The Reveille 2-7-22

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Mond ay, Fe b r u a r y 7, 2 022

PICK OF THE BUNCH Sophomore infield Jacob Berry may turn heads this season after transferring from Arizona

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Data obtained by The Reveille show the signficance of LSU’s deferred maintenance backlog.

ENTERTAINMENT

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Black History Month, Mardi Gras and Valentine’s events are all underway in Baton Rouge.

SPORTS

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Gold medalist Suni Lee faced off with LSU stars Kiya Johnson and Haleigh Bryant in front of a record crowd.

OPINION

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“When free expression is incompatible with the university’s mission of seeking truth, it has gone too far.”

L SU Re ve i l le.co m @l s u r e ve i l le

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SWITCH-HITTING SENSATION

B-16 Hodges Hall Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, La. 70803

“You guys just need to see what he’s going to be able to do.”

BY JARED BRODTMANN @_therealjarbear Jacob Berry had never been to Louisiana before. He knew a few things about the state’s relationship with baseball, but he had never experienced the passion and energy for himself.

So when there were nearly a dozen cameras filming his first interview on LSU baseball’s Media Day, along with numerous other recording devices, Berry looked overwhelmed. He had never seen anything like this.

“I didn’t even see them in [Nebraska],” Berry commented on the amount of media attention present. “So that’s a little bit new to me.”

He gave a shaky smile and continued. “Just trying to do the best I can right now.”

Berry grew up in a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona in a town called Queen Creek. The oldest of four, the Berry family loved baseball and softball. Arizona is a hotbed for the game, with the Cactus League taking place all over the state for some MLB spring training, and the Arizona Diamondbacks making their home in Phoenix as well. Perry Berry, Jacob’s father, was a massive influence on his children’s lives, and one of the easiest ways was taking Jacob and his family to Diamondbacks games.

“I remember watching Paul Goldschmidt growing up,” Jacob said. “Just the way he played the game was unbelievable. A great character guy, plays the game and just did everything the right way. That’s how I approach my game and how I want to play as a player.”

When he wasn’t watching games at Chase Field, Jacob was working with his seasoned veteran of a father. Perry played four stellar seasons in UL-Lafayette as an infielder and was drafted by the Houston Astros in the fourth round of the 1990 MLB draft. He spent four years in the minor leagues but never made a major league appearance.

Since then, he has served in the Arizona public school system as the Queen Creek County School Superintendent, where he got to be very involved in his son’s growth as a player and a person.

“He’s been my biggest supporter in everything: baseball, school, and life,” Jacob said fondly of his father.

The strength of their relationship was palpable with his words.

One of the first things he taught his son on the field was to switch hit, something most players don’t develop into a legitimate skill until much later in their careers.

“I’ve been switch hitting as long as I can remember,” Jacob said. “My dad had me switch hit because I couldn’t hit a breaking ball. He was a pretty good player, I thought, and he taught me both

ways. I’ve just been doing it for so long, and it’s been working out pretty good for me now.”

“Pretty good” might be an understatement. Berry led his Arizona team in home runs (17), RBIs (70), slugging percentage (.676) and OPS (1.115) and was second in batting average (.352) as a freshman. He was awarded numerous All-American accolades from multiple media outlets, as well as Collegiate Baseball’s National Co-Freshman of the Year and a Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist. Arizona made

swings at are usually ones he can impact.”

“I’ve had such a great relationship (with Johnson) for about five, six years,” Berry said. “He gave me the opportunity to finish my college career here, and I was really thankful for it. I’ve just had such a great relationship with him, and it’s the reason I’m here now.”

Following Johnson to Baton Rouge has not been easy for the 20 year old. Berry was an Arizona kid after all, and to pick everything up and move 1,000 miles

PETER NGUYEN / The Reveille

LSU baseball sophomore infield Jacob Berry (14) talks about his experience in Louisiana Jan. 28 in Alex Box Stadium. it to Omaha but lost in two consecutive games in an early exit.

With Goldschmidt-like power and Chipper Jones-like versatility at the plate, Berry was spectacular last season.

Jay Johnson saw it firsthand; as the Wildcats’ coach last season, he was able to understand what made Berry so special as the most prolific switch hitter in the college game. What he observed played a large role in his effort to bring Berry to Baton Rouge.

“Hitting is hard, so to manage both sides is really hard,” Johnson said of Berry. “I think a couple things that helped him with that is he started at a young age and is very simple and has really sound fundamentals, and he’s incredibly strong. With an aluminum bat in his hands and all of those qualities, he sees the ball really well and has great plate discipline, so the pitches he

away at that age to pursue as specific a goal as getting LSU back to Omaha and building a strong scouting report as the MLB draft approaches is a difficult thing to process. Berry mentioned how amazing it was to see 4,000 people show up for LSU’s fall scrimmage against UL-Lafayette.

Yet, despite all the cameras and growing popularity, Berry is staying true to himself while meshing his interests with what Louisiana has to offer. The humble sophomore must have inherited some of his father’s love for the state. The result: A young man who is confident in who he is in spite of the culture shock.

“The food’s amazing, and one of the things that I love to do is hunt and fish,” Berry smiled and said. “I’ve actually gotten to go duck hunting a few times, and I went bass fishing.”

Berry’s relationships with his

teammates have bloomed quickly. Before even arriving on campus, he met the only player on LSU’s team with a higher OPS (by 0.001) last season while playing on Team USA—Dylan Crews. Together, the two built their friendship and hitting prowess, putting the SEC on notice before Berry even reached to Baton Rouge for the fall. Crews was very impressed with Berry’s consistent dedication to his craft, and the duo love to compete and push each other to get better.

