer
WASHINGTON — The federal government hired a New Orleans man for $18,000 to appraise whether news stories about its actions in the Gulf oil spill were positive or negative for the Obama administration, which was keenly sensitive to comparisons between its response and former President George W. Bush’s muchmaligned reaction to Hurricane Katrina. The government also spent $10,000 for just over three minutes of video showing a routine offshore rig inspection for news organizations but couldn’t say whether any ran the footage. And it awarded a $216,625 no-bid contract for a survey of seabirds to an environmental group that has criticized what it calls the “extreme anti-conservation record” of Sarah Palin, a possible 2012 rival to President Barack Obama. The contracts were among hundreds reviewed by The Associated Press as the government begins to provide an early glimpse at federal spending since the Gulf disaster in April. While most of the contracts don’t raise alarms, some could provide ammunition for critics of government waste. The administration has released details of about $134 million in contracts, a fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars it has spent so far. BP has reimbursed the U.S. $390 million, company spokesman Tom Mueller said. The government sent BP a new invoice for $128.5 million last week. The White House is still deciding whether it will bill BP for spill-related trips by Obama and his wife, Michelle, to the Gulf, including the president’s flights aboard Air Force One, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars each. The contracts the government has disclosed so far include at least $5.8 million for helicopter
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services, $3.2 million for hotel rooms, $1.4 million for boat charters, $33,000 for oilmeasuring devices aboard ships, $441,621 for cellular and satellite phone services, $25,087 for toilets, $23,217 for laundry services and $109,735 for refrigerators and freezers. Yet the government’s new contracting data includes errors and vague entries that make it difficult to identify wasteful spending. It spent $52,000 on a boat charter described merely as “marine charter for things,” with no further explanation. A separate $90,000 contract for a single 70-pound anchor is listed incorrectly; the contractor told the AP it actually supplied hundreds of anchors. A White House spokesman, Ben LaBolt, declined to comment on the contracts. Among all the contracts, perhaps none is more striking than the Coast Guard’s decision to pay $9,000 per month for two months to John Brooks Rice of New Orleans, an on-call worker for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, under a no-bid contract to monitor media coverage from late May through July. Rice told the AP that he compiled print and video news stories and offered his subjective appraisal of the tone of the coverage. “From reading and watching the media I would create reports,” he said. “I reported either positive coverage, negative coverage, misinformation coverage.” The Coast Guard provided the AP with a copy of two of Rice’s printouts of news stories but didn’t respond to a request for copies of his reports rating the tone of news stories. Rice said he had already deleted them. The AP requested copies of all Rice’s reports under the Freedom of Information Act but hasn’t received them. The Coast Guard expects BP to reimburse the $18,000, Coast Guard spokesman Capt. Ron LaBrec said. The Coast Guard said it didn’t
photo by michelle rolls-thomas/ap photo
In this photo taken Sept. 2, 2010, from left, employees Deidre Jackson, Keith Marron, Jane White, Jim Ketchum, owner of Andree’s Wine, Cheese & Things in Fairhope, Ala., and Lori Utley stand in front of the restaurant and store. Ketchum said Army contracts helped him make up for business his restaurant lost due to the poor economy and tourism lost to the oil spill.
ask for competitive bids because it urgently needed the work done. In the newly released federal data, the government didn’t disclose Rice’s name, instead misidentifying him as “miscellaneous foreign contractors.” Such contracts have caused problems for the government in the past. The Obama administration abandoned a $1.5 million contract in August 2009 with a public relations firm, Washington-based Rendon Group, that assessed work by journalists for the Defense Department before embedding them with troops in Afghanistan. And the Clinton administration in 1995 ordered Energy Department officials to cancel a $46,500 contract with a consulting company, Carma International, that ranked reporters who covered the agency, a practice that the White House concluded was “unacceptable and will not be tolerated.” Rice said he wasn’t on duty for FEMA or drawing a government salary when he worked for the Coast Guard. He monitored news coverage for FEMA during the Hurricane Katrina disaster, and a former FEMA co-worker recommended him for the Coast Guard contract, he said. The head of a public relations firm in Baton Rouge, La., John T. Rice of Common Sense Communications, questioned
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the wisdom of the government spending $18,000 to track coverage of the spill, particularly in the Internet age when stories can be monitored easily online. “In our neck of the woods, if you can land a $2,000 to $4,000 retainer with somebody, that would be considered really good,” said Rice, who isn’t related to the Rice hired by the Coast Guard. Rice said an $18,000 contract could also include focus groups and a marketing plan, not just tracking and evaluating coverage. Under another federal contract, the Interior Department hired videographer Bob Boccaccio of Boccaccio Productions in Baton Rouge to shoot video of inspectors aboard an offshore drilling rig to distribute to news organizations. Boccaccio confirmed he was hired but declined to provide details. The Interior Department said it hired Boccaccio amid concerns about safety, scheduling and permitting after network camera crews asked to accompany inspectors offshore to film them. The contract authorized payment of up to $15,000; Boccaccio, who traveled to the rig with the government inspector, billed the government $10,000. The AP typically pays a one-person crew about $1,000 per day.
