Volume 122 · No. 1
Monday, August 22, 2016
EST. 1887
lsunow.com
@lsureveille
thedailyreveille
dailyreveille OPINION
‘When it rains,
it pours’
Students return to campus following a tumultuous summer of loss BY KATIE GAGLIANO and LAUREN HEFFKER @katie_gagliano | @laurheffker
JOURDAN RILEY / The Daily Reveille
JOURDAN RILEY / The Daily Reveille
courtesy of THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baton Rouge residents weathered an array of emotions this summer — from disgust and outrage after the killings of Alton Sterling and three area law enforcement officers to heartbreak and devastation when flooding rampaged through South Louisiana. For University students, many of whom watched the summer’s events unfold from out of state, fear may have also been added to the mix. Mass communication sophomore Marquez Anderson followed the events from his hometown, McComb, Mississippi. Though he was not in Baton Rouge at the time of the shootings, he said the tragedies and subsequent protests made him apprehensive about returning to the University. “When you have to start being fearful about your life and the people around you, it just takes things to a whole different level,” Anderson said. “That’s what made it so scary for me.” He said he knew a few people in Baton Rouge at the time of the shootings, but they were not hurt. Even though emotions from that divisive July were somewhat extinguished by the floodwaters of the last week, Anderson said he was still worried about how the campus would come together when the semester began. “Baton Rouge was divided at some point,” he said. “It felt like it was a war between Americans and the police themselves. It’s not really something that can just be resolved overnight.”
University students and alumni organized and led several events this summer in an attempt to unite the community. Two rallies, a “Unity Prayer” and the “Forever Baton Rouge” vigil, were held at Memorial Tower following the deaths of Sterling and the three law enforcement officers: Brad Garafola, Montrell Jackson and Matthew Gerald. Anderson said his parents did not try to talk him out of coming back to the University, though he said they did have concerns. Together, they discussed how to handle certain situations, places he should avoid and times he should not go to certain areas. “They had their doubts about what was going on because it seemed like … no one was working toward a resolution,” Anderson said. “When things of that nature are going on, any parent will naturally feel concern for their child.” Petroleum engineering junior Drumil Parekh echoed those sentiments of fear and worry. He heard the news of Baton Rouge’s shootings from his home in Singapore and began to worry for his friends back in Louisiana. He said some of his friends stayed in their homes, scared to leave, while others tried to find ways to help. “They felt a little helpless in this case,” Parekh said. “They felt like they didn’t have much say out there.” Parekh, who works as a residential assistant in Blake Hall, said RAs underwent training that included information on how to talk to incoming
see RETURN, page 2 photo by JORDAN MARCELL / The Daily Reveille
University rushed start of semester BY ANJANA NAIR @anjanaaanair The storm that flooded Southeast Louisiana did not end with the rain that fell on the weekend of Aug. 12. The true storm came afterwards, when families returned to their homes to find entire neighborhoods destroyed and their belongings floating in the streets. Those who did not have friends and family to stay with became the tens of thousands of people living in shelters throughout Louisiana. Now, students across the state are burdened with the looming responsibility of returning to school this week. In an Aug. 19 broadcast email, LSU President F. King Alexander said classes would begin as scheduled because “it is critically important for our community to continue moving forward even as we help our friends and family recover,” and that “healing requires a sense of normalcy and routine and comfort.” Alexander also conceded that some students and faculty members will not be able to “join us yet.” The University has set up a food pantry in the Student Union that is accessible to all students and a medical shelter in the Carl Maddox Field House. It has also set up a Student Relief Fund that will distribute money to students who lost possessions in the flood. But for students like biology junior Josh Johnson, these resources are simply not enough. “It was 4 a.m. when the water started coming in the house in Central, where I live,” he said. Johnson and his family lost everything. Their home, their cars and their financial stability were taken by the eight feet of water that invaded their neighborhood.
see RECOVERY, page 5