“As soon as I saw him pull his name out of Arizona, I had a good feeling that he was coming over here,” Crews said. “It was awesome. Hitting in front of him, hitting behind him, it’s just been great. Having a guy like that, it rarely happens.”

Cade Beloso has been at LSU for four years now. He has the privilege to play with hit king Antoine Duplantis, dynamic hitter Daniel Cabrera, and just last year the astounding season Dylan Crews had. It takes a lot for him to see something new and noteworthy—Jacob Berry fit the bill.

“I’ve never actually gotten to see a switch hitter before, so that was pretty cool,” Beloso laughed.

“He rakes from both sides. He’s always just so focused on the moment.”

For his pitchers, Berry gives a phenomenal opportunity to improve in practice. It is challenging to find better hitters to practice against than what projects to be one of the best offenses in the SEC this year. Vice versa, the pitchers help Berry stay true to himself and never relent in his pursuit of his goals. The drive Berry and his wingman Crews bring to the team has been noticed by another driven draft prospect, fifth-year hurler Devin Fontenot. “(Berry) and Crews are those natural athletes,” Fontenot said.

“They’re really strong, but they’re really hard workers. They’re up here hours and hours out of each day trying to perfect their craft.

Getting behind them and seeing what they do makes you want to do the same thing.”

It is a perfect recipe for success when the best players are the hard workers, and Berry is a key contributor to that. The switch-hitting kid from Arizona, son of a Louisiana baseball father, who works hard and hits the ball harder is going to be a player LSU fans will fall in love with this year. There was no reason for Berry to be overwhelmed on Friday; this is a perfect match.

Bryce Collins saw Berry play for a full season together at Arizona as freshmen. His reaction to Berry’s abilities is probably the most fitting conclusion on who Jacob Berry is: Watch what I do, not what I say.

“You guys just need to see what he’s going to be able to do,” Collins said with a knowing grin.

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ABOUT THE REVEILLE The Reveille is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University. The Reveille is an independent entity of the Office of Student Media within the Manship School of Mass Communication.

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NEWS SG voting are COLLEGE COMPARISON rates on the

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STUDENT GOVERNMENT

A breakdown of LSU’s deferred maintenance needs

BY PIPER HUTCHINSON @PiperHutchBR

Note: Louisiana legislators will decide what to do with a significant surplus of cash available to the state in the next legislative session in March. Ahead of the session, The Reveille is dedicating a string of stories looking at LSU’s infrastructure. This is the fifth story in the ongoing series.

No matter which way you slice it, LSU has some of the most significant deferred maintenance needs in Louisiana.

LSU is the largest university in the state in terms of campus size and student population, so direct comparisons of total maintenance backlog costs between LSU and smaller Louisiana schools doesn’t paint a full picture.

With over 35,000 students, LSU has nearly three times as many students as the next largest school, Louisiana Tech, which has over 12,000 students.

LSU also has a much larger campus than most schools, totaling over 15 million square feet.

More room means more stuff to break. Most public universities in Louisiana have fewer than 4 million square feet in floor space, with several under 1 million.

There are 17 public universities in Louisiana, eight of which The Reveille was able to collect data from. The school’s deferred maintenance needs are broken down into cost per student and cost per square foot of each campus. LSU still comes out with the

rise

BY JOHN BUZZBEE @ thebuzzbuzz LSU students voted at some of the highest rates in Student Government elections last spring. Despite the progress, voter turnout remains significantly low among students.

Just over 5,200 students, or 15% of the student body, voted last spring – an increase of 42% compared to the previous semester.

Semester Total Votes Voting Rate Spring 2018 3,243 9% Spring 2019 3,693 10% Spring 2020 3,646 10% Spring 2021 5,207 14%

CAILIN TRAN / The Reveille

most pressing needs.

Breaking it down Louisiana State University • Total deferred maintenance needs: $636,808,794 • Cost per square foot: $42 • Cost per student: $18,089

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Southeastern Louisiana University Total deferred maintenance needs: $63,667,000 Cost per square foot: $20 Cost per student: $14,029 Louisiana State University

Shreveport Total deferred maintenance needs: $18,000,000 • Cost per square foot: $26 • Cost per student: $2,113

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Northwestern State University • Total deferred maintenance needs: $29,758,000 • Cost per square foot: $36 • Cost per student: $3,305 University of New Orleans • Total deferred maintenance needs: $54,664,350 • Cost per square foot: $17

• Cost per student: $7,928 Nicholls State University • Total deferred maintenance needs: $52,794,836 • Cost per square foot: $31 •

Cost per student: $9,304

Grambling State University • Total deferred maintenance needs: $39,875,000 • Cost per square foot: $19 • Cost per student: $7,332 Louisiana Tech

see MAINTENANCE, page 4

“This is not a new phenomenon. Voter turnout has been relatively low for years and years,” said Rehn Maham, a junior studying economics and political science and an associate justice for the university court.

Every spring, LSU students elect a new president, vice president, senators and other positions through TigerLink. An email is sent out around election day with a link for where students vote, and the process takes only a few minutes.

This semester, elections take place March 30. Elections for senators and other positions take place in the fall, when turnout is

see SG, page 4

SAFETY

Sexual assault advocacy groups prepare for spring semester

BY CORBIN ROSS @CorbinRoss5 Sexual assault activist groups are making plans for the new semester, including establishing an advisory council for powerbased violence, a blue light alarm system around campus, further fundraising for survivors of sexual violence and increasing pressure on administration to enact changes.

