Budget cuts: Theatre programs face possible eliminations, p. 4
Enrollment: LSU’s numbers see increase from last spring, p. 3
Reveille The Daily
www.lsureveille.com
Women’s basketball: Lady Tigers lose in final seconds, p. 9 Monday, Feb. 14, 2011 • Volume 115, Issue 88
Tower of Love
TRAFFIC
Study shows red-light cameras effective Rachel Warren Staff Writer
traditions coordinator for the STRIPES program, said Valentine’s Day is the one time of year the bells chime past 10 p.m. “Nowadays, the co-ed rule is not as strictly enforced, but it still remains a popular tradition for
A national study released by the Virginia-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows red-light cameras are effective in preventing fatal car crashes. A news release from ‘It’s still a East Baton valid Rouge Mayoryardstick. President Kip Holden’s office We’re still summarized the study, which encouraged found “red- by these light enforceresults.’ ment cameras saved 159 lives Scott Dyer over a five-year spokesman, period in 14 Mayor’s Office U.S. cities.” The study concluded the total number of fatal red-light running crashes decreased by 35 percent in those 14 cities from 2004 to 2008,
TRADITION, see page 7
CAMERAS, see page 7
GRANT GUTIERREZ / The Daily Reveille
Students kiss in front of Memorial Tower in 2009 to celebrate the start of Valentine’s Day. The tradition is part of the University’s rich history, but its origin is unclear.
Memorial Tower midnight kiss continues as amorous Valentine’s Day tradition Sydni Dunn Staff Writer
Late Sunday night, nearly 40 couples gathered around the base of the Memorial Tower, eagerly waiting for the clock to strike midnight. The bells didn’t chime this year, but the students still sealed their love
with a kiss, becoming official University “co-eds.” “The tradition is, if a couple kisses beneath the bell tower at midnight on Valentine’s Day, they become an official co-ed,” said Emily Smith, LSU Liaison and marketing sophomore. Smith said though she has never
witnessed it, the campanile is said to deviate from the traditional “Westminster Quarters” chimes on Feb. 14 to play famous love songs. The Daily Reveille reported in 2008 the clock tower serenaded couples with “Love Me Tender” and “The Way You Look Tonight.” Seth Guidry, history and
ASTRONOMY
On-campus observatory lets students see planets up close Monthy ‘star parties’ open to public Matthew Albright Staff Writer
The moon is huge from up close. The straight line of a lunar morning cuts across the surface, running like a ruler’s edge out of the top and bottom of view. From this close, the Man on the Moon’s face looks badly in need of acne medicine. Craters bigger than Louisiana pockmark the surface. From above, they look like sand splattered by drops of water. The ridges of the deeper pits near the slowly-receding dark side trap the sunlight, casting black shadows that pool
in their depths. The moon’s eyes and mouth are flat wastes of dark gray rock. They are sweeping plains of cooled basalt that bubbled up in the moon’s youth, when meteors gouged gaping chunks in the surface. For a few dozen students taking astronomy classes at the University, the view is like they’re hovering in space. In fact, they are on the roof of Nicholson Hall, in the Landolt Astronomical Observatory. “It’s just like flying over the surface yourself,” said Bradley Schaefer, University astronomy professor and Observatory director. Schaefer threw one of his monthly “star parties” at the observatory Saturday, giving students and the general public a chance to see stars and planets up close
through the Landolt telescope. Built in 1939, the Observatory fell into disrepair in the early ’90s. When it was refurbished in 2005, it was named after Arlo Landolt, the longtime core of the University’s Astronomy Department. On the outside, the Observatory is an unassuming green dome on top of Nicholson. On the inside, it looks like a science-fiction movie. The long brass tube of the telescope dominates the room, stretching upward through a narrow slit in the roof. The room is lit only by two dim, red light bulbs meant to preserve viewers’ night vision. With the press of a button, gears whirl to life. The dome slowly rotates into position, its narrow slit pointing toward Jupiter. OBSERVATORY, see page 7
EMILY SLACK / The Daily Reveille
A student peers into a telescope Saturday at the Astronomy Department’s “star party” outside Nicholson Hall. The Observatory was built in 1939 and refurbished in 2005.