The government said it hasn’t decided yet whether to ask BP to pay for it. The government’s contracts include at least $6 million for studies to gauge the spill’s effects on wildlife. Contractors include a group whose political arm endorsed Obama in the 2008 presidential campaign and ran ads in several swing states against thenRepublican vice presidential candidate Palin. The group, Defenders of Wildlife, received a $216,625 noncompetitive contract from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a seabird survey in the BP spill area. Both Defenders of Wildlife and its political arm, the Defenders Action Fund, have criticized Palin, a former Alaska governor, for supporting use of low-flying airplanes to hunt wolves and other wildlife in winter. Defenders of Wildlife also has been urging Discovery Communications to drop plans for “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” a reality TV series, and wants sponsors and viewers to boycott it. The Interior Department said the Fish and Wildlife Service hired the group to survey the effects of oil on ocean birds because its chief scientist, Chris Haney, is respected and experienced in bird research. It said BP approved the scientist’s selection.
STATE & NATION Page 4 - Tuesday, September 14, 2010
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Imam says NYC mosque site is not ‘hallowed ground’ By jennifer peltz associated press WRITER
NEW YORK — It may be two blocks from ground zero, but the site of a proposed mosque and Islamic center shouldn’t been seen as sacrosanct in a neighborhood that also harbors a strip club and a betting parlor, the cleric leading the effort said Monday. Making an ardent case for the compatibility of Islam and American values, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf reiterated that he was searching for a solution to the furor the project has created. But he left unanswered exactly
what he had in mind. If anything, Rauf only deepened the questions around the project’s future, telling an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank that he was “exploring all options” — but declining to specify them — and underscoring what he saw as the importance of a location that would draw attention to his message of promulgating moderate Islam. And while opponents of the project see it as insulting the memories of the thousands killed by Muslim extremists in the 2001 terrorist attacks, Rauf said he didn’t see it as sacred memorial space.
“It’s absolutely disingenuous, as many have said, that that block is hallowed ground,” Rauf said, noting the nearby exotic dance and betting businesses. “So let’s clarify that misperception.” The proposed Islamic center has become a flashpoint for worldwide debate about Islam’s place in America nine years after the Sept. 11 attacks. Controversy has colored the fall campaign season and cast a a shadow on this past weekend’s commemoration of the attacks, with supporters and opponents of the mosque project both holding rallies nearby. Rauf says a project meant to
foster understanding has become unduly mired in conflict and what he describes as misconceptions of a fundamental clash between Islamic and American values. The Kuwait-born imam used his own life story as an example, saying that his own faith had been shaped by the sense of choosing one’s identity that American society provided, compared with the predominantly Muslim society from which he emigrated in 1965. “I’m a devout Muslim ... and I’m also a proud American citizen,” said Rauf, noting that he was naturalized in 1979 and has a niece serving in the U.S. Army. “I vote in elections. I pay
taxes. I pledge allegiance to the flag. And I’m a Giants fan.” He said Monday that the Islamic center’s organizers were surprised by the uproar and might not have pursued it had they known what was coming. “The events of these past few weeks have really saddened me to my very core,” he said, lamenting that the project had been misunderstood, clouded by stereotypes, and “exploited” by some to push personal or political agendas. But he declined to detail any strategy for quieting the clamor — or say whether that might include moving the project.
SPORTS
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - Page 5
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Jags “Boll”ed over By morris dillard DiGest spOrts writer
Two games into the season, and the Southern University football team can already forget the preseason talk of a “selfassured” undefeated season. Saturday night was head coach Stump Mitchell’s home debut. As for his team, their second consecutive performance dominated, not by a powerhouse offense, a stout defense or gamechanging special teams, but by mistakes, missed tackles and disappointment. After the game Mitchell disguised his frustration with a bottle of water. “Tonight, offensively, we we’re not able to do anything,” said Mitchell. “We knew they were going to score.... we had to score offensively, and when we had the opportunities, we didn’t.” Scott Buisson threw for 164 yards, and ran for 101 yards and Divison II Arkansas-Monticello out gained SU 371 to 117 in total offense in a 31-7 non-conference win. SU (1-1) became the second team in Southwestern Athletic Conference history, to face UAM (1-1) in a non-conference contest. Since 1970, UAM has a 14-4 series lead over ArkansasPine Bluff. Unlike SU’s nationally
televised season opener, Saturday’s game was no fourth quarter rally. It was the 24-point first half deficit a crowd of 14,637 witnessed, that would determine their team’s fate of a 12-0 season. “I was really pleased with the turnout of the fans,” said Mitchell. “I was not pleased at how we played, that’s part of the game. So now all we can do is turn the table and get ready for our next game.” It proved to be costly for SU. The Boll Weevils scored early with a two-yard touchdown run 10:23 remaining. Jywin Ceasar returned a punt for a 94-yard touchdown to put his team ahead 14-0. From there, UAM blocked an SU field goal try, setting the their offense up for four-play, 38-yard drive finished with a one yard score by running back Nakita Myles. After the game, safety Jason House felt the game was a total “let down”. “I’m extremely disappointed, “ House said. “We should’ve did way better than we did. “I would never expect for us to come out and play the way we played tonight.” Trailing 24-0 at halftime, SU took possession of the ball from inside the 10-yard line, after
PHoTo By aPril BuffingTon/digesT southern’s Delwin williams tries to stop arkansas-monticello’s quaterback scott Buisson at southern’s home opener on saturday. uam stunned the Jaguars 31-7 in su’s home opener.