The executive board of Tigers Against Sexual Assault met on Jan. 22 to discuss their plans for the semester.

According to Angelina Cantelli, one of TASA’s co-presidents, the group plans to hold fundraisers for survivors of sexual assault, including a dodgeball tournament where student organizations can pay to compete.

Cantelli said that TASA also plans to hold educational events

and host guest speakers who lobby at the Louisiana Capitol on behalf of survivors. They also plan to host an event called Coffee and Consent, where people can gather at a coffee shop to discuss issues surrounding dating and consent.

Isabella Rovere, a political science junior who was formerly on the Student Task Force for sexual assault, is forming a group that will be called the Advisory Council for Power-Based Violence. This group will work directly with the Title IX office to provide a student’s perspective for the office.

“So now that students have this knowledge of our campus culture and campus climate, we’re moving toward the prevention aspect and having students on board to brainstorm ideas of how we can bring in prevention practices on campuses,” Rovere said.

Rovere will serve as the chair of the council and is looking for other students to join. Rovere hopes to have the group’s first meeting before Valentine’s Day. Rovere is also working with the Title IX Office to establishclearer guidelines for sanctioning faculty and students named in Title IX lawsuits. She is also working to have student organizations complete training modules on sexual assault.

Outreach chair for Feminists in Action Paola Colmenares, a kinesiology and Spanish senior, said that the group plans to hold a transparency meeting with the Title IX Office to get an idea of the progress made and what more needs to be done.

They also plan to hold a number of events to raise awareness, specifically in April, which is sexual assault awareness month.

see PRESSURE, page 4

JULIAN COOPER / The Reveille

Memorial Tower peaks above the building on Feb. 2 at LSU’s campus on Tower Drive in Baton Rouge, La.

Monday, February 7, 2022

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Total deferred maintenance needs: $50,000,000 Cost per square foot: $15

•

Cost per student: $4,027

Building it up While LSU would need a cool $640 million to clear its deferred maintenance backlog, there are a couple other factors to take into consideration.

One is that the total is growing every year. Roger Husser, assistant vice president for Planning, Design and Construction said that the total grows by about $20 million every year.

Another factor is that the deferred maintenance backlog is not intended to be fully cleared.

Some buildings that need maintenance will end up demolished.

Others will end up replaced.

The LSU Library currently needs over $30 million in deferred maintenance, but it’s likely to be demolished and replaced before much of those needs are addressed.

Of course, a new library will cost a lot more than $30 million, but that money would most likely come from separate funding sources.

Gov. John Bel Edwards presented his budget proposal on Jan. 24, which included a proposal for $108 million for deferred maintenance. While that money would go to deferred maintenance projects across the state—

PRESSURE, from page 3

CAILIN TRAN / The Reveille

and not just to ones on college campuses— commissioner of administration Jay Dardenne said a significant portion of that would likely go to higher education institutions.

That is assuming that the $108 million gets approved by the Republican-controlled legislature, which has final say on the budget.

Dardenne gave more details on Edwards’ budget on Jan. 25 to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget. He said that the committee has previously declined to use these one-time

funds for deferred maintenance, but urges them to approve it this time.

“Every time that we fail to meet a deferred maintenance obligation, it is just increasing the price that we’re going to pay down the line,” Dardenne said.

Even if the legislature doesn’t approve the full $108 million, schools are likely to get some funds from the state for deferred maintenance. LSU received $5 million last year.

That $5 million, a small drop in the bucket LSU’s needs, paid for 12 of over 7,000 projects on

the deferred maintenance list, including replacing the roof on Nicholson Hall, coating the roof on the LSU Library and paying for part of the studio arts building renovations.

It’s worth noting that despite the $450,000-coating for the roof of the library, other roof repairs costing $850,000 remain on the university’s deferred maintenance priority list. On top of that, 49 other projects related to the library require attention.

How much LSU will receive this year, and what that money will go to, remains to be seen.

SG, from page 3 even lower.

“It is generally fairly easy to vote in Student Government elections,” Maham said. “Any student can create a TigerLink account, as long as you’re on the list the registrar gives us of students, you can vote.”

Student Government now uses a rank-choice voting system, where students rank their most preferred candidate to least preferred, in an effort to avoid runoff elections when voting rates are even lower.

Ashyln Anderson, a junior political communications major and SG election chair commissioner, said many students don’t realize how influential SG is and how much their decisions affect students.

“People should be invested in Student Government,” Anderson said. “For president and vice president, these two people will be the liaison between the students and the Faculty Senate. They’re going to be the ones to go up to that senate and, in a sense, be speaking for the students.”

Maham said a “chicken and egg” problem presents itself. On one hand, student representatives are meant to speak for students and advocate for issues they face.

But if only 15% of the student body is voting in elections, SG members don’t have a stake in the approval of LSU students.

“If you don’t vote, there’s strong incentive for campaigns to not worry about your vote and to

JULIAN COOPER / The Reveille

Charles E. Coates Hall sits on Feb. 2 at the Quad on LSU’s campus in Baton Rouge, LA. not worry about the issues that you might care about,” Maham said. “If you do vote, campaigns are more incentivized to worry about the issues you do care about, and your fees are more likely to be spent on things you want them spent on. Not voting is a perfectly legitimate option, but if you pick that option, you should know that Student Government is going to be a lot less interested in

your voice moving forward.”

