Win a Raffle, Blow Up a Building

Nicholls State University (La.) will let a lucky raffle winner send off a landmark building with a bang -- the chance to detonate the charges that will bring down a residence hall in a cloud of dust.

Hopeful contenders can purchase raffle tickets, priced at $10 each, for this “Bringing Down the House" ceremony, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 22, at 11 a.m. After a drawing at 10:30 a.m., the individual who purchases the winning ticket--and is present for the drawing--will press the button that sets off the explosive charges. On that day, the Huey P. Long Hall, a facility that has housed Nicholls students since the late 1960s, will be no more.   

However, Nicholls officials will not have the hall's legacy fade into oblivion. They decided to create a new Huey P. Long Hall Endowed Memorial Scholarship, to be given to a student living in on-campus housing. Proceeds from the raffle will fund the new scholarship.

Ticket orders are now being accepted by four campus offices. Sales will continue until just prior to the event.

Nicholls is in the middle of plans to demolish outdated dorms and replace them with new housing facilities catering to today's college students. Long Hall will be the fourth and final obsolete residence hall to be demolished this fall. The university is also getting rid of Meade, Millet and Zeringue residence halls and plans to have those projects completed by the end of the semester.