The Reveille 1-29-24

Vo lum e 133 · N o. 31

E s t. 18 87

Mond ay, Ja nu a r y 29, 2 02 4

‘TEAR IT DOWN’ Lockett Hall second building on campus halted by water in recent weeks.

SPORTS

Read on

page 2 Rea d o n p ag e 9

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR WOMEN’S BASKETBALL?

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

page 2

LOCKETT DOWN

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

Flooding in Lockett Hall cancels class, prompts frustration over disrepair NEWSROOM

BY CROSS HARRIS @thecrossharris Flooding in Lockett Hall Thursday morning canceled some classes that afternoon.

Other courses, however, continued during the morning flooding, prompting concern from students.

“I hope this is a sign for LSU to clean things up,” said forensic chemistry freshman Stella Roberts, whose afternoon history class was canceled.

Nearly three inches of rain fell on campus Wednesday night into early Thursday, according to data from East Baton Rouge WeatherSTEM’s Tiger Stadium weather station.

The high volume of rain in a short period of time caused water to seep through Lockett Hall’s basement floor in one room, according to the Assistant Director of Operations for Facility Services Gerald Sansoni. Pooling water also seeped through the building’s exterior walls into three Lockett Hall rooms, he said in an email to the Reveille.

“Our custodial staff responded immediately as soon as the Customer Service Center received the call, and they used mops and wet vacs to remove water in the affected areas,” Sansoni said.

The flooding was “mild,” according to Sansoni. Students described a wet floor and pools of water a few inches deep in the Lockett Hall basement.

By 9:30 p.m. most of the water had been removed; although a large puddle remained in room 9.

Some early morning classes continued through the flooding, including a section of general horticulture in that same room.

Industrial engineering freshman Rita Ntipouna arrived to the 9 a.m. class half an hour early.

She and other students had to find a way over or through the water to get to their seats. Ntipouna said the class should have been canceled then and there.

“If you look in that spot,

(225) 578-4811

Editor in Chief CLAIRE SULLIVAN Managing Editor LAUREN MADDEN Digital Editor OLIVIA TOMLINSON News Editor OLIVER BUTCHER Deputy News Editor CROSS HARRIS Sports Editor PETER RAUTERKUS Deputy Sports Editor MACKAY SUIRE Entertainment Editor MATILDA SIPP

CROSS HARRIS / The Reveille

A wet floor sign stands at the west entrance to Lockett Hall’s basement after flooding on Jan. 25 on LSU’s campus in Baton Rouge, La. there’s a bunch of open outlets, wires,” Ntipouna said. “It could have been really dangerous, especially if something were to like catch electric.”

Students who spoke to the Reveille were unsurprised by conditions in Lockett Hall. The building is notorious for its disrepair.

In 2019, a leak originating in room B9 caused ceiling tiles to fall into three Lockett classrooms. The same month, a burst pipe closed another room for a week. Classes have also been periodically closed when the building’s air conditioning stops working.

Animal science sophomore Hannah McCann, whose Thursday class in Lockett was unaffected by the flooding, said her freshman year classes in the basement were frequently closed because the rooms were too hot.

“And I’m not from here, so I wasn’t really used to the weather,” McCann said. Even when

MATTHEW PERSCHALL / The Reveille

Lockett Hall sits Jan. 28 on Field House Drive on LSU’s campus in Baton Rouge, La.

classes continued, “it was kind of unbearable,” she said.

Locket Hall’s Thursday flooding sparked another long-standing and prominent pain point.

Students pointed to the disparity between LSU’s academic and athletic facilities to make sense of the water in Lockett Hall.

“A lot of places need fixing, and they’re putting their money elsewhere when it’s about the students, should be about the students,” Ntipouna said. “They kind of don’t care.”

Animal sciences senior Shelby Pugh echoed a similar sentiment as she waited for her next class in Lockett.

“It seems like they put all their stuff into athletics, which I get it,” Pugh said. “It makes them the most money. But I work on the LSU farm right now, and that could be updated too. And I know it’s not like LSU’s fault, but I think they should put top priority into everything, not just one thing.”

The Advocate found in 2016 that LSU was the only Southeastern Conference school to raise more in donations for athletics than academics.

A 2022 report from the Reveille found that the university has more than $600 million in deferred maintenance. Lockett Hall accounts for more than $10 million of that total.

Other breaking buildings have drawn attention on campus.

Most recently: Patrick F. Taylor Hall’s disruptive flooding. Most emblematically: the long and watery degradation of LSU’s main library.

The north side of PFT closed for an undetermined period of time after water poured through ceilings and damaged expensive

equipment on the first day of the semester.

LSU’s main library has seen water enter its walls from above and below. In 2018, the library’s basement flooded, causing an estimated $1 million in damage.

“I can’t overstate what an emergency it is and the danger it poses to this incredibly wonderful research library,” said Dean of LSU Libraries Stanley Wilder at the time. “We’re in crisis mode down there.”

Since then, the library’s caving fourth floor ceiling has become a symbol of the university’s crumbling academic infrastructure.

Few students know that both LSU’s main library and Lockett Hall have been slated for demolition since 2017.

LSU’s Master Plan, ratified that year, proposed Lockett be replaced by greenspace and its classrooms relocated to newer buildings. The plan also outlined the relocation of LSU’s main library from the Quad to an area just south of Tiger Stadium.

Little progress has been made on either front. Both the library and Lockett Hall continue to slowly self-destruct.

Though few are aware of the university’s long-standing but unacted plan to demolish both buildings, students have also marked them for destruction.

Forensic chemistry freshman Stella Roberts sat on the floor near a puddle in Lockett Hall Thursday morning. Her next class in the basement had just been canceled. When she realized she would not be having history that day, Roberts reflected on the state of Lockett Hall.

“Get them to tear it down,” she said.

Opinion Editor COLIN FALCON Multimedia Editor MATTHEW PERSCHALL Production Editor EMMA DUHÉ Chief Designer PAOLA SANTIAGO RODRIGUEZ

ADVERTISING (225) 578-6090

Layout/Ad Design BEAU MARTINEZ Layout/Ad Design SAMUEL NGUYEN

CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS The previous edition’s article on the Faculty Senate meeting erroneously attributed quotes

by LSU Vice President of Engagement, Civil Rights and Title IX Todd Manuel to LSU Vice President of Marketing and Communications Todd Woodward. The website has been updated to reflect this change.