SG allocates about $121,000 to various projects and organizations. Just like state and federal legislatures though, approving projects and funding can take a long time, as senators debate the importance of different decisions.

If students wanted to see more money go toward the library for renovations, for example, students could push their represen-

tatives toward that initiative.

Many of the changes that students want to see cannot be completed in the time that a cabinet is in office. As students graduate, many concerns are inherited by someone who may have not even been at LSU when that direction was taken.

“The process for enacting anything that Student Government wants them to do is actually so

FIA also plans to push the university to establish a blue light system, a network of alarm devices placed throughout campus. If a student feels they are in danger, they can press the alarm, and campus police will be alerted to that location.

Many other U.S. colleges use the blue-alarm system.

Despite LSU’s progress on the Husch Blackwell recommendations, activists say more work still needs to be done.

Cantelli said that part of the issue is most students don’t know how the Title IX process works, so if their cases are mishandled, they may not even know.

“I think the university could definitely do better at building trust by having media posts, having information out there that says like this is what it looks like when you report to Title IX, this is what should happen, and if this does not happen, then this is where you can go to report it,” Cantelli said.

Colmenares said that despite the work that still needs to be done, she does think the university is heading in the right direction.

“I think that so long as the students remain outraged and we actually voice our opinions and we’re not silenced by LSU, I think that we will always be moving in the right direction,” Colmenares said.

much longer than we think,” said Madison Latiolais, political science junior serving as the vice chair of the election commission.

“Today, we’re very quick. We want change immediately; we want it now and in a state school, that is more difficult than any of us actually realize. Anything that goes through the state just takes so ridiculously long.”

Sports administration senior and SG chief of senior executive staff Chandler Black said students who aren’t involved in the LSU community don’t have direct lines of communication with higher ups at LSU who are responsible for important decisions.

“The president and vice president, they text Dr. William Tate, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ They have a direct line of communication,” Black said.

While TigerLink is accessible to the election commission staff, Black sympathizes with students who are too busy to care about their emails and TigerLink. Voting used to take place on Moodle and forced students to acknowledge its presence simply because of the frequency that Moodle is used.

As the spring 2022 election season approaches, Anderson, Latiolais and Black hope that students will be more involved and genuinely pay attention to the platform that candidates are running on.

“It’s so important to vote for who you genuinely think is going to advocate for you in the best way, not just who had the best stuff during active campaign week,” Latiolais said.

ENTERTAINMENT

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THIS WEEK IN BR

Want to see your event in The Reveille?

Email information to editor@lsu.edu.

MONDAY AT 4:30

BY REVEILLE ENTERTAINMENT STAFF @Reveilleent

FEBRUARY

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Unmasking Brain Injury LSU Library

THE REVEILLE ARCHIVES

The LSU School of Psychology and the Brain Injury Association of Louisiana are partnering with LSU Libraries to present this exhibition.

The opening reception is from 4:30 p.m.-6 p.m.

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SANKOFA: Open Mic Night LSU Union Theater

WEDNESDAY AT 11

Sankofa is an open mic event where students perform various talents. Performances include singing, dancing and poetry and the art exhibit also features photography, paintings and drawings.

LSU OFFICE OF DIVERSITY

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Mardis Gras Mambo Tower Drive LSU’s Mardi Gras event will return this year, happening from 11 a.m-2 p.m. Come out for the music, food, giveaways and parade floats.

FEBRUARY

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THE REVEILLE ARCHIVES

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Galentine’s Night Sweet Baton Rouge

THE REVEILLE ARCHIVES

THURSDAY AT 5

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FEBRUARY BR Succulent Co. is teaming up with Sweet Baton Rouge and its new sister store Local Supply BR for a guided dried floral event and Galentine’s party with food and drinks. Tickets for the 5 p.m. event are $25.

TUESDAY AT 5

FEBRUARY

Monday, February 7, 2022

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Monday, February 7, 2022

The darkness of night on Jan. 28, meets the light of day on Jan. 27 at the LSU Business Education Complex on South Quad Drive in Baton Rouge, La. LSU freshman and studio arts major Mason Wulff stands in the middle of the road on the night of Jan. 26, and during the day on Jan. 23, on Cypress Drive in Baton Rouge, La.

DAY AND NIGHT

The Sun shines on concrete seats on Jan. 27, while an orange glow covers the seating on the night of Jan. 26, at the LSU Amphitheatre on Dalrymple Drive in Baton Rouge, La.

A look at popular outdoor spots on LSU’s campus, including Tiger Stadium and the Memorial Tower between day and night.

Photos by Matthew Perschall

The Sun illuminates Tiger Stadium during the day of Jan. 22, and artificial lighting shines on the stadium on the night of Jan. 26, at North Stadium Drive in Baton Rouge, La.

North Hall glows orange on the night of Jan. 26, and an umbrella table sits empty during the day of Jan. 27, on Cypress Drive in Baton Rouge, La. A statue of Mike the Tiger sits in the middle of the night of Jan. 26, and the daytime light of Jan. 27, on North Stadium Drive in Baton Rouge, La.

The clock hands move throughout the day as the light of Jan. 22, meets the night of Jan. 23, on LSU’s Memorial Tower on Tower Drive in Baton Rouge, La.

SPORTS LSU TAKES GOLD Kiya Johnson and Riley Bryant deliver win

BY HANNAH REHM @HannahRehm12 The No. 8 LSU gymnastics team took down No. 6 Auburn in a historic win with two perfect 10’s and a season high score of 197.975 to give LSU its 300th win in the crowded PMAC on Saturday.

