Maroon

              Loyola University New Orles, THE MAROON VOL. 79, NO. 15 MAROON.LOYNO.EDU BSU embroiled in money controversy THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE By Mary Chauvin News Editor and Maggie Crawford Contributing writer A Loyola student and small business owner says he plans to seek legal action after being dissatisfied with the way he has been treated by the university. Percy Marchand, management sophomore, said he plans to file suit against the university after the Black Student Union refused to reimburse Marchand for approximately $300 he fronted the organization to help last semester's African-American Student Leadership Conference. The Student Government Association Court of Review recently ruled against Marchand's demand that BSU reimburse him. Marchand, who served as BSU president last year and recently stepped down as a SGA congressman-at-large, initiated the conference last year. Marchand said the leadership conference was designed to target black college students and is geared toward economic empowerment. This year's conference consisted of panels and discussions with more than 25 speakers. The theme was The Underground Railroad: Getting Our Futures Back on Track. Aside from his work with the university, Marchand is owner and operator of Marchand Printing, a printing business he began from his home. Marchand said his company and the university sponsored the first conference together. The cost of the first conference was minimal, Marchand said. "The event (the African-American Leadership Conference) ... brought the Loyola community a positive spotlight in the media - a stark contrast to the numerous times the university has been focused on for racial and discriminatory matters. 1 founded the conference to help bring about positive and beneficial change to. not only Loyola University, but the city, state and country as a whole," Marchand said. Marchand said that  was the largest sponsor of this year's conference and that his company donated goods and services totaling about $3,000. Marchand said his company put up an additional $ 1,900 for the conference because sponsorships were delayed after the Sept. 11 attacks. Marchand said he was reimbursed for most of that money, but has not been paid back for $300 he used to mail promotional materials for the conference. Marchand said he has not been paid back even though the BSU has an $1,100 surplus from the event. Marchand said current BSU president, Reanda Fields, communications junior, accused him of using the postage set aside for the conference to mail literature for his company. Marchand accused the BSU of "not using the sponsorship funds for the intent that they were raised and given." Marchand said that Fields wanted to continue raising money in the name of the conference but use the money for BSU's general purposes. Marchand said he told Fields that the conference is intended as a venture independent of BSU and not a fundraiser for the organization. Chris Cameron, director of Student Activities, said the conference is a BSU function. He said, however, that he understands that Marchand founded the conference and feels that it is his "baby." STAFF PHOTO BY CHARLES COSTELLO Mandy Roberts (left), Jamie Alexander (center) and Carryn Rice, biology seniors at Xavier University, light candles during the Martin Luther King Jr. March on Jan. 25. The march began at Tulane University's Pocket Park and proceeded to Xavier for a Unity Program. Mayoral candidate sues professor By Mary Chauvin News Editor Ed Renwick, associate professor of political science, is being sued by Clarence A. Hunt Jr, one of the city's 15 mayoral candidates. Renwick was named as a codefendant in a suit filed Monday by Hunt, who is running in Saturday's mayoral primary. Hunt said that a poll conducted by Renwick about the mayoral race was racially biased and directly prevented Hunt from being included in Wednesday night's mayoral forum on WWLTV.Belo Broadcasting Corporation and WWL-TV are also named as defendants in the suit. Hunt's suit says that WWL contracted Renwick to conduct an unbiased poll of the New Orleans voting base between Jan. 15 and 19. The poll was to be relative to the