Maroon

              MAROON LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS LOUISIANA JANUARY 29 1976 VOL. U1 IMOL 13 Board meets; tuition creeps by Gretchen Hock I n last Thursday's "closed door" session the Board of Directors decided the fate of Loyola's undergraduates and law students. The Oracles of Loyola handed down a $100 tuition increase. Tuition will increase S5O per semester for undergraduates and law students and graduate students will pay S4 more per credit hour. City College fees will remain the same. Last year the Very Rev. James C. Carter, S.J., and other private university presidents presented a bill to the state legislature that provided for a grant of $125 per semester (payable to Loyola) for each student who is a Louisiana resident (excluding religious studies majors). The bill was passed in June, 1975. This law is being tested by the Citizens for the Advancement of Public Education who feel that private institutions should not receive state funds. The money cannot be received until the suit is settled, which has prompted the tuition hike. A decision will not be made on the suit until a similar case in Maryland is decided. Father Carter refused to give a definite position on the possibility of a tuition rollback if the money does come through. Dormitory fees will rise $25 per semester for men and women. This 11.5% increase is due in part to escalating energy costs. Costs for the summer session will rise $2 per curriculum hour. The new constitution was voted on by the students last October. 151 votes approved the document with 20 dissenting. The Board also covered the renaming of the Science Complex. It will be dedicated in honor of J. Edgar Monroe, who donated $1,000,000 to the university to purchase 500 acres of land in Kenner. Holy Name Church will be repainted beige. Leaks and old wiring will also be fixed in the building. Holy Name parishioners will hold a drive to finance the painting and repairs. "We might even get students togo there if it's decent," quipped Father Carter. BEHIND CLOSED DOORS—Loyola'i Board ot Directors wouldn't say what they feel if they thought it would be printed—Father Carter. Therefore the press and studenfcare not admitted to their meetings. Tin Lizzies sizzles ¥ by Peggy Hannan I A fire broke out at Tin Lizzies Restaurant early Monday morning, causing an estimated 530,000 damage. The fire at the restaurant, located at 7130 Freret St., was caused by an electrical short circuit, according to a New Orleans Fire Department official. A Fire Department report indicated «ra| that the fire started at 5:53 a.m. on M, Jan. 26; witnesses say the fire was |b brought under control at 6:10 a.m. lit Damage to the building was f|| estimated by the Fire Department to be in excess of $20,000. Damage to i|| the contents of the building is , estimated at *D 1 0,1)01). Tin Lizzies' owner, Rick Vita, told ||l the MAROON his restaurant will ||| reopen "hopefully in a month or ||f two." Vita said the fire started in a back - shed and spread inside the building. ||| When asked the extent of the damage ||| Vita said the fire hit "80% of the place." Steven J. Conklin, an A&S ||f sophomore, watched the fire from the S. Alpha Delta Gamma fraternity house g|| at 7103 Freret St. "The flames were coming up so |p§ bad," he said, "I'm sure there was §§f smoke damage. A power line was f§| down; it was popping and crackling." ||f Martin sues WWL over TV rights by Pete Finney Former Secretary of State Wade Martin, Jr. has sued Loyola University, which owns WWL-TV that holds the television rights in the Louisiana Superdome. Martin contends Loyola's contract with the Superdome was ratified allegedly in violation of a state public bidding law. Loyola owns the rights to the giant TV screens, radio broadcasting and the dome lighting. The whole question of Martin's suit centers on whether the state legislature's ratification of the Dome contracts was legal or not. Martin contends that under the 1921 state constitution, the act of ratification was itself illegal. WWL was the only company to respond to specifications set up by the Superdome, according to Rupert Copponex, WWL's Superdome production coordinator. Martin's suit against Loyola originally named only two defendants: Superdome Services, Inc. (SSI) and Building Engineering Services, Co. (BESCO). But on Nov. 18, Civil District Court Judge Henry Roberts, Jr. ordered Martin tO| amend his petition to include Loyola and four other Dome contractors. But Superdome commission attorney Charles Kronlage said the other parties should be brought into the suit because "all of these parties have a direct interest in the outcome of this litigation." "My reasoning was that these contracts were all okayed by the legislature," said Judge Roberts in explaining his ruling. "Since they were all okayed, they all ought to be looked at. It may wind up as just SSI and BESCO. I just didn't want to try 26 separate suits." Loyola pays the Superdome $100,00G per year for the television and radio rights in the stadium. WWL contracts separately with companies who want an event to be broadcast. After WWL's gross receipts reach a certain level the Superdome receives a onethird cut of the total gross. Martin's attorney, James Sutterfield, said in a brief submitted to Judge Roberts last Nov. 21 that Loyola was not indispensable to the suit because its contract was one of lease, specifically exempted from he public lease law by a provision of the 1921 state constitution. Loyola's attorney, Tom Rayre, does not feel the university's contract is illegal. "The import or intention of the judge's ruling was merely to force us to assert that our contract is legal," Rayre said. "Everything is legal as far as we're concerned. Judge Roberts felt whatever he did might have a spillover. If he had come down with a decision on SSI and BESCO and on the basis of that decision it affected our contract, I haven't even had my day in court." Superdome commission attorney Kronlage feels the state legislature did have the power to ratify the contacts because of "Section T" of the constitutional amendment which established the Louisiana Superdome and Exposition District in 1969. "Section T gives the legislature the right to effect any undertaking that the commission enters into," Kronlage said. "The legislative act of 1974 specifically ratified all the contracts. We acted on the premise we were never bound by the public bid law." Another question is whether Loyola's contact is so-called "cost-plus." A cost-plus contract is one where the dome reimburses the contractor for the cost of materials and labor. The contractor's profit is a certain percentage of and an addition to the total cost of the project. Under this arrangment, the contractor bears no risk of the contract and is assured a profit. A contractor can also increase his profit by adding more people to do the job. Cost-plus contracts are illegal. "To the best of my knowledge," Rayre said, "our contract is not a cost-plus contract. We have a franchise agreement in which WWL has exclusive rights for TV with any user of the stadium. Our contract does not involve the expenditure of any money by the domed stadium. We pay a guaranteed fee." The suit could linger in Civil District Court as long as one and a half years, according to Kronlage.