Going into the meet, LSU Coach Jay Clark told fans he was hoping for a sell-out, and the fans delivered. The meet was the second-highest attended program in school history with 13,569 people in attendance.

“It was a lot of fun. That’s what it’s supposed to feel like in the PMAC. That’s what we want it to feel like in the PMAC,” said Clark.

In a meet that was tied going into the last rotation, the LSU Tigers stunned the energized crowd with the best floor score in school history of 49.775.

Minutes before Kiya Johnson was supposed to perform on floor, Clark considered pulling her from the event if they had the win. He said he asked assistant coach Garrett Griffeth if they should pull her, but in the end, they knew Sunisa Lee could score a 10 on beam. This would have tied the meet up, so Clark decided to let Johnson go for it.

“Getting her back is tremendous. We’ve got to be careful.

At the end, I was looking at the score. Do we have it? Are we taking an undue risk here?” said Clark.

Christina Desiderio led off with a career high performance of 9.95, setting the Tigers up for

page 8 MEN’S BASKETBALL

A tale of two different halves

BY HENRY HUBER @HenryHuber_

collegiate season.

Aleah Finnegan made her freshman debut in the PMAC with a graceful beam routine, reminding fans of her sister, LSU great Sarah Finnegan, who was watching from the stands. She captured her career high of 9.90 on beam, which was one of LSU’s highest scores of the day on the event.

Freshman standout KJ John-

The Tigers’ last two losses can be summed up in basically the same description: They played horribly in the first half, going down by over 20 points, before steadily working their way to the brink of claiming victory and eventually fumbling the bag in crunch time.

A great second half performance means next to nothing if the first half does not come close to replicating it. A 20-point comeback is not impossible, especially considering LSU has almost done it in two straight games. But clawing your way back like that takes far too much effort, and as we’ve seen, leads to players using up all of their energy.

While this recent slump can be partially attributed to the team being riddled with injuries, it has also given us an overview of the team’s flaws.

For one, the team has had a ton of trouble covering the three in the past few games. According to Head Coach Will Wade, their defensive game plan revolved around limiting threes, but even with it being at the top of their list of things to focus on, the Commodores more than exploited the flaw on Saturday night.

“We had poor closeouts, we over helped, we helped when

see GYMNASTICS, page 9

see BASKETBALL, page 9

SAVANNA ORGERON / The Reveille

LSU gymnastics junior all-around Kiya Johnson performs a perfect 10.00 floor routine Feb. 5, during LSU’s 197.975-197.750 win over Auburn in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on N. Stadium Drive in Baton Rouge, La. what would be a stellar rotation that won the meet. Alyona Shchennikova followed afterwards with a 9.925.

Auburn fought until the end and kept things close with Olympic gold-medalist Lee, ending their beam rotation with a 9.975.

The final score for Auburn was 197.750.

All of this led up to LSU’s infamous “one-two punch” that was finally back in the all-around for

the Purple and Gold after injuries kept them out for the last few meets. Haleigh Bryant scored a 9.95, which set up Johnson’s routine that was the second perfect 10 of the night for the Tigers.

Earlier in the meet, the first 10 of the day was by Bryant in an undeniably perfect vault that received high praise on social media to end the Tigers’ first rotation. This was Bryant’s third perfect 10 and the first in her second

MEN’S BASKETBALL

‘Pistol Pete’ Maravich leaves lasting legacy in Baton Rouge

BY JACOB VERDIN @jacobhverdin “Pistol Pete” Maravich was a man before his time, and his legacy will live on through records, infamous moments and psychiclike predictions.

Maravich called several places home throughout his life. Maravich’s father, Press, was a professional basketball player, so the family would move according to the team he was employed by.

Once Maravich was born, his father played for the Pittsburgh Ironmen in 1947, so Pete lived most of his childhood in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. The high school years were split into two different states as Press went from Coaching Clemson in South Carolina to coaching North Carolina State. As Pete grew older, his family moved with him to Loui-

siana as Press became the head coach at Louisiana State University. Maravich would eventually play for his father and become the legend he is today.

Maravich could not start out his college career as a freshman like athletes in today’s game.

LSU did not allow first-year students to participate in varsity sports, so he had to wait until his sophomore year to torch his opponents. ‘Pistol Pete’ overloaded defenses with a longrange shooting attack. He would attempt shots from as far as 30 feet—an NBA three-point shot is 23 feet—but the catch—there was no such thing as a threepoint shot. Despite this, Maravich still recorded impressive numbers throughout his college career, averaging 44.2 points per game. Maravich won AllAmerican honors all three years

and won National player of the year honors twice. It is safe to say that Maravich is one of the most decorated college athletes of all time.

Maravich scored a tremendous number of points throughout his time in the NCAA. Not only is it impressive that he scored a record setting amount in only three seasons, but no player has come close to breaking it. Even with the three-point line being introduced, the closest someone has gotten recently is third place with 3,225 points

by Chris Clemons, 2015-2019 at Campbell.

Maravich is compared to Stephen Curry due to the similar playstyles, though, the comparison at the college level is not even close. Curry averaged per

see PISTOL PETE, page 9

SAVANNA ORGERON / The Reveille

The Daily Reveille Vol. 73 1968-69 shows a picture of Pete Maravich in the sports section of the paper Feb. 2, 2022, in Baton Rouge, La.

