STATE & NATION
musicians keeping busy
SPORTS
FALL 2010 COMMENCEMENT
Also: SU hoops recaps. pg. 7
See the next wave of Jaguars. pg. 8
warren, gsu too much for su
NOLA music staying strong. pg. 5
Fall 2010 graduates list
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WWW.SOUTHERNDIGEST.COM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2010
VOL. 56, ISSUE 18
LOMOTEY RESIGNS
Internet security explained by billy washington digeST STAFF WriTer
photo by gerald herbert/ap photo
Southern University chancellor Kofi lomotey readies himself after an executive session regarding his status as chancellor during their annual board of supervisors meeting in new orleans Friday.
Chancellor handed in resignation on Thanksgiving; will stay on until June 30 by cain burdeau The ASSoCiATed preSS
NEW ORLEANS — The head of Southern University in Baton Rouge, the flagship campus of the nation’s oldest historically black college system, is resigning after he was blasted by faculty for lacking the skills to steer the college through a turbulent period of budget cuts. Kofi Lomotey handed in his letter of resignation Thursday and the board of supervisors of the Southern University System accepted it Friday at a monthly meeting. Lomotey took office as the chancellor of the Baton Rouge campus in July 2008. The Baton Rouge campus has more than half of the system’s 14,380 students.
After the board accepted his resignation, Lomotey declined to comment. On Nov. 4, the college’s senate faculty handed Lomotey a vote of no confidence. The faculty faulted the chancellor for firing employees, lackluster fundraising abilities and seeking to eliminate the school of architecture. “Financially, we are living through tough times and we need the leadership to navigate us through these troubled waters,” Sudhir Trivedi, the faculty senate president, said after the meeting. “He did not work very well with the faculty.” Trivedi said that there were more than 500 faculty members three years ago and that number is now down to 280. He faulted Lomotey for overseeing a
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decline in enrollment at the Baton Rouge campus, which fell 4 percent this year. Southern, like all of Louisiana’s state schools, is struggling to handle budget cuts. The board anticipates losing about $23 million in funding next year, a 32 percent cut. Ronald Mason Jr., the president of the university system, credited Lomotey for leading the campus during a very difficult period, which he said took a “toll” on the chancellor. “I think he looked at the totality of circumstances and made the decision that was best for him and his family,” Mason said of the chancellor’s decision to step down. Mason said Lomotey agreed to work until June 30 to give the board time to find a new chancellor.
The board had been scheduled to vote Friday on Lomotey’s $295,000-a-year contract, which was set to expire in December.
Mire named BOS chair
The Southern University Board of Supervisors has only its second ever non-alumni chairman as Darren G. Mire. Mire, an elected Orleans Parish assessor, was picked Friday as the 2011 chairman over LaPlace lawyer Randal Gaines, who was other board member actively campaigning for the position. The Advocate reported on Saturday that outgoing Board Chairman Tony Clayton of Port Allen, who has served two years in the position, says Mire’s selection is a “wise decision.
INSIDE
Internet security has been a point of focus for many colleges nationwide in the last 10 years. Colleges such as the University of North Carolina, the University of Michigan, and the University of California at Berkeley were all victims of Internet security breaches and invasion of privacy in 2009. This scare has also been rumored, yet reported, to have occurred in September between LSU and the University of New Orleans. The Advocate reported that faculty members at UNO speculated that the LSU system was monitoring the emails of administratorandfacultymembers at UNO, which is considered an invasion of privacy. “We purchase a lot of equipment and trust that it filters out spyware, pop-ups, and viruses. We also try to be diligent in our work at preventing Internet breaches on this campus,” said Terrance Cyriaque, Coordinator of IT Security. When asked about the authority of an administrator having the right to scourge through the email of any member linked through the SU system, Cyriaque simply responded, “we do not go through people’s e-mail without a warrant from the police station.” Under the investigations subtitle of the description page of the SU Network Security website, Network Security Services is the process of monitoring the network to determine if there has been any illegal, unauthorized, or unusual activities from computers, laptops, servers, or office workstations that are using the SU network. This will be done by computer forensics; it is the analysis of information contained within and created with computer systems and computing devices. It involves the preservation, identification, extraction, documentation and interpretation See security page 3
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