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.

A single issue of The Reveille is free from multiple sites on campus and about 25 sites off campus. To obtain additional copies, please visit the Office of Student Media in B-39 Hodges Hall or email studentmedia@ lsu.edu. The Reveille is published biweekly during the fall, spring and summer semesters, except during holidays and final exams. The Reveille is funded through LSU students’ payments of the Student Media fee.

NEWS SG SPEAKS OUT

Student Government members comment on LSU’s DEI scrub

BY AIDAN ANTHAUME & CROSS HARRIS @aidanth04 & @thecrossharris LSU’s Student Senate held its first meeting of the semester Wednesday night; the Reveille spoke with senators and other SG members to understand their thoughts on recent changes in LSU’s online diversity, equity, and inclusion language.

In recent weeks, LSU has quietly replaced DEI language in much of its digital landscape.

This shift has prompted questions about the university’s ongoing commitment to DEI. Early January, President William F. Tate IV announced via email that the Division of Inclusion, Civil Rights and Title IX would be renamed to replace the word inclusion with engagement.

Around the same time, the university removed its online diversity, equity and inclusion statement in a wide-ranging scrub.

Several schools within the university removed the language as well.

Student Sen. Laila Williams from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences voiced her concerns about the lack of information and detail discussed with students.

“I think that the higher-ups who made this decision should have made more of a concerted

page 3 STUDENT LIFE

Escape the rain with watercolors

BY SARAH WALTON @sarahrosewalton

whatever necessary,” he said.

Sweat also connected the change in DEI language to Louisiana’s recent change in governor.

“The president of the university meets with the governor’s office a lot, and I’d be willing to bet that they talked about that, or

Wednesday was a considerably water-centric day. Rain drenched LSU, inundating some areas and giving students an interesting time going from class to class.

As the rain was making its grand appearance on campus, another water activity was considerably less wet.

The LSU Library had “mini watercolors” for students’ midday. As their first spring semester event, it served as a way to welcome students back and involve them with the library.

The room was full of students studying, enjoying themselves and escaping the rain. The watercolor tables were set at the entrance next to some wet puddles, remnants of students’ trek through campus on such a rainy day.

Larissa Elliot was one of the two research instruction librarians who was in charge of the event. Elliot and her colleague, Elizabeth Allen, are part of the Library Events and Programming Committee.

“Today [the event] seems fitting because of the weather.

Which is kind of funny it worked out that way. Like, do you want to use more water today?” Elliot said.

As students walked through

see STUDENT GOV., page 4

see LEISURE, page 4

MORGAN COOK / The Reveille

LSU Student Government senator Corbitt Driskell seconds Jan. 24 during a meeting at the Capital Chamber in the LSU Student Union. effort to include students in the dialogue and the conversation,” Williams said. “The changes to the office on the surface level and the naming of the office on the surface level don’t seem inherently malicious. I think that by taking diversity, equity and inclusion out of the name is not really necessary to accomplish

what they intend to do.”

John Micheal Sweat, SG director of academic affairs, addressed similar concerns regarding student involvement in making these decisions.

“They should have sent messages at least a month beforehand, polling for student opinions, doing focus groups or

JUSTICE SYSTEM

Shortage of prosecutors, judges leads to widespread court backlog

BY AMANDA HERNANDEZ | LA ILLUMINATOR Still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, court systems in many states are working to clear their case backlogs.

Some court systems have moved cases faster using virtual court proceedings, court data dashboards and online jury selection. In other states, lawmakers are stepping in.

The pandemic worsened problems that already had caused state and local court delays, legal experts say. The hurdles include insufficient funding, judicial vacancies, lawyer shortages and delays processing digital and physical evidence.

Some state legislators are particularly focused on shortages of prosecutors and judges. In Georgia, New York and Vermont, for example, lawmakers have filed or plan to offer bills that would increase prosecutor pay, boost the number of judges or streamline procedures to reduce the number of cases.

“Managing cases today is much more complex on the part of our courts than it used to be, and the pandemic is just one more complexity,” said Brittany Kauffman, the CEO of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, an independent research center at the University of Denver.

The bulk of the backlog in most states and counties are criminal trials. Unlike civil or family law cases, they typically cannot be conducted online because criminal defendants have a constitutional right to face their accusers.

The backlog poses significant challenges for defendants, whose right to a speedy trial can be jeopardized by extended pretrial detention. Those held in jail during pretrial detention may lose jobs and experience housing instability.

And for crime victims, extended court proceedings can make navigating the already complex justice system even more difficult, said Renée Williams, the executive director of the National Center for

Victims of Crime. “[Victims] are very much facing the justice system alone and kind of left to navigate the best they can, so when we start to see court backlogs, that becomes especially an issue because there might be a lack of communication to them about what’s going on,” Williams said in an interview.

As proceedings drag on, there’s also a higher chance that victims may face intimidation or retaliation for coming forward — discouraging them from participating altogether, Williams said.

Too few Prosecutors Public defenders and prosecutors are leaving in large numbers because of low salaries and heavy caseloads, with a shortage of applicants to fill the gaps, legal experts said.

In Georgia, the five-year average turnover rate for assistant district attorneys is 25%, coupled with a 10% vacancy rate for state prosecutors, according to data from the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, which assists

and provides training for state prosecutors. In 2021, the state saw its highest turnover rate for a single year, peaking at 43.5%.

Eight of the state’s 49 judicial circuits are facing assistant district attorney vacancy rates exceeding 25%, according to the group’s data.

“Something has to be done, because if we can’t get people to be prosecutors and public defenders, the system will come to a grinding halt,” said Peter Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia.

“It’s already slow enough.”

The shortage of state prosecutors comes down to noncompetitive pay, said Coweta County District Attorney Herb Cranford Jr. Prospective assistant district attorneys often opt for positions in urban metro areas, where salaries are higher, leaving rural areas with fewer resources.

Georgia’s decades-old state formula, which determines the number of assistant district attorneys, compounds the issue. The formula limits the state to paying for one assistant district attorney per

judge in each judicial circuit. This formula, dating back to at least the 1980s, fails to consider factors such as population growth and caseload size, Skandalakis said.

“The most populated judicial circuit is treated the same as the least populated judicial circuit.

