The Daily Reveille - January 23, 2015

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Friday, January 23, 2015 faculty

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Campus life

Students, faculty gear up for ‘The Response’

Faculty Senate discontent with prayer rally

BY carrie grace henderson chenderson@lsureveille.com Two days before Gov. Bobby Jindal’s “The Response” prayer rally, the Faculty Senate passed a resolution 15-1 expressing displeasure with the event. The event has drawn criticism from many who disagree with the views of the American Family Association, funding the rally at the PMAC Saturday. Proponents of the resolution — including its original author, social work associate professor Elaine Maccio — said it was not a matter of preventing the rally to take place but rather expressing the Senate’s view against it. “What it comes down to is whether we think we want to let this go by without our criticism,” said English department senator Lillian Bridwell-Bowles, citing what she called the antiintellectual and anti-scientific views of the AFA. The resolution opposes the rally on the grounds it will have “deleterious effects” on the University’s reputation and potentially create an unsafe environment. Opposition to the resolution first came from senator and math professor Charles Delzell. “My main opposition to the resolution is just a matter of free speech,” Delzell said. “If you’re just coming to LSU to use the facility, I don’t see the need for the Faculty Senate to act.” Political science professor James Stoner cited the 1993 Supreme Court Case Lamb’s Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School District. Lamb’s Chapel, a New York church, brought suit against the Center Moriches school district when it would not allow an after-hours religious-themed film series. “It said that once a public facility, in this case a University, makes a facility available for civic groups, it can’t exercise any kind of discrimination as to which group uses the facility,” Stoner said. Stoner said it was not the

see faculty senate, page 4

Volume 119 · No. 76

BY william taylor potter wpotter@lsureveille.com

photos by javier fernández / The Daily Reveille

The Studio Arts Building [top] currently is awaiting renovations. In April 2014, students and faculty protested the decaying conditions of the building after a concrete panel fell from the ceiling in November 2013.

Studio Arts Building renovations at a standstill Amid higher ed budget cuts, University awaits funds from state BY Rose Velazquez rvelazquez@lsureveille.com With the amount of money invested in the renovation of Patrick F. Taylor Hall and the Business Education Complex, studio art senior Emily Seba said the University’s art students and faculty are undervalued. In April 2014, art students and faculty gathered to protest the dilapidated state of the Studio Arts Building and met with administrators to discuss possible solutions. In November 2013, a concrete panel fell from the ceramics studio roof, shutting down the facility. “They always use money, and what really

pissed everyone off — especially if you’re in the Studio Arts Building — is you see the brand new renovations to the stadium right across the street,” Seba said. “We’re in this really awful building that some of the windows are broken, and they don’t care about us, but they’ll pay money for what they deem is more important than us.” The LSU System received about $14 million last year through the Workforce and Innovation for a Stronger Economy Fund, and the College of Engineering received $110 million through private investments and state funding for the renovation of Patrick F.

see art building, page 4

Two events originating from the University now are drawing attention from across the state. Gov. Bobby Jindal’s prayer rally, “The Response,” will take place Saturday at the PMAC. The event is subject to protests against the sponsoring organization, the American Family Association, for its stance against the LGBT community. The University student- and faculty-coordinated protest, “Organize, Reflect, Act: A Day of Action for Justice in Louisiana,” will meet at the Memorial Bell Tower before marching to protest at the PMAC. “I honestly thought it was only going to be 30 people outside with signs,” said public administration graduate student and protest organizer Peter Jenkins. “We have people coming from Lafayette and Lake Charles and other cities in Louisiana that I’ve never heard of, which is surprising because I thought I had heard of all the cities.” There will be panel discussions and workshops on social media activism, grassroots lobbying, direct action and intersectional coalitions. “We end up empowering a community that is equipped to deal with the kind of injustice and hate that we see on parade,” said assistant English professor Chris Barrett. Sessions will be led by experts from each field, Jenkins said. “The intersectional coalition training is about bringing these groups with different focuses and bringing them together to connect,” he said. Jenkins hopes around 800 participants attend. He said the protest has found a lot of support in Christian groups that disagree with AFA. “Most of the people that

see prayer rally, page 4


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