TULANE TALK

March 23, 2012

Good Morning:

By this time next week New Orleans will be caught up in the excitement surrounding the 2012 NCAAÆ Men’s Final FourÆ. As the local host institution, Tulane, along with the Allstate Sugar Bowl, Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, the city of New Orleans and others, is helping to support numerous community events in the week leading up to the games that will crown college basketball’s national champion.

Starting next week, the NCAA, Tulane and their other partners will refurbish basketball courts and make other improvements at local schools and gyms. We will bring local schoolchildren to the http Dat Youth Farm to plant citrus trees with Tulane’s student-athletes and learn about future educational and job opportunities.

Tulane is also helping to promote the LG Electronics “Do March Right” recycling program, by encouraging everyone to bring their old computers, televisions and other electronics to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Parking Lot 4, on Sunday, March 25, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for recycling and safe disposal.

We are also promoting the efforts of the NCAA and the National Association of Basketball Coaches to help Samaritan’s Feet and Feed the Hungry distribute 2,012 pairs of shoes and food boxes to kids and families in need in the New Orleans community. In addition we hosted the NCAA’s Career in Sports Forum for our young residents and are hosting the NCAA Hoops Clinics for New Orleans-area youth. We are also promoting the Final Four Friday Youth Day that will include lessons on health, personal responsibility and community engagement and the Final Four Dribble, in which thousands of kids will dribble basketballs from Champions Square to the Convention Center. And, finally, we will have volunteers at all the Final Four’s http events.

The Final Four is an iconic sports event and an important moment for New Orleans. We are so proud to serve as the host institutionóboth for the good of the community and the love of the game.

Have a great weekend,