That is just not a good way to do business,” he said.

Cranford said that while changing the formula may help reduce the state’s backlog, addressing pay would have more of an impact.

“We can add as many prosecutors as we want. If we don’t address the competitive pay problem, it’s not going to matter because we can’t even fill the current positions we have,” Cranford said.

Georgia Republican state Sen. Randy Robertson said he’s open to exploring budgetary options that would offer better pay and benefits to state prosecutors while also ensuring “good return on the taxpayers’ investment.” Robertson said he also plans to address the state’s assistant district attorney

see U.S. COURTS, page 4

Monday, January 29, 2024

page 4 LEISURE, from page 3 the library, they were greeted by librarians and a table full of possibilities. Some students drew shapes and smiles; others drew scenes from nature; and one student brought her watercolors and painted a yellow bird. Another student brought out rulers and pencils for precise geometric painting.

Kaylin Val, a junior psychology junior, said, “I planned my entire day around this.” Val started water coloring near the end of high school, but she usually doesn’t find the time for it anymore. So, the watercolor event was a great time for her to bring her pallet out and paint.

“It’s kind of a fun, easy craft to give people a little break from the hard stuff… it gives you a chance to take a break, relax, do a fun activity that’s low stakes,” Elliot said.

STUDENT GOV., from page 3 at least predicted it in some way, and changed the name,” Sweat said.

Williams expressed a similar viewpoint, namely that the university’s changes to its online presence have been affected by outside influence.

“Even though it seems that it came from our administration, it came from higher than them,”

U.S. COURTS, from page 3 formula.

“We absolutely need to look at the formula and make sure that we’re giving the courts that need it as much help as possible, and at the same time, making sure that some of the circuits aren’t overloaded,” Robertson said.

Judge Vacancies In both New York and Vermont, judge vacancies are chief among the reasons for the states’ court backlogs.

In September, the New York City Bar Association released a report calling on the state legislature to work toward repealing the state’s constitutionally prescribed cap on the number of judges that

Allen echoed that: “It’s very relaxing… you’re not being graded for it. The semester has been a little crazy getting started, so it’s just a way to calm down, take a minute.”

Elliot said, “We like to call these Pro-Craft-stations.”

The goal, according to Allen, is to remind people “to slow down, that it’s okay. Your grades aren’t going to suffer if you take ten minutes to come doodle for a little bit.” She mentioned that the last time the library did watercolors, they ended up creating an art wall afterward.

The “library is more than a place where you can study… wanting to draw people in, this is a welcoming, comforting space for you,” Allen said.

Both librarians agree on the idea that the library is for everyone, and their hope is to allow others to know that the library has so much potential and space

for community.

The day was fun and peaceful.

One student pulled out his phone and began to play classical music for the table as everyone painted away.

The event was a small moment for the LSU community to come and enjoy themselves. Students were asking for advice and commentary, and people were teaching each other new techniques and styles of painting.

Watercolor painting at the library was a new experience for some students and something normal for others, all sharing a similar sense of enjoyment.

The library has more events coming up soon. It will join the East Baton Rouge Library in a video game event on Jan. 30 and host DIY Valentine’s Day cards on Feb. 6. The library also offers academic events including the “Dust Off Those Research Skills!” workshop on Jan. 30.

The LSU Library reception desk sits Jan. 25 at the LSU Library on Tower Drive in Baton Rouge, La.

Williams said. “I think a lot of people have a common misconception that they just did it without any consulting or instruction from people higher than themselves.”

President Tate has said that the move to “engagement” from “inclusivity” and similar changes by the university have not been influenced by any politician.

SG amid the changes, has retained its Department of Di-

versity, Equity and Inclusion. Its director, political science senior Reginald Rideaux II, told the Reveille he was “disappointed” by the university’s removal of DEI, language.

“1,000% I don’t like the fact that they’re removing diversity, inclusion and equity, from, you know, our online presence, especially in the sense that like, it almost seems as though you’re taking away those students’ exis-

tences, in a sense,” Rideaux said.

“But I understand from a political aspect why the university is taking that position.”

Rideaux said he had plans to meet with the vice president of the new Division of Engagement, Civil Rights and Title IX, Todd Manuel to talk about the future of SG’s DEI department.

“So, actually, we’ll be having meetings with some higher-ups within the university to under-

stand our role because we know some other people at other universities whose roles have been changed and their roles may have been eliminated,” Rideaux said.

Rideaux said he was committed to continuing his work.

“But, you know, here currently, as it stands, we’re still the Department of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, [and] we’re gonna go further to push those three principles,” he said.

can be elected to the state’s supreme courts. The state has one supreme court per county, totaling 62 across the state. The cap, originally enacted in 1846, limits the number of state supreme court judges to one for every 50,000 residents of a judicial district.

New York state has nearly 120,000 pending cases, according to the most recent court statistics available. In 2022, the state’s court system resolved more than 2.1 million cases, according to its annual report.

The New York State Unified Court System did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the status of the state’s backlog or efforts to reduce it.

Judges on other lower courts are tasked with stepping in when

there are vacancies on state supreme courts, even if they were not initially elected for such roles, said Elizabeth Kocienda, the New York City Bar Association’s director of advocacy.

This practice leads to backlogs in criminal, civil and family law cases, as lower court judges must handle cases outside their usual purview. And this routine reassignment contributes to vacancies on the lower courts, exacerbating the existing backlog, Kocienda said.

“You end up with this mishmash of judges that are sitting on the supreme court with varying levels of experience, varying levels of all different practice areas,” Kocienda said. “They weren’t necessarily intended for that court, so

it just creates a lot of downstream problems in other areas.”

A bill to increase the number of state supreme court judges is already in committee in both the New York Assembly and the Senate.

In December, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a law to increase the number of state supreme court judges in three districts. The law also raises the number of judges serving on other courts, including family courts in New York City.

Hochul also has expressed support for repealing the cap on the number of supreme court judges in the state, including a proposal for the measure in her State of the State agenda released earlier this month.

The Vermont Judiciary, which encompasses the state’s entire court system, faced judge shortages at different times over the past year, leading to the reassignment of judges from their regular dockets to cover cases in other areas.

This reshuffling prevented them from presiding over their own cases simultaneously, resulting in a reduction in scheduled hearings and a slowdown in case processing across both courts, according to Teri Corsones, Vermont’s court administrator.