Monday, February 7, 2022 GYMNASTICS, from page 8 son has yet to disappoint, and she impressed Tiger fans with her first SEC home performance. She set two career highs with a vault score of 9.90 and a floor score of 9.95. Clark credited the fan support for giving her the confidence to go out and do so well.

“KJ Johnson was struggling in warmups, and she went out there with that crowd behind her and just banged one out. It was pretty cool,” said Clark.

Alexis Jeffrey, the controversial new addition to the team, was in attendance and took part in the pre-meet introductions. She has yet to perform at a meet, but this was the first one she attended as a Tiger.

Auburn gymnast Lee had a great meet with her own perfect 10, the first of her collegiate career. Even the LSU fans cheered for her when she was introduced and after every rotation.

page 9 “I found it a little bit disheartening that Suni Lee got the largest applause of anyone in the room and over our own kids,” said Clark.

Even though he found it a little disheartening, Clark also said that he understood the hype because of her natural talent. Lee took the all-around title at the meet with a big 39.825.

Several familiar faces with a fan following of their own were spotted in the PMAC on Saturday.

Former LSU gymnastics Coach D-D Breaux and current women’s basketball Coach Kim Mulkey showed up to support the Tigers, along with LSU President William Tate and his wife Kim. LSU is scheduled to travel to Florida to face the Gators in Gainesville for another Top-10 matchup Friday. The No. 4 Florida team will be a tough test for the Tigers, who are looking to keep building their scores for the postseason.

BASKETBALL, from page 8 we didn’t need to,” Wade said. “[Myles] Stute is shooting 41% on the season and we just leave him wide open. Chatman, a known three-point shooter, just leave him wide open.”

“You are not beating many teams doing that.”

Vanderbilt scored a total of 39 points on three’s on 42% shooting and as Wade mentioned, these threes were not particularly contested. They also allowed Ole Miss to shoot 43%, which just so happens to be the same percentage that South Dakota State, the current best threepoint shooting team in the country, is shooting.

Another huge problem, specifically in the first half, was

the team’s overall effort. They trailed Vanderbilt in rebounding by double digits, giving the Commodores plenty of chances for points while also not getting any of their own.

In the last few minutes of the first half, the team looked defeated, lost and unconfident. It seemed like instead of making the most of the remaining time they had and perhaps putting a dent in Vanderbilt’s lead, they were just ready for the half to be over.

This team has had slow starts in the past, but it has never felt like a lack of effort was the cause until now. They may be without a key contributor and leader in Xavier Pinson, but Wade made it clear that this is no longer just a health issue.

“Some of its health, but we can’t blame it all on that,” Wade said. “We didn’t get an offensive rebound in the first half, that’s an effort issue. We don’t follow the details on the scouting report and give up 11 threes to their two best shooters. That’s a detail issue.”

“We need better play from a lot of folks. What we are doing is not good enough on a lot of fronts, so we need a lot of guys to step up and certainly play better.”

Their next game comes on the road against Texas A&M on Tuesday. The team’s next two games are tougher than these past two, and with the team in a five-way tie for seventh in the SEC, changes need to be made before the season completely falls apart.

CHYNNA MCCLINTON / The Reveille

LSU men’s basketball sophomore forward Tari Eason (13) goes up for a shot over an Ole Miss defender Feb. 1, during LSU’s 72-76 loss against Ole Miss in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

PISTOL PETE, from page 8

SAVANNA ORGERON / The Reveille

LSU gymnastics junior all-around Kai Rivers flips off the vault Feb. 5, during LSU’s 197.975-197.750 win over Auburn in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

game 25 points, 3.7 assists and 4.4 rebounds compared to Maravich’s 44.2 points, 5.1 assists and 6.4 rebounds. They both played a total of three seasons, but Curry, with 104 games played, has played 21 more games than Maravich, 83.

In total, Curry scored 2,635 points throughout his three years at Davidson. Curry made 414 total three-point shots, putting him at 2,221 points total without the deep ball. By the numbers, Maravich has a stronger resume than Curry in their college years with 1,032 more points, 37 more assists and 55 more rebounds.

When Maravich finished his eligibility at LSU, he left Louisiana and headed to the big stages.

He entered the 1970 NBA Draft, and was drafted third overall by the Atlanta Hawks. He played for the Hawks for four seasons, where in his last two seasons

there he was selected to the allstar team. After his first four seasons, Atlanta traded Maravich to the New Orleans Jazz.

He was sent back to the state in which he became a legend, and he earned all-star honors three more times.

Maravich transferred his success on the court in college to the NBA. In 1977 against the Knicks he had a historic game, racking up 68 points. Maravich is one of six (Pete Maravich, Lebron James, Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson, Larry Bird and Jerry West) to have a career-pergame average of 24 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. However, Pete is the only one of those six to have not won an NBA championship.

Maravich saw great individual success as a professional, however. his team around him was not the best. He only played with two all-stars in his first nine seasons. He still managed to leave behind an impressive mark

on the game.

“We’re all doing things he did first,” said Steve Nash when asked about Pistol Pete’s impact on the game.

Maravich never desired a long professional career, as once saying, “I don’t want to play 10 years in the NBA and die of a heart attack at age 40.”

Coincidentally, he predicted his exact age and cause of death, as he passed away during a pickup basketball game in a church.

Mere moments before his passing, he told others he felt great before collapsing to the ground.

Maravich leaves behind a legacy so strong that LSU named its basketball arena after him.