Feb. 2 mayoral primary. The suit says that Renwick claims to have contacted 500 voters for the poll. The results put Vernon Palmer in front of Hunt. Hunt, in his suit, says "Renwick's poll was biased, discriminatory and a fiction ... |It| intentionally excluded low-income black male electors and included a disproportionately high number of affluent white voters, thus providing Palmer with an unfair rating in the polls." The suit says that the voting base of New Orleans is about 67 percent black voters and 29 percent white voters, but alleges that Renwick's poll included about 90 percent white voters and 10 percent black female voters. The suit says that Hunt conducted a poll during the same time frame as Renwick's poll. This j poll, says documents filed in the suit, put Hunt in a tie for the lead of ! the race with mayoral candidates Paulette Irons and Richard Pennington. The suit goes on to say, I "Defendant Renwick is on the record as stating that low-income black males are totally irrelevant in New Orleans elections and should be totally ignored by candidates seeking elective office in New Loyola grade scale may incorporate minuses By Philip Braun Staff writer Loyola students may notice minus signs next to their grades on future report cards if school administrators approve a new adjusted grading scale. The recommended scale would give faculty members the option of assigning pluses and minuses that would respectively carry a positive and negative value of .30 decimal points, said Frank Scully, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. This .30 value of a plus would be less than the current .50 decimal value of a plus. For example, with the new scale a B+ would be worth 3.30 points, a B 3.00 points and a B- 2.70 points. The current scale assigns a B+ the value of 3.50 and a B the value of 3.00, with no minus grades. There has been no final decision on the matter because the scale proposal has not gone beyond the status of a discussion among Loyola's five colleges, said to Lydia Voight, interim provost. Julian Wasserman, English professor, introduced the proposal at a College of Arts & Sciences assembly in September. Wasserman and other faculty members who favor the new scale say it would allow them greater discretion in accurately describing the performance of a student and that the addition of a minus option makes sense in a grading system that already allows a plus option. "Without it, our rating reporting is inaccurate. If you have an 80 average, I can give a C+, which is less than you deserve, or a B, which is more than you deserve," Wasserman said. "There's really nothing particularly controversial about it," he added. In October, the A&S college assembly, which includes A&S faculty members and the Dean's Student Advisory Council, voted overwhelmingly to recommend it, Scully said. Beau Dupre, French senior and speaker of the DSAC, said most DSAC members did not support the proposal, but that because they did not understand their voting role in the college assembly, most DSAC members did not vote. He added thai the DSAC committee could not have See RENWICK, Page 2 See MARCH AND, Page 3 See GRADES, Page 2 Grade scales of some American Jesuit Universities UNIVERSITY S £ B+ B £ C+ C D+ D F Fairfield 4166 167 130 100 2l57 £30 100 167 n/a TOO n/5 0 Georgetown 4.00 3.67 3.30 100 167 2.30 2.00 1.67 1.30 1.00 167~ TF| | Loyoii Chicago 4.00 n/a 3750 100 n/a 2.50 2.00 n/a 1.50 1.00 n/a 0 Loyola New Orleans 400 n/a 150 100 Fi/1 150 100 n/i TBO 1.00 n/a 0 [Rockhurst 4.00 167 3.30 100 2.67 2.30 100 167 TlO 1.00 n/a 0 Santa Clara 4.00 3.70 3.30 3.00 2.70 2.30 2.00 1.70 1.30 1.00 0.67 0 St. Louis 4.00 n/a 3.50 3.00 n/a ~ 2.50 2.00 n/a n/a 1.00 "n/a 0 Uni. of Detroit Mercy 4.00 3.70 3.30 3.00 ~2.70 2.30 2.00 1.70 n/a 1.00 n/a 0] Uni. of San Fransisco 4.00 3.70 3.30 3.00 2.67 2.30 2.00 1.67 1.30 1.00 0.67 0 | [Xavter University(grad only) 4.00 3.67 3.30 3.00 2.67 2.30 2.00 n/a n/a 1.00 n/a 0 Proposed Loyola Scale 4.00 3.70 3.30 3.00 2.70 2.30 2.00 1.70 1.30 1.00 0.70 0 DIDN'T QUIT HER OPINION fr fe ,•. gi TO 718 IE NEW OPTIONS FOR UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT Pg.6 WmmKKi ON THE road * , lfe», WITH WOMEN'S BP^KETBALL