As of Jan. 16, there were over 35,500 pending cases statewide, according to data from the Vermont Judiciary. About 42%, or 15,294 of those pending cases, are criminal cases. That’s double the amount of pending criminal cases pre-pandemic.

While five vacant judge positions were filled in November, the

state still has one judicial vacancy and one magistrate vacancy.

“We’ve been able to make slow but steady progress in addressing the backlog since resuming fully open courts, but greater progress has been hampered by the number of judge vacancies,” Corsones wrote in an email to Stateline.

Vermont’s pretrial detainee population increased about 10% between 2019 and 2023, which means hundreds of people have languished in the state’s correctional facilities without being convicted of a crime, according to Nick Deml, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections.

“It’s gonna take multiple lines of effort, attacking different parts of this problem,” Deml said.

“There’s not going to be one silver bullet that solves the backlog.”

Democratic state Rep. William Notte introduced a bill that would combine a person’s multiple misdemeanor theft charges into a single felony charge, which aims to reduce the time spent in court.

Notte, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, said the committee also plans to explore other measures designed to reduce the state’s backlog, such as expanding drug court statewide and streamlining the process for presenting judicial nominees to the governor.

The Vermont Judiciary asked the legislature to fund two additional judge positions and 10 judicial assistants, Corsones wrote in an email. The judiciary is also “actively exploring” a funding request for a third additional judge position.

COURTESY OF FRANK FRANKLIN II / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pedestrians pass the Queens County Supreme Court in New York on Oct. 8, 2020

TARUN KAKARALA / The Reveille

ENTERTAINMENT

page 5

THIS WEEK IN BR

29

DIG Restaurant Week Participating Locations

WEDNESDAY AT 4:30 p.m.

JANUARY

TH

31

Want to see your event in the Reveille?

Email information to editor@lsu.edu.

Restaurant Week is a week-long event where participating local restaurants offer discounted three-course menu meals. This event is a great opportunity to explore the diverse cuisine that Baton Rouge offers. This event will last from Jan. 29 to Feb. 3.

Air Force entomologist Nathan Lord will be coming to LSU to showcase how insects see color and use it to communicate. Lord will be discussing how humans are using this information to advance the technology of signals and sensors, even in the Air Force. This event will begin at 5 p.m and registration is available online.

JANUARY

st

30

JANUARY

Insect Colors on Parade LSU Science Cafe

TH

TUESDAY AT 5 p.m.

MONDAY - SATURDAY

BY MATILDA SIPP @SippTilly

LSU Student Union 60th Anniverary Celebration LSU Parade Ground LSU will be celebrating the Student Union’s 60th anniversary with a time capsule dedication ceremony with Mike the Tiger and the Spirit Squad in addition to a night of performances from local bands. T-shirts and food will be given out to students, and attendees are encouraged to bring chairs and blankets to sit and enjoy the music on. The event will last from 4:30–8 p.m.

Campus social media accounts redefine the ‘LSU experience’

BY ISABELLA ALBERTINI @BasedIsabella Social media can be the link connecting the over 39,000 students who attend LSU. Although they all come from diverse backgrounds and have different career paths, LSU students have shared experiences that bring them together.

LSU content creators have attracted massive social media followings by sharing memes and posts relatable to other students.

The LSU-inspired Instagram accounts of Fifth Year LSU, Seth J. Trotter, LSU Chicks, Barstool LSU and RedCup LSU have over 230,000 followers combined. Whether it’s memes about LSU’s daunting testing center Himes Hall or videos joking about squirrels, these posts allow students to bond over their shared LSU experience.

“I always want the voice of the account to be from one LSU student to another,” Alex Mock, who runs Fifth Year LSU, said.

“I noticed there wasn’t an account for the average LSU student,” he said. “I kinda made an everyman LSU account, you know, the stuff that every LSU student can relate to.”

Mock started the account when he was an undergraduate majoring in sports administration and has kept it running as he went on to pursue his master’s degree at LSU. He said he draws inspiration from personal experience and observation, always adding a bit of humor to his posts.

“Every college has a bad dorm, but only LSU has Herget,” Mock said.

His account has over 14,000 followers, with 34% from the Baton Rouge area, followed by New Orleans and Houston. Fifth Year LSU reaches around 10,000 accounts weekly. Mock said he had no strategy for his account, and the growth in followers has been organic.

Trotter’s Instagram account, which he runs under his name, has more than 71,000 followers, but an even greater reach of around 6.4 million accounts in the past month.

His videos garner anywhere from 80,000 to 1 million views on average, with his most viral video on TikTok receiving 5 million views.

TikTok is his largest platform, where he has more than 146,000 followers and 19.2 million likes.

“My platform is free speech.

Even if you say something wild and controversial, I’ll still post it,”

said Trotter, a senior majoring in entrepreneurship.

Trotter films man-on-the-street videos in the Quad where he asks students questions like, “What’s your unpopular opinion?”

“I try to base questions off of our demographic here. Like if we have a majority of college students, then I try to ask college-related questions,” Trotter said. “So, the questions that I’ve been asking so far are questions that college students can relate to, like relationship questions.”

He said relatability and giving people a chance to say what they think is what drives his content.

“You should say whatever you want to say without having backlash,” Trotter said. “But obviously people are gonna talk about it because people like to debate each other, which isn’t bad, but I think disagreeing is good because these topics are up to discussion.”

Trotter’s Instagram followers are 74% women ages 18 to 25, with the most views coming from Baton Rouge, then Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Trotter said he pays attention to analytics to decide which clips to use based on what will gain more traction.

“I think if you stick to a routine and are consistent and really want something to succeed, then eventually people will start seeing you put in the work, and eventually it’ll take off,” he said.

These LSU content creators have proven that relatable content drives views and consistency maintains that attention.

Mass communication professor Joshua Howard has spent years studying the effects of social media and online communities. He said timing is key to online content going viral, as well as staying on top of trends and being consistent.

“I believe social media is still an ongoing and growing environment,” Howard said. “There is so much research that’s being done right now on social media because we’re all still trying to understand it.”

He said social media has proven to be an outlet that allows communities to connect in ways that would not happen otherwise.