He was a game-changing player who influenced future generations of NBA athletes. The Maravich family will always be remembered in Louisiana, and Pete will always go down as one of the best to play not only at LSU, but in college basketball as a whole.

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THE Daily Commuter Puzzle ACROSS 1 Reason for extra innings 4 Accumulate 9 Unhappy destiny 13 Snow peas & okra 14 Marie __; 1st female Nobel winner 15 Lasso 16 4, 5 & 6 for kindergartners 17 Excluded from a group 19 “__ good turn daily”; Boy Scout slogan 20 Newspapers, magazines, etc.

21 Best Buy display 22 Diving birds 24 Bullfight shout 25 Overuses the mirror 27 Unwilling 30 Desert refuge 31 Moving supplies 33 Jennings of “Jeopardy!”

35 Hand protector 36 Less colorful 37 Roll call response 38 Letter before omega 39 Strong connections 40 Holmes or Couric 41 Resounded 43 Compelled 44 Goal 45 Flea market stall 46 __ down; loses weight 49 Smug smile 51 Rotten 54 Gathering up 56 Pres. Hoover’s state of birth 57 Competent 58 Burn slightly 59 Brown amphibian 60 Lion’s share 61 Rankled 62 “Big __”; ABC series DOWN 1 Like fast food 2 Starry-eyed

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3 Suffix for heir or host 4 Squirrel’s stash 5 Ponders 6 Boston’s Museum of Fine __ 7 Gentlemen 8 Mermaid’s home 9 Minnie, for one 10 Leak out 11 Out in the __; exposed 12 Pharmacy inventory, for short 13 Cushion 18 Nat & Natalie 20 Soft drinks 23 Eliminate 24 Done 25 Splendor 26 Pay increase 27 Firefighting tools 28 Drawing tablet 29 Strange 31 Musical group 32 Passé 34 In __ of; lacking 36 Anthology entry 37 Playwright Moss

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39 Most populous Idaho city 40 Nutcase 42 Shakespearean tragedy 43 Signed another’s name 45 Pig out 46 Illegal racket 47 Mexican wolf

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48 Problems 49 Blender speed 50 Soft-furred weasel 52 Take __; subtract 53 June honoree 55 Ted Danson TV series 56 Perry Como’s “__ Impossible”

OPINION

page 11

Faculty Senate members promote COVID-19 misinformation CHARLIE’S ANGLES CHARLIE STEPHENS @charliestephns In a long-awaited email to students on Aug. 24, 2021, LSU President William F. Tate IV announced that the FDA’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine for anyone 16 and over paved “the way for LSU to require vaccines for students, faculty and staff.”

Later that same day, a far-right vaccine skeptic appeared on political strategist Steve Bannon’s show “War Room: Pandemic” and declared that an FDA-authorized vaccine is “absolutely not available.”

Though proven false, this same line of misinformation has been the centerpiece of a Faculty Senate resolution titled “Correcting LSU’s Misquotation of the FDA’s Vaccine Letters,” sponsored by LSU professors Charles Delzell, Charles Berryman, Carol Friedland, Robert Rohli and Boris Rubin.

The resolution uses a nearly identical argument to the one introduced during Bannon’s show of misinformation. It argues that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is not FDA approved and thus the university is unable to mandate vaccinations.

This stems from the fact that, upon full approval from the FDA, Pfizer attached a brand name to its COVID-19 vaccine, as it would to any other.

“It’s the same vaccine,” Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at Johns Hopkins University and former FDA deputy commissioner, told the AP. “There is only one vaccine.”

After this resolution was presented, some members of the Faculty Senate expressed concerns about resolutions based on misinformation reaching the floor.

Other members felt that limiting resolutions would violate freedom of expression.

“I think if we start channeling or preventing or inhibiting the faculty voice in any way, we’re

going against our promise,” Faculty Senate President Mandi Lopez said.

Though free expression

BY EMILY TRAN should be a guiding value of any university, it’s not without its limits. When free expression is incompatible with the university’s

mission of seeking truth, it has gone too far.

When future scholars here at the university study the COVID-19 pandemic, one of their biggest findings will be that misinformation planted by extreme political actors resulted in the unnecessary deaths of countless people.

LSU philosophy professor Jeffery Roland, who urged the Faculty Senate to gatekeep similar resolutions, asked that if this misinformation is allowed, “is anything beyond the pale?”

The university needs to stand as a beacon of truth. Resolutions that sow doubt in extensively researched and life-saving vaccines should not be tolerated, especially when they have no factual basis.

The Faculty Senate needs to do everything in its power to eradicate misinformation, promote truth and put scholarship first in all endeavors.

Charlie Stephens is a 21-year-old political communication junior from Baton Rouge.

Spotify should take more action against Joe Rogan SERIOUSLY KIDDING FRANK KIDD @FK446852315 There’s a war on misinformation, and music is caught in the crossfire.

Artists Joni Mitchell and Neil Young have pulled their music from Spotify due to the company’s lack of action against podcaster Joe Rogan’s vaccine-hesitant com-

ments. Spotify has since deleted over 100 episodes of the “Joe Rogan Experience” and applied warnings on some episodes that feature misinformation. However, Spotify’s actions haven’t brought Mitchell or Young back to the platform.

This situation raises some interesting questions: If Rogan broke his deal with Spotify, how much would a deal with another publisher be worth given the potential backlash? How much action

BY EMILY TRAN

should a publisher take against misinformation on its platform?

What are the social implications of stratifying entertainment based on disagreements?