UAM attempted to convert a fourth down with an incomplete pass by their punter. In scoring position, Gary Hollimon scored from six yard out, cutting into the deficit 24-7. The Boll Weevils got the ball once more, marching down the field with an 11-play touchdown
drive with 1:23 remaining in the third quarter. In the second half, UAM dominated, piling up 337 yards in the third quarter. After UAM seemed to grab control at 31-7, Bussion watched the remainder of the game from the sideline with 7:40 remaining
in the game. The Boll Weevils outrushed SU 207, -22. Sophomore quarterback Jeremiah McGinty the game late in the first quarter (shoulder injury). He was replaced by freshman Dray Joseph.
arts & entertainment Page 6 - Tuesday, September 14, 2010
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Swift, West live up to hype By nekesa mumbi moody ap music writer
He derided himself as a jerk; she told him he wasn’t as bad as his misdeeds. He gave a sarcastic ode to his boorish behavior; she sang of an opportunity to grow from a very public stumble. Both Kanye West and Taylor Swift took the stage at the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday and addressed a matter from last year’s VMAs that had refused to die. Their separate but equally emotional performances seemed to provide resolution to the incident, while overshadowing the show’s other moments, including Lady Gaga’s eight VMA wins. This year’s Swift-West drama was a sequel to 2009’s unscripted debacle in which West interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech to proclaim that her trophy should have gone to Beyonce. The incident left Swift with hurt feelings, but West was the one who was seriously damaged from an intense backlash that took both a personal and professional toll. As this year’s VMAs drew closer, the buzz of a possible Swift-West showdown grew
daily. Both were nominated for awards (which they lost), both were expected to perform and each has an album coming out this fall. West increased the potential of fireworks with a recent rant on Twitter in which he again apologized to Swift and talked about how he had suffered emotionally and economically. Then on Saturday, The Associated Press learned that Swift would be singing a song about last year’s most talkedabout moment. But instead of skewering PHOTO BY matt sayles/ap photo West in song as Swift has done to others, she offered an olive Kanye performs at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles. branch with her song “Innocent,” outfit by the late Alexander written earlier this year and due now; who you are is not what you toast to scumbags.” With all that pathos, no other McQueen: a Victorian-inspired to appear on her new album: did,” she sang seriously and softly, “Every one of us has messed adding: “You’re still an innocent.” celebrities could really compete. gown and a Mohawk feather West’s song, which was Still, Lady Gaga tried — as the headdress atop a long white wig, up, too. ... I hope you remember today is never too late to be preceded by scattered boos most outrageously dressed — and with monstrous stilettos that from the audience, didn’t seem that’s saying something, given made her look like she was on brand new.” The 20-year-old’s poignant to address last year’s incident, Katy Perry’s barely there outfit stilts. Later, she changed into a black dress so overflowing she and powerful ode — which but talked about the obnoxious and Ke$ha’s garbage bag-dress. Gaga accepted her video of needed help to get onstage to was introduced with a video behavior that has too often montage that referenced last overshadowed his musical talent. the year award with an outfit accept one of her trophies. Cher — an over-the-top diva “I always find something sure to anger PETA: a dress and year’s ceremony — sympathized with West’s difficult time in the wrong; you’ve been putting up chapeau made of what seemed from a different era — gave Gaga spotlight and his own admissions with my (expletive) for too long,” to be cuts of raw beef, including her best-video award and noted that his ego has often gotten in he sang, before launching into a meat purse. It was one of her she had been raising eyebrows an unprintable chorus, which three zany outfits of the evening. when Lady Gaga “was still Baby his way. “Thirty-two and still growing up included the line: “Let’s have a She arrived in a spectacular Gaga.”