“I do believe that social media as a whole has the potential to be more of a benefit to well-being, and holistic well-being, than not,” he said. “At the end of the day, everyone needs community, and so we are going to be seeking that

out, whether it’s online or in person. Community is going to continue to grow.”

Mass communication professor Will Mari, who specializes in media history and media law, said social media platforms reflect the demographic of their users.

He said certain demographics gravitate toward specific social media platforms depending on the purpose of their use; for example, TikTok tends to have a younger demographics. He said social media is likely to continue to evolve in the future but that there will still be online communities.

“It may not even be called social media anymore, but it’ll still be part of our society,” he said.

For LSU, it’s a community of students, faculty and alumni that expresses its shared experiences online.

“College is just a crazy part of everyone’s life… that makes us who we are in the end,” Mock said.

“But you know, the crazy doesn’t have to be stressful. We can have some fun during these four years, and I guess that’s what the meme account is there for, to be another little piece of the puzzle to the picture that is the LSU student experience.”

Monday, January 29, 2024

page 6

A fluffy dog smiles.

Monday, January 29, 2024

page 7

A French bulldog hangs from a harness.

A greyhound dressed as LSU women’s basketball head coach Kim Mulkey struts.

A woman walks across stage with her three mini-schnauzers.

The Capital Area Animal Welfare Society celebrated the Mystic Krewe of Mutts’ 25th anniversary on Jan. 28 by “pawty-ing” like it’s 1999 with Mardi Gras festivities in downtown Baton Rouge.

Photos by: Morgan Cook

A Boston terrier chills in its stroller.

A couple dresses as Pokémon with their dog dressed as Ash Ketchum.

First place group costume winners pose with their prize.

Design by: Paola Santiago Rodriguez

A toy poodle snuggles up in her stroller.

A small dog sports a mohawk.

Classifieds

Monday, January 29, 2024

page 8

Now twice a week. To place your ad, visit www.lsureveille.com/classifieds and click Submit an Ad Costs: $0.34 per word per day. Minimum $3.75 per day. Deadline: 12 p.m., three school days prior to the print publication date FOR RELEASE JANUARY 29, 2024

Help Wanted Now hiring pizza makers apply at RZP.

Misc.

Boil Up

Some Interest!

make a

splash with YOUR business!

Ensure that your manuscript uses correct grammar and mechanics, conveys a professional tone, presents a clear argument, and follows a logical flow. www.papyrosediting.com hconsta@bellsouth.net

coolest ads in Baton rouge !

|

Place a Classified today!

place a classified at

LsuReveille.com!

LSUReveille.com

The

REEL IN

Place business! your SOME

Place a classified at LSUReveille.com

classified

Let Your Business Bloom Place a Classified

LSUReveille.com

{ { HE RE

Place a classified at LSUReveille.com

place a classified at

LsuReveille.com!

THE Daily Commuter Puzzle by Stella Zawistowski ACROSS 1 Dish with mixed greens 6 Possesses 10 Muscle soreness 14 Emerge 15 Anti-piracy org.

16 Huffed and puffed 17 Hearing or touch 18 Amorphous mass 19 Wearing nothing 20 Japanese rice wine 21 Fortune-teller who looks at hands 23 Littler 25 State of matter 28 Swim-bike-run race, for short 29 Clarifying words 34 Energizing shot 37 Lacking the skills 38 __-ball (arcade game) 39 Apple desktops 41 Fizzy drink 42 Iroquois League people 44 “As I Lay Dying” author 46 In a strange way 47 Wages 48 12-mo. periods 49 Attacked in public 54 People who study natural phenomena 58 Bicycle wheel parts 62 Spanish sparkling wine 63 Jazz singer Jones 64 “West Side Story” heroine 65 Mimics 66 British noble title 67 In the company of 68 Egg holder 69 Reasons to do something 70 Christmas Eve visitor DOWN 1 Be impolite to 2 Region 3 “The Legend of Zelda” hero 4 Piece of property 5 Letter after cee 6 Living thing

Created by Stella Zawistowski

7 Probated documents 8 Country singer Judd 9 Buffalo NHL player 10 Band with a museum in Stockholm 11 Coated (in) 12 Roll-call response 13 Pitcher 21 Xerxes I’s realm 22 CNN anchor Burnett 24 Summer in France 25 Painter’s prep medium 26 Set as a price 27 Fritter away 30 Halloween headgear 31 Sister magazine of Jet 32 Hardwood tree 33 Gets close to 35 React with shock 36 Dunderhead 37 Regulars’ orders 40 Beijing and Berlin, for two

1/29/24

Saturday’s Puzzle Solved

©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC All Rights Reserved.

43 Shade similar to aqua 45 Caustic chemical 50 Very expensive 51 Ravi Shankar’s instrument 52 Prefix with “-physics” 53 Serious theater genre

1/29/24

54 Look over quickly 55 Sleeveless cloak 56 Composer Charles 57 “__ of Eden” (Steinbeck novel) 59 Element in steel 60 Julep herb 61 Epic tale 64 Mazatlán “more”

SPORTS Men’s WHAT WENT WRONG? loses hoops to

page 9

MEN’S BASKETBALL

How LSU women’s basketball lost to South Carolina

BY TYLER HARDEN @ttjharden8

The game was in LSU’s control, but it slipped away.

Thursday night’s matchup between LSU and South Carolina was one of those games where it’s unfortunate one team has to lose.

Both teams played like they could win the game. In this case, however, LSU was on the losing end.

LSU started out hot, ending the first quarter with a six-point lead. It went into halftime with a five-point lead, and the Tigers led at the end of the third quarter. It was a clear example of LSU’s lead slowly slipping away as its lead decreased after every quarter.

But the question LSU fans may have is, how could this have happened?

Here are three factors that contributed to LSU’s demise: Foul trouble LSU’s lead didn’t slip away as a result of this, but Angel Reese fouling out with four minutes left in the game was too much time

LSU had without her.

“When you don’t have Angel Reese on the floor, it takes you out of your rhythm,” Mulkey said.

“It takes you out of your confidence.”

Not to mention, it gave South Carolina’s 6-foot-7 center Kamilla Cardoso a window to produce when it mattered most.

While Cardoso didn’t put any points on the board with Reese out of the game in the last four minutes, she grabbed two important rebounds and had two assists. She totaled eight rebounds in the game along with 11 points.

