Opinion: UA right to await better times for stadium addition
Tuscaloosa News – March 14
How big is too big for University of Alabama football? Fans who are hoping to test that question with another expansion of Bryant-Denny Stadium will have to wait a little longer…UA President Robert Witt said he believes now is not the right time to embark on another big capital campaign. It is hard to question his logic…the university has not wrapped up its $500 million “Our Students. Our Future” capital campaign that includes far more than improving athletic facilities – half of that money will go to student scholarships. The capital campaign is supposed to be finished next June, and pledges stand at $465 million. It is likely to hit the half-billion mark well before the target date, but a slower economy may also mean a slower stream of additional pledges. Witt didn’t directly tie a delay in stadium expansion to impending cuts in funding from Montgomery, but it is hard to avoid that as a factor…That does not make it an opportune time, politically, to get busy with spending a lot of money on a football stadium… That time will come, but we cannot fault UA administrators for biding for the right time.
Bill Clinton talks student activism
Associated Press National Wire – March 14
Hundreds of college students, nonprofit groups and college administrators are gathering this weekend in New Orleans for the inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University – the latest project of former President Clinton’s William J. Clinton Foundation. The project’s goal is to push and help college students take on global problems with concrete steps and commitments…Among the 700 or so students who have already committed to projects are…a University of Alabama student working with the campus bookstore to move from plastic to canvas and mesh bags…
This week in Tusk-aloosa
Tuscaloosa News – March 14
Cason Kirby of Gadsden was elected president of the Student Government Association at the University of Alabama for the 2008-2009 term. About 5,240 votes were cast in the student election on March 4-5. Other executive officers elected included: Executive vice president: Allen Ross of Daphne… — The University of Alabama College of Engineering will host a robotics research program for undergraduates this summer. Two interns will be selected from participating historically black college and university schools to take part in the Advancing Robotics Technology for Societal Impact Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates program…
2008 UA football tickets show only slight increase
Birmingham News – March 14
For six of the seven games on the University of Alabama home football schedule, fans will pay the same price as last year. The total price for a season ticket to attend games at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2008 is $355, according to renewal information sent to all Tide Pride season ticket holders this week. Last season, it was $345 for seven games. The small increase comes because the fourth Southeastern Conference game is the Iron Bowl, which is in Tuscaloosa in 2008 and on the season ticket package…
A shrine to ‘Bear’ is a winner
Houston Chronicle – March 14
…Football fans who find themselves in the vicinity of Tuscaloosa won’t want to miss one of America’s most unusual shrines, the Paul W. Bryant Museum. A lot of college football museums can be found across the country, but none so dedicated to a single man’s legend…The Bryant museum, on the east side of the University of Alabama campus, isn’t just about the Bear…museum tells the whole history of Alabama football. Battered leather helmets, old jerseys, a lumpy ball from the 1894 Auburn game…
Librarian wins top honor
Pensacola News Journal – March 14
Dee Whisenhunt, the librarian at Episcopal Day School in downtown Pensacola, received the Cogan Bryan Award from the University of Alabama for outstanding work in science and technology…Whisenhunt plans to attend an Honors Day on Friday, April 18 at the University of Alabama where she will be presented her award…