These questions are important for society to answer, but frankly, I don’t care about them. At least, not yet. Not while artists are pulling their music off my favorite streaming platform.

I only listen to a handful of songs by Young and Mitchell. I can handle going to YouTube to listen to “Big Yellow Taxi” the couple of times a month I want to listen to it.

However, I fear that more artists may soon remove their music from Spotify. I shudder to think of a dystopian future in which I’m forced to use Apple Music.

Spotify needs to resolve this issue before more artists remove their music.

One course of action is to get Rogan to tamp down his most controversial vaccine opinions. Rogan laid the groundwork for this option in an Instagram live video where he said that he will work to balance “controversial viewpoints” on his podcast.

Though Rogan said he is willing to make changes, enforcing

that may be difficult for Spotify.

Rogan was already a controversial figure before the vaccine saga. He expressed at the time of signing with Spotify that he was aware of potential censorship and that his deal would protect him from it.

Censoring Rogan would only serve to anger him and, by proxy, his fans. If Spotify were to censor Rogan, executives should prepare for a protest consisting of 22-yearold gym bros smoking elk meat and doing ayahuasca outside their headquarters.

The other option Spotify has is to cut ties with Rogan entirely.

This option could be incredibly expensive; given the aforementioned outspokenness of the “Joe Rogan Experience,” it’s not hard to imagine a pricey buyout clause.

Ending the deal this early is likely financially unfeasible and risks huge potential backlash from Rogan fans. We would be looking at a March-on-Washington-sized protest of guys lifting free weights and showing each other videos of chimpanzees fighting gorillas.

There would be a world record set for the number of times the words “that’s interesting” were said in a day nationwide.

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The Reveille (USPS 145-800) is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University.

The Reveille is an independent entity of the Office of Student Media within the Manship School of Mass Communication. Signed opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, The Reveille or the university. Letters submitted for publication should be sent via e-mail to editor@lsu.edu or delivered to B-39 Hodges Hall. They must be 400 words or less. Letters must provide a contact phone number for verification purposes, which will not be printed. The Reveille reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for space consideration while preserving the original intent. The Reveille also reserves the right to reject any letter without notification of the author. Writers must include their full names and phone numbers. The Reveille’s editor in chief, hired every semester by the LSU Student Media Board, has final authority on all editorial decisions.

Spotify is in a tough position, with seemingly no easy way out.

Unless, of course, there’s a Spotify employee reading this article with access to Rogan’s contract and a paper shredder.

Spotify’s best option financially may be to continue issuing content warnings and watch a coalition of smaller artists and those past peak popularity leave the platform. After all, small departures will not significantly affect the company’s bottom line.

However, this could change as more artists pull their music. Spotify is a music app first and a podcast app second. That position becomes untenable when a podcast actively harms the music side of the business.

To preserve its standing as the go-to music app, Spotify should consider harsher actions against Rogan. Executives should do what must be done to preserve the music in their catalog.

If they don’t, I might start to reconsider the idea of downloading Apple Music.

Frank Kidd is a 20-year-old mass communication junior from Springfield.

Quote of the Week “I’D RATHER LAUGH WITH THE SINNERS THAN CRY WITH THE SAINTS.”

Billy Joel

American musician 1949 — present

Monday, February 7, 2022

page 12

City officials should have addressed crime rate sooner THE STABILER SCOOP LURA STABILER @lstabiler3 Recently, I made the unfortunate choice to turn on my Twitter notifications, meaning my phone is constantly flooded with headlines from around the city. I say unfortunate because every other headline involves a Baton Rouge shooting, murder or overdose.

The number of homicides in East Baton Rouge Parish jumped from 97 in 2019 to 170 in 2021, according the the Parish’s coroner’s office. This startling figure has finally caused the Baton Rouge Police Department and city officials to take action.

The city is investing $2 million in new technology for BRPD, said Mayor Sharon Weston Broome.

Broome said the city is also focused on expanding violence prevention programs.

BRPD Chief Murphy Paul recently announced that the department called in national crime experts to research Baton Rouge’s violent crime problem. Information found during the national crime experts’ research will be available to the public in five months.

Paul said that BRPD will also be implementing new technology

like drones. He said that Baton Rouge residents can expect to see more criminal investigation detectives and special response teams in high crime areas.

While I think all these steps are great progress for Baton Rouge, I have to wonder why these measures to combat the city’s crime rate were not taken sooner.

Though 2021 saw record homicide numbers, this has been a problem for years.

According to the coroner’s office, there were 124 homicide deaths in 2017. That number dipped to 105 in 2018 and 97 in 2019 before jumping to 136 in 2020.

Louisiana has a reputation of violent crime, and most are quick to blame the city of New Orleans because of all the tourist attention it receives. However, according to reporting from the New York Times, even without New Orleans, Louisiana would still have the first or second highest murder rate in the nation. In 2019, Baton Rouge and surrounding metropolitan parishes reported more murders than New Orleans for the first time in recorded history.

In 2014, BBC even did a special titled “Life in a US city’s most dangerous postal code,” exploring crime, poverty and HIV rates in 70805, the zip code in Baton Rouge.

On top of trying to reduce the current alarming crime rate, Paul said the police force is short about 100 officers. He is planning on launching a marketing campaign to

attract new recruits.

Although Paul has only been police chief since 2018, he has already taken necessary steps to better Baton Rouge. I just wish city

BY EMILY TRAN officials would have done more to address the crime rate sooner.

Lura Stabiler is a 21-year-old journalism senior from Baton Rouge.