As a team, LSU had 15 personal fouls compared to South Carolina’s 11. Being that LSU played seven players as opposed to South Carolina’s 10, the Tigers don’t have the depth to afford having more fouls than the Gamecocks.

Not to mention, LSU’s fouls in the fourth quarter tied the game twice; South Carolina tied the

see WOMEN’S LOSS, page 10

Alabama

BY JASON WILLIS @JasonWillis4

MADALYN CUNNINGHAM / The Reveille

LSU women’s basketball junior forward Angel Reese (10) watches her teammates from the sidelines during LSU’s 76-70 loss against South Carolina Jan. 25 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on North Stadium Dr. in Baton Rouge, La.

There are no nights off in the Southeastern Conference, and LSU, coming in having lost three of its last four matches, wasn’t handed any sort of relief when it faced Alabama on Saturday.

On the contrary, Alabama, one of the best and fastest offenses in the country, made LSU’s defense work hard on every play. Though the Tigers kept it contentious early, Alabama kept scoring en route to a 10988 win.

The Tigers weren’t completely outclassed against Alabama, though the difference in offensive firepower eventually did overpower them.

LSU isn’t the first team to be thoroughly victimized by

see MEN’S HOOPS, page 10

GYMNASTICS

Battle of the Tigers: LSU gymnastics falls to Missouri

BY AVA HEBERT @avahebe4 The LSU’s gymnastics team lost to the Missouri Tigers 197.325197.225 on Friday night in Columbia.

The meet came down to the final gymnast, as both teams put up a fight until the end. Ultimately, Missouri’s home crowd mixed with its near-perfect first half performance gave it a slight edge over the LSU Tigers.

LSU was coming off of a win over No. 6 Kentucky where it scored 198.125. So far in the 2024 season, it was the Tigers’ highest

score, and the second highest score in the nation. They moved up to No. 3 in the national polls, compared to Missouri at No. 9.

“Last Friday was a good confidence booster and our intention is to be the same team as we turn the page and move onto the next meet,” head coach Jay Clark said after his team’s win against Kentucky. “Missouri is a good team and we’re excited to get in their environment.”

LSU began its meet on uneven bars, where it scored a 49.40.

At the same time, Missouri was competing on the vault where it dominated the rotation. The Mis-

souri Tigers snagged a lead at the end of the first rotation, 49.42549.40.

Once LSU switched over to vault, all eyes were on Haleigh Bryant. Tiger fans were hoping for her fourth perfect 10 in a row against the Missouri Tigers.

KJ Johnson led off for the Tigers, scoring a solid 9.875. Savannah Schoenherr followed with a 9.90 then Aleah Finnegan scored a 9.80. Kiya Johnson finished with a 9.850, and Bryant ended her perfect vault streak against the Columbia team with a 9.90.

LSU failed to stick a single landing on vault which shined an even

ERIN BARKER / The Reveille

LSU gymnastics all-around freshman Konnor McClain competes on the balance beam Jan. 19 during LSU’s 198.125-197.600 win against Kentucky in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La.

brighter light on Missouri’s nearperfect uneven bar routines. After the second rotation, Missouri had a 50% stick rate, sticking six of their 12 routines.

“You can’t score on vault if you don’t land them,” Clark said midmeet. “If you don’t go hard, you can’t be successful in a place like this.”

After the second rotation, Missouri held onto a 98.825-98.725 lead, and it headed to the next event confidently.

LSU answered Clark’s call-out, though, on arguably its best rotation, floor. In its first conference road competition of the year, LSU proved once again why its floor squad deserves to be ranked No. 1 in the nation.

Sierra Ballard remained in the leadoff spot, scoring a 9.775, followed by Konnor McClain with a 9.875.

LSU’s floor routine continued to dominate, as the Tigers worked their way up to a tie with Missouri, each with 118.375 points.

Despite taking a step out of bounds, KJ Johnson’s difficult floor routine left her with a score of 9.725. Finnegan followed with another fall, scoring a 9.350, which was ultimately dropped.

Freshman Amari Drayton scored a 9.875, and Kiya Johnson anchored with a 9.90.

LSU surged into the lead, scoring a 49.150 on the floor, while Missouri trailed with 48.90 on beam.

LSU led 147.875-147.725 going

into the final rotation.

Ballard led off, once again, on balance beam, trying to follow up her previous 9.90 against Kentucky. Missing by .5, Ballard scored a 9.850.

LSU began to pick up the pace once McClain scored a perfect 10 on the balance beam. Kiya Johnson followed with a solid routine, sticking her double full dismount.

She scored a 9.90. Bryant finished off her night with a stick, scoring a 9.850.

After Missouri’s freshman Kennedy Griffin scored a 9.975, the meet came down to both teams’ anchors.

The two Tiger teams were tied at 197.225.

LSU needed a 9.975 to take the win. However, Finnegan couldn’t answer. After she fell on her first skill, the meet was Missouri’s to keep.

Missouri needed a 9.850 to take the win, and Jocelyn Moore answered with even more. Moore scored a 9.925, giving the hometown team the win.

Missouri gained its first home conference win of the season 197.325-197.225.

Despite LSU’s best efforts in the second half rotations, its weak start and minor accidents allowed Missouri to trudge ahead into victory.

LSU’s ranking will likely fall going into week five of the season, but with another home meet ahead, the Tigers will undoubtedly find their way back to victory.

page 10

WOMEN’S LOSS, from page 9 game at 61 from the foul line with six-and-a-half minutes left in the game, and then at 67 when Reese fouled out of the game with four minutes left.

These were points and momentum swings LSU just couldn’t afford to give up.

Of LSU’s seven players that got in the game on Thursday, five of them had multiple fouls, including Reese. Aneesah Morrow had three fouls and Flau’jae Johnson, Hailey Van Lith and Aalyah Del Rosario each had two fouls.

Monday, January 29, 2024 Timely 3-point shooting South Carolina only shot 35% from behind the 3-point line, but its shots couldn’t have been more timely.

Bree Hall knocked down two 3-pointers with under three minutes left in the game, both of which gave South Carolina a three-point lead. The second gave the Gamecocks the lead for good with just over a minute left to play.

The Gamecocks are fond of shooting the three ball. As a team, they shoot 43.5% from behind the arc. This late in the game, LSU couldn’t afford to give

them the shots they thrive most on, let alone at the times they’ll benefit most from.