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Privacy or Policy: Where Does It End? The Recording Industry Association of America filed suit against peer-to-peer, file-sharing company LimeWire in June. A trial is set for Jan. 18, which if the RIAA wins, it will strike a serious blow in the continuing fight for privacy rights in America. The concepts of privacy rights and individual liberty, so tacitly etched into the Constitution, makes possible, that anyone might be virtuous while simultaneously maintaining a reasonable degree of privacy. Today, these very same principles have turned on us, biting the hands of those that drafted them. The RIAA oversees and promotes the vitality of 13 major music labels. They remained legally quiet up until the Internet provided a way for file sharing entities such as Napster, Kazaa, LimeWire and FrostWire to topple album sales. In December 1999, the RIAA began its hunt for copyright infringers with the file sharing company Napster. Piracy, as it was described by the RIAA, “would curtail album sale revenues,” and lead to the demise of the music industry; a slippery slope, indeed. This statement would become the base for some 30,000 subpoenas issued by the RIAA to P2P distributors, Internet service providers and individuals between 2003 and 2008 — even though a 2002 survey conducted by the Forrester Research Group revealed “that digital music downloads were not to blame for an alleged decrease in album sales.” Nevertheless, with the courts on its side, the RIAA forced Napster to adopt legal file-sharing practices. The RIAA has shamelessly pursued individuals, which include the most unlikely suspects. Jamie ThomasRassett, a Minnesota single mother of two, was the first person to be convicted by a court of claims brought forth by the RIAA. In the first ruling of this case made by a lower court, Thomas-Rassett was ordered to pay $1.92 million. This settlement was reduced to $54,000 after a successful appeal in a federal court ($2250 per song). Rulings in favor of the RIAA could result in awards up to $150,000 per song,
per individual. However, many of these cases quickly settled for much smaller amount -- just tens of thousands. The “strong-arming” didn’t stop there. Jesse Jordan, who at the time was a student at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, was also targeted by the RIAA but settled out of court for a mere $17,500. Cases like Jordan’s kicked off a new RIAA campaign in 2007, the College Deterrence Program, which targets college students who use illegal filesharing programs. That year subpoenas were issued to 400 students at 13 schools and letters warning of the legal implications of file sharing were sent to college presidents across the country. With no success the RIAA’s individual “witch-hunt” came to an end in 2008, but its attempts to thwart file sharing services continue. As of late, the RIAA has tried to persuade some of America’s largest Internet service providers to join its effort to end copyright infringement on intellectual properties. The proposed ‘graduated response’ system would implement a three-strike rule for individuals who download music illegally. After a person is caught trying to download music illegally for the third time, their Internet services would be discontinued. The RIAA has seen little cooperation from U.S. Internet service providers for fear that such ironclad restrictions would drive customers away. As if the RIAA’s apathy for individual privacy rights couldn’t sink any lower, the organization hit an unprecedented mark in 2007. An Arizona judge ruled in favor of a paranoid claim made by RIAA lawyer Ira Schwartz that copying music from a purchased album to a personal computer is also piracy. “Our goal is not to be vindictive or punitive,” Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA, said in a 2003 statement. “It is simply to get peer-to-peer users to stop offering music that does not belong to them.” Sherman’s notions would have been sound if the unsuccessful campaign to teach hard lessons to the most politically and economically inept among us hadn’t resulted in numerous frivolous
settlements, which cost American taxpayers millions during the litigation process and produced less than desirable results for record companies. What’s worse, the RIAA’s greedy lawyers should have known the outrageous claims the organization sought would eventually be thrown out by federal courts. The law is the law and yes, piracy is illegal. However, if someone purchases a CD, copies it onto a personal computer and decides to share it with a friend or two, or more, it does not make them make them a criminal, or at least not one of great concern. Furthermore, just because something is a law doesn’t make it a textbook example of positive law. Piracy is an example of such laws. The RIAA continues to cook up more legally grounded moneymaking schemes to rip away individual privacy rights to boost album sales. A sad attempt considering iTunes attracts thousands of signed and unsigned artists annually. Not to mention that during the last decade the RIAA’s combined revenue has decreased by almost half according to its website, a sure sign of the rise of digital downloads, legal or not. A 2004 Pew Research survey found that 1 in 6 Americans use P2P file sharing services; a number that continues to grow. With those numbers, boycotting the RIAA is not only the answer, but it may not even be necessary with technological innovations casting compact discs into extinction. If that isn’t enough of a deterrent for the RIAA, “during the week ended May 30, the U.S. music industry sold a total of 4.98 million albums, the lowest number in decades,” according to Nielsen Soundscan. Capitalism and privacy rights tend not to mesh in this country. Lobbyist groups like the RIAA that use capitalism and a crippled legal system to their advantage may be singing to a different tune now that Americans are getting rid of their CD players. ——— Jason Lawrence writes for The Famuan, the Florida A&M University student newspaper, which originally published this article.
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