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Reveille
IN THIS ISSUE • Les Miles addresses controversy, not considering retirement, page 4
The Daily
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015
lsureveille.com/daily
thedailyreveille
• Acroyoga’s popularity increases in Baton Rouge, page 5 • Turning away Syrian refugees in time of Thanksgiving hypocritical, page 8
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Volume 120 · No. 64 ADMINISTRATION
LSU prepares for hiring search BY CAITIE BURKES @caitie1221
said. “I think everyone should be concerned about safety.” Soriero said he visits Tigerland regularly and never expected to become a drugging victim — especially not the night of the Florida game, when he was not drinking excessively. He said he gave a random man money to buy red bulls and vodka for him and his girlfriend. Though the couple was supposed to share the first drink, Soriero somehow got that one to himself. After two more drinks and an argument with his girlfriend, Soriero left the bar to head home. He said his actions between midnight and 8 a.m. were a “blur.” “Apparently, I was very reckless and
As the search for a new executive vice president and provost draws to a close, LSU administration now hopes to fill another vacant position: vice president for Strategic Communications. Former Vice President for Strategic Communications Linda Bonnin vacated the office at the end of October. After Bonnin’s departure, LSU Executive Director of Policy and External Affairs Jason Droddy stepped in as interim vice president Nov. 1. The office was familiar territory for Droddy as he filled it before, from August 2013 through October 2014 following Herb Vincent’s leave. “I told [LSU President F. King] Alexander I would be willing to serve DRODDY as long as he would like,” Droddy said. In addition to overseeing the Division of Strategic
see TIGERLAND, page 11
see VICE PRESIDENT, page 11
CAUTIONARY TALES HASKELL WHITTINGTON / The Daily Reveille
Student Health Center, students report druggings prevalent in Tigerland
Tigerland may be a common target of date rape drugging due to its high concentration of student activity. BY KACI CAZENAVE @kacicaz When business management sophomore Tad Soriero woke up Oct. 18 after celebrating the Tigers’ win against the University of Florida at Reggie’s bar, he had no recollection of his actions during the previous eight hours. All he remembered was his then-girlfriend leaving his apartment that morning — not how he wound up with date rape drugs in his system. Seirra Fowler, assistant director of wellness and health promotion for the Student Health Center, said roughly five students have reported allegedly being drugged while out at Tigerland since the start of the fall semester. “I believe [Tigerland] is a target due to the high concentration of student activity,” she
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
SG requests amendments to policy for student absences BY WILLIAM TAYLOR POTTER @wmtaylorpotter Student Government Resolution No. 28, passed at the LSU Student Senate’s final meeting of the semester Nov. 18, asked the Faculty Senate and LSU administration to consider improvements to the school’s absence policy, Policy Statement 22. Policy Statement 22 addresses student absences from class and lists valid reasons for missing a class. The policy states professors must “assist those students who have valid reasons” for not attending.
Senator Jimmy Mickler authored the legislation and delivered opening comments before the Senate launched into debate. He said the policy’s phrasing left it open for interpretation for professors and needs a more definite procedure. “There’s been a bunch of issues with that line not being strong enough,” Mickler said. Mickler said this amendment adds the professor “will devise a system for making up any quiz, exam or other work” and that the made-up work should be “equal in difficulty to the original” and administered at a time agreed upon
by both the professor and student. Mickler said he had a class where the professor dropped one test a semester and used that as his make-up policy. If a student made a 40 percent on a test then missed another test for appendicitis, the 40 percent would be factored into the final grade, he said. Senator Jacob Phagan asked if an assignment was due over a period of time and a student was sick on the final day it was due, would the student be able to make it up for full credit. Mickler said, under the current language, “not even a little bit.” “It doesn’t even excuse you
if you were to miss a test on one day,” Mickler said. “It really doesn’t excuse anything.” Senator Jacob Boudreaux argued in favor of the resolution and read an email one of his constituents sent him about excused absences. The student missed classes after going to urgent care with nausea and dizziness and was told it was a bad reaction to medication. The medicine the student was given to counteract the bad medicine made her sleep for 16 hours straight, Boudreaux said. After emailing the professor asking to make up an assignment because
of the sudden illness, the student was told the assignment could not be made up because a valid excuse was not sent prior to the absence. “It’s stuff like that, that really bothers me,” Boudreaux said. “Because the professors have academic freedom, there’s nothing we can do. Her grade is going to be lowered just because she was sick and didn’t know that she was going to be sick.” Faculty Senate previously considered similar legislation, Mickler said, but there was a
see ABSENCES, page 11