Earlier in the fourth quarter, Te-Hina Paopao knocked down a 3-pointer, which brought South Carolina within one score of LSU. MiLaysia Fulwiley knocked down two 3-pointers, one of which came right before the halftime buzzer. The Gamecocks having this momentum going into halftime could have sparked a comeback, and while it was a slow comeback, it gave them a way in.

Lack of depth Lack of depth has been one of

LSU’s prime weaknesses all season, especially in Southeastern Conference play.

Ultimately, for the tigers to stay out of foul trouble and defend the perimeter, they needed more options on the bench.

Del Rosario gave LSU valuable minutes off the bench. In a game where her 6-foot-6 height would serve well, she grabbed seven rebounds and came away with three blocks. Especially with Reese and Morrow being in the most foul trouble out of anyone on the team, her production was much needed.

Regardless, for how well LSU

did in the first half, it needed more options to defend South Carolina’s outside shots to avoid fatigue.

Johnson played all 40 minutes, and Van Lith and Mikaylah Williams each played 38. Last-Tear Poa, LSU’s go-to guard off the bench, played just three minutes.

Not one South Carolina player played all 40 minutes. No one needed to.

Against a team as dominant as South Carolina, which makes defenders run all over the court, LSU couldn’t maintain the same quality defense it had at the start of the game.

MADALYN CUNNINGHAM / The Reveille

South Carolina women’s basketball senior center Kamilla Cardosa (10) gets her leg stuck between LSU women’s basketball freshman center Aalyah Del Rosario’s (23) during LSU’s 76-70 loss against South Carolina Jan. 25 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on North Stadium Dr. in Baton Rouge, La.

MEN’S HOOPS, from page 9 Alabama, which is coming off a win over No. 8 Auburn. On the season, the Crimson Tide rank No. 4 in the nation in scoring.

“They just have weapons at every position on the floor,” head coach Matt McMahon said before the game.

Alabama’s lowest point total in any game this season is 71, a benchmark LSU has only semiregularly hit this season (12 times in 20 games).

Alabama’s offensive success starts at the 3-point line, where it’s one of the most prolific teams in the game.

Alabama attempts 29.1 3-pointers per game, No. 11 in the nation, converting at an elite rate of 38.8%, No. 14 in the country. The Crimson Tide have a bevy of shooters, with five different rotation players making over 36% of their 3-pointers on two or more attempts per game.

On the season, LSU has played just two other teams in the top 100 in 3-point attempts per game: Texas A&M, who interestingly shoots a bottom-10 percentage of 26.5%, and Dayton, who has made 40.1% of its 3-pointers, No. 5 in the country.

When LSU played sharpshooting Dayton, the Tigers were ultimately sunk by 3-point shooting, as the Flyers hit a

long-distance game winner with 4.1 seconds remaining.

The same happened against Alabama. The Crimson Tide led an onslaught of speed and scoring, and it all began from beyond the arc, where they made 14 3-pointers on 34 attempts.

Mark Sears, the SEC’s leading scorer on the season, led the Tide with 21 points. Latrell Wrightsell Jr., Aaron Estrada and Rylan Griffen added 19, 18 and 12 points with five, two and four 3-pointers made, respectively.

Alabama’s skill from beyond the arc is lethal not only because of the 3-pointers it generates, but also because of how it forces the defense to play its shooters.

Defenders are forced to either allow a 3-pointer or close out hard on pump fakes and fly past Alabama’s shooters, allowing them to drive and take advantage.

That’s a particularly difficult choice to make with Sears. As perimeter-oriented as his game is, Sears is a hard-nosed guard who wants to get downhill. He punished LSU on the inside on many occasions, even as the Tigers tried to defend him by committee.

“He puts so much pressure on your defense… his quickness and explosiveness off the bounce,” McMahon said.

MATTHEW PERSCHALL / The Reveille

LSU women’s basketball sophomore guard Flau’jae Johnson (4) puts the ball up Jan. 25 during LSU’s 76-70 loss against South Carolina in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La. Even in the early going when LSU held serve, Alabama had a clear advantage in that the Tide dictated the pace of the game.

The Crimson Tide play fast and push immediately downcourt off of rebounds, turnovers and even made baskets.

That, and Alabama’s physical defense, forced LSU to match the pace and play a style it wasn’t accustomed to playing.

The Tigers were clearly forced to operate their offense with more speed and make quicker decisions than usual.

Given those circumstances, LSU commended itself well.

The Tigers initially did a good job of making plays quickly under pressure, zipping the ball around and finding open shots.

In the first 18 minutes of the game, the Tigers finished with an impressively low total of three turnovers. Fast tempo typically leads to mistakes, even for Alabama, who averages the third-most turnovers in the SEC. For much of the game, LSU managed to avoid that pitfall.

The offense was efficient and smooth in the first half, especially operating out of the pickand-roll.

As a team, the Tigers shot 42.3% from the floor and 39.3% from beyond the arc, led by Mike Williams III with 16 points and Derek Fountain with 14.

Eventually, though, the pace and skill of Alabama wore on LSU, and the Crimson Tide pulled away, starting with the end of the first half. Alabama stretched a two-point lead to six in the final minutes, momentum that it carried to a dominant second half.

Though defense was clearly the main issue, LSU struggled again with finishing at the rim,

shooting 13 of 32 on layups.

LSU has now lost four of its last five games and has a record of 3-4 in SEC play, 11-9 overall.

The schedule will ease up slightly as the Tigers’ next game comes at home to an Arkansas squad that isn’t up to the level of Eric Musselman’s teams of the past. The Razorbacks are 10-10 on the season and 1-6 in the SEC.

REAGAN COTTEN / The Reveille

LSU men’s basketball guard Mike Williams III (2) high-fives Jalen Cook (3) and Jalen Reed (13) after a free throw on Jan. 17 during LSU’s 89-80 win against Ole Miss in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La.

OPINION

page 11

The real tragedy of PFT floods is Panera Bread’s closing GARRETT’S GAVEL GARRETT MCENTEE

@9are_bear When I found out Patrick F. Taylor Hall flooded I, allegedly, jumped for joy. My jubilant heart thumped away in my chest. As cruel and inhumane as it may be, I, like most other humanities and social science majors, have a slight beef with engineers.

