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The Louisville Cardinal
7he independent weekly student newspaper at the University of Louisville since 1926
APRIL 8, 2008 www.louisvillecardinal.com
Over the past week, the University of Louisville has sent out three crime alerts, via e-mail, to its students. All three reports were regarding robberies or assaults near
Belknap campus. Although the crime alerts included details of the suspects, none have been apprehended in connection with these crimes.
Flurry of recent reports plagues campus .
By Brian Ray
The Louisville Cardinal
Three days. Three crimes.
Three crime reports.
Over the course of seven days
two University of Louisville stu­dents
and a non-srudenr were
assaulted and robbed, with the
crimes reported to the U of L
Department of Public Safety,
April 1-3.
All three crime reports were
sent out to students via e-mail
warning of the violent behavior
and descriptions of the suspects.
DPS issued a statement via
e-mail on Saturday addressing
the recent crime alerts, stating
that the crimes are currently be­ing
investigated by the Louisville
Metro Police Department. DPS
is working with LMPD to follow
up on tips and provide a greater
police presence around campus.
"We are very good at getting
information out right now," said
DPS Major Kenneth Brown.
"But three crime reports in three
days is very unusual for us."
I
N
s
I
D
E
J
'
The first, crime occurred on
March 27 around 11 :35 p.m.,
when a U of L student walking
to his vehicle behind Kurz Hall,
was robbed at knifepoint. How­ever,
the crime was not reported
to university police until April 2.
The next crime occurred in
the Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
parking lot, as a non-student was
walking home from_ Tailgaters
Sports Bar. Five suspects had fol ­lowed
him from the bar and at
about 1:40 a.m. the victim was
struck in the chest with an un­known
object, robbed of his wal­let
and then struck in his face.
The most recent robbery oc­curred
April 2 at Stansbury Park,
the Metro Park located just south
of the fraternity complexes. A U
of L student reported that at ap­proximately
10:56 p.m., he was
alone at the swing set· in the park
when two suspects approached
him and asked for a cigarette.
One suspect proceeded to pull
out a handgun and made the
victim empty his pockets, took
CRIME see page 2
SPORTS
U of L's 'Demo'
will
'tumble 4 ya'
Senior Demorick
'Demo' Garrett leads
the Spirit Squad.
See page4
Editorial 502.852.0663 ·Advertising 502.852.0669
COURTESY MAPQUEST CURTIS CREEKMORE/LOUISVJLLE CARDINAL
The map above illustrates the three most recent acts of crime committed at the
University of Louisville. The first occurred in the parking lot of Kurz Hall on March
27. The second took place across the street from Tailgater's the morning of Aprill.
The third and most recent happened in Stansbury Park on April2.
THE BEAT
When the sun
goes down ••• the
fun begins
Students vary with hangout
spots, activities during after
school hours.
See page 7
VOLUME 82, ISSUE 27 • 10 PAGES, 1 SECTION
Assembly
passes budget
Highered.
gets three
percent cut
By Julia Yetter
The Louisville Cardinal
The University of Louisville
came one step closer .to realizing
its financial fate on April 2, as
the Kentucky General Assem­bly
passed its state budget. The
budget cuts funding for higher
education by three percent and
failed to increase any taxes, in­cluding
the heavily debated ciga­rette
tax.
The Senate voted down the
25 cent increase in the state's cig­arette
tax that was passed in the
house budget last month. The
house projected the increased
tax would generate around $292
million for the state, a portion
of which had been designated to
funding higher education.
As U of L contemplates its
financial future, students are left
to ponder what might have been,
had the tax increase been passed.
"I would have supported the
tax increase and I'm a smoker,"
freshman history major Laura
Elisabeth said. "Cigarettes are
still relatively cheap, but tuition
just seems to keep going up."
According to John Drees,
Vice President of Communica­tions
and Markering for U of L,
the university was supportive of
the new revenue streams, but ac­cepts
that it will have to make do
with what it has been given.
"The university is still working
our some issues regarding these
cuts," Drees said. "This has been
a very rough session with many
tough decisions. No one is happy
about the cuts to higher educa-
MONEY MATTERS
~ Kentucky General
Assembly passed state
budget on April 2.
~ Included is a 3 percent
statewide funding cut to
higher education.
~ The 25 cent cigarette
tax, proposed by the
House, was blocked in the
Senate.
~ The budget currently
awaits Gov. Beshear's
approval.
tion funding, but it is better than
we felt back in January."
tfouse Dennocrat rfarry
Moberly was less reserved in
his criticism toward the budget.
Moberly, who voted against the
budget, was quoted recently in
The Courier-Journal telling re­porters
that "this is bad budget
for education ... really bad."
Gov. Steve Beshear expressed
his own dissatisfaction toward
the budget, threatening to call
a special session in order to ad­dress
issues of revenue. Beshear
was quotad in The Courier-Jour­nal
as stating the Senate's refusal
to approve any new revenue "is
really going to hurt the people of
this commonwealth for the next
two years."
Some in the university com­munity
share Beshear's frustra­tion.
Or. Phil Laemrnle, a retired
political science professor at U of
L, stressed the need for the state
to find new sources of revenue.
"Some legislators are trapped
in a no new taxes mentality,"
Laemmle said. "Kentucky is a
very conservative state and people
as a whole haven't really thought
through the consequence:s of no
new taxes."
State Auditor Crit Luallen ad­BUDGET
see page 2
Grad., law school
budget takes hit
Sources: Law
dean provides
some funding
By Dennis O'Neil
The Louisville Cardinal
As the University of Louis­ville
strains under its current
budget crisis, some administra­tors
have refused to allow stu­dent
jobs onto the chopping
block.
According to Graduate Stu­dent
Council President Tim
Brauch, as well as law students,
Brandeis Law School Dean Jim
Chen has been taking money
out of his own salary to con­tinue
funding student positions
such as law library research as­sistants
and tutors for first year
law students. Brauch said these
positions were about to be elim­inated
as a result of the recent
budget cuts, but Chen elected
to keep them on through use of
his own money.
ONLINE
Visit us online for
more stories, photos
and blogs·
Brauch also said that the
Student Government Associa­tion
recently voted to supply
the law school with $10,000 in
funding after learning about the
situation from law school sena­tors.
"SGA recognized this was
a valid use of money," Brauch
said. "We voted to use an ex­cess
fund we had in order to
keep the student positions. The
nnoney covers most of what
Dean Chen was paying out of
his pocket, which he was doing
for about a month."
Chen declined to comment
for this story, but according to
Student Bar Association Presi­dent
Justin Fowles, the recent
budget cuts have hit the law
school hard. Fowles said 15 to
20 research assistants have been
laid off and all travel money for
academic conferences has been
eliminated.
In light of these cuts, Fowles
and other law students have ex­pressed
appreciation for the ac­tions
of Chen and SGA.
''As a new dean, Chen has
FUNDING see page 2
INDEX
Briefs 2
Classified 9
Editorial 6
Opinion 6
Sports 4
The Beat 7
Weather 2
Web link 2
©2008 THE LOUISVILLE CARDINAL, INC.