They get told they’re a necessity, that we need engineers and that they’re so super, uber cool and deserve super, uber high pay.

And sure, I guess we need them.

Maybe.

But as someone who’s been told that my career of choice is for those who can’t do, can you blame me for being a touch tickled at this seemingly karmic reckoning?

I mean, it’s just ironic that the engineering building flooded. You know, the one built by engineers for engineers.

MADALYN CUNNINGHAM / The Reveille

The inside of Panera Bread sits empty due to the recent closure on Jan. 27 at Patrick F. Taylor hall on LSU campus.

But I was busy, so I had to go about my day. On the Thursday following the flood, I could tell something was seriously wrong.

I was sweaty, my hands wouldn’t stop shaking and my visage was overcome with a cloudy complexion.

At first, I thought I was coming down with a deadly illness,

that the end was nigh. But because I am nothing if not impressive, I persisted. I lived through the day in a haze, my movements slow and weak. I had a thirst that couldn’t be quenched, my throat dry, my blood boiling.

But then I had a moment of clarity; I needed caffeine. I needed my free sip of charged divinity

from Panera. I don’t know how I missed it, but I had only had three charged lemonades the day previous (I usually have six).

It was all so clear to me; I just had to get to Panera. I had to get home.

I embarked on my dangerous journey, narrowly avoiding automobiles and sinkholes. My legs quivered, and I’m certain I passed out several times on my mission.

By the time I arrived at PFT my entire world had narrowed down to a pinprick of light.

And then the light went dark, Panera Bread at PFT was, and still is, closed.

I collapsed to the ground and let loose a howl of pure agony that may have killed three bystanders and at least 10 squirrels. It was at that moment I knew my world was over. How am I supposed to function without my charged lemonade?

I know I’m not alone in my tragedy, that my suffering has to be shared across the student body. President William F. Tate IV,

hear my plea and understand the gravity of this situation. You must fully restore PFT no matter the extent of the destruction. Give the engineers back their building, but more importantly, give me back my home.

I can only guess at what hellish divinity heard my contempt for the engineers and their temple to greed and decided to cause the destruction of the HVAC machine that flooded their college. But I know one thing is for certain; I would do anything to make it unhear me.

I promise to change my ways and send love to the engineers if only it means all this could be undone.

I write this while drawing what I assume is my last breath.

My heart is heavy, cold, weak, uncaffeinated. My only hope is that my DoorDash driver arrives with my six charged lemonades in time.

Garrett McEntee is an 18-year-old English freshman from Benton.

Why does Christianity make for such an easy target in media?

JEMIAH’S JUSTIFICATIONS JEMIAH CLEMONS

@Miclemah

Christianity is no stranger to mass critique and scrutiny. The mainstream media has normalized this through music and film in the past two decades. With Sabrina Carpenter and Lil Nas X’s recent inflammatory use of the religion’s imagery, it poses the question: Why do people hate Christianity?

Carpenter and Lil Nas X’s videos were almost certainly made more for shock value than genuine critique. The latter played the devil in a basketball game while dressed as Jesus, which doesn’t seem to carry any deeper message about Christianity’s role in the world. Still, it’s hard to imagine another major religion being used in this way without massive backlash.

By no means am I a Biblethumping extremist; however, it’s interesting that the other monotheistic religions, Islam and Judaism, don’t receive as much widespread hate.

That sentiment can be seen in many people’s exodus from

the church. Pew Research Center predicts that the religion will continue to rapidly decline.

With its membership in a more fragile state than ever, the Church has a couple of options to solve that problem. Christianity has a long and convoluted history with one of these outreach methods.

Christianity’s long history of colonization and mission trips correlate to its negative perception today. A mission trip is the mobilization of a church to spread its faith in another country. While this doesn’t sound bad in theory, mission trips have been known to be extremely harmful considering that most churches target developing countries.

While it may seem like these missionary trips are acts of good service, they’re often using religion as leverage to provide aid to underserved communities. Typically, missionaries go to build churches or schools, spread Christian influence and then leave.

This is harmful because it introduces people to the religion while perpetuating the idea that they need to be saved. Most modern day evangelism reeks of

self-righteousness and a savior complex.

Things like this can result in religious trauma and turn people away from Christianity altogether. Ranging from Mormonism to non-denominational, about 33% of adults in the U.S. have experienced some form of religious trauma, according to the Global Center for Religious Research The “Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets” documentary gave people just a peek into what this looks like.

The documentary series also highlights polygamy, child molestation and other forms of abuse not only in the Duggar family but within their faith as well. All of these horrendous acts were justified by church leaders using the Bible.

Most people’s disdain for the religion stems from the manipulation of the Bible to inflict pain onto others. Slavery and racism have been justified in this country using the Christian faith. The Antebellum Christians claimed that men were to be the heads of their households, in charge of their homes, wives and property.

And because they did not see Black people as human during slavery, this is how 400 years of

slavery was justified.

The constant misrepresentation has only evolved over time.

Through politics, twisted Christian ideals are being pushed onto citizens of different religions, races and cultures. While Christianity is the most practiced religion in the U.S., allowing religion to influence policy is unethical. It also goes against the ideal of “separation of church and state” that this country was founded on.

Ron Desantis, Ted Cruz and other conservative politicians have constantly used religion as a way to usher in new legislation that imposes on the rights

Editorial Policies and Procedures EDITORIAL BOARD Claire Sullivan

Editor in Chief

Lauren Madden

Managing Editor

Oliver Butcher

News Editor

Peter Rauterkus

Sports Editor

Colin Falcon

Opinion Editor

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.

of others. The “Don’t Say Gay” bills, the Roe V. Wade decision and the recent statewide abortion laws are blatant attacks from people using Christianity as a motivator.

Looking at the religion’s almost omnipresence in culture and politics, it’s not too hard to see why it receives such a negative response from people. The disrespect of Christianity within mainstream media will continue as long as these problematic factors exist.

Jemiah Clemons is a 19-year-old kinesiology sophomore from Miami, Florida.

GRAPHIC BY JACOB CHASTANT

Quote of the Week “Dancing - that’s really what I do at parties. I dance and I hang out with friends. That’s my partying.”

Rebecca Black American pop star 1997 — present

Grab a copy today!