Check out the top activities to do on LSU campus in January
MASTERMIND
Jack Marucci, LSU’s director of performance innovation, is a trailblazer in sports science.
EUREKA!
Meet the Thomas Edison of sports tech: LSU’s Jack Marucci
BY ETHAN STENGER
LSU athletics has an edge over all its opponents. His name is Jack Marucci.
Marucci organized the training of all 21 of the institution’s Division I sports during his quarter-century stint as the head of LSU’s athletic training department, bringing 20 national championships home to Baton Rouge, including three national and five SEC championships for football.
In 2021, Marucci was offered a position as the director of performance innovation on LSU’s sports science team after 25 years as the organization’s head athletic trainer. It was a life-changing opportunity that he couldn’t deny. The role became the first of its kind.
“Jack has always had a knack for innovation, and this new position will allow for his groundbreaking ideas to be taken advantage of by our student-athletes across all sports,” LSU athletics director Scott Woodward said in a statement.
The technology and techniques that Marucci brought to LSU have placed him among the likes of some of history’s greatest inventors.
But what makes him unique? How did Marucci pioneer a position that had never been seen before?
The answer becomes more and more apparent the more you talk to him.
“I’m always curious about things,” Marucci said. “When I was a kid, I always took things apart.”
Marucci grew up in Uniontown, a quaint, picturesque coalmining town in southwest Pennsylvania in the ‘70s.
“Culturally, it’s a lot like Louisiana, where athletics, high school football and any of those types of events always brings these communities closer,” Marucci said.
Marucci developed a love for sports at a very young age. At the time, the local Pittsburgh Steelers were at the peak of their infamous Steel Curtain dynasty, in which the black and yellow won four Super Bowls in six years.
“If the Steelers would lose and my mom would have made Sunday dinner, none of us didn’t feel like eating,” Marucci said. “Which is terrible, right? But that’s how you live and die each week.”
The Maruccis built and owned Shadyside Inn in Pittsburgh; it became a family business. But rather than making them take over the inn, the Maruccis encouraged Jack and his siblings to follow their passions and experience what the world has to offer.
Marucci’s passion for athletics combined with his natural curiosity led him to return to his home state for school. At West Virginia, Marucci received his bachelor’s degree in athletic training at one of the most prestigious programs
in the country. He attended Alabama for two years of graduate school and interned for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers during both.
His first official job came with Florida State. The Seminoles went undefeated in bowl games and lost no more than two games in a season, and the program fell no lower than No. 6 in the AP poll during Marucci’s eight-year tenure. It’s the most significant stretch of winning in the program’s seven-decade existence. It was so impressive that it helped Marucci land a big-time gig in the bayou, which he stays humble about.
“We started having a pretty good reputation at Florida State when you win,” Marucci said. “You know, there’s great people anywhere, but if you get associated with winning, then you’ve got to be the best, which is a false narrative, really.”
LSU appointed Marucci as the head of the university’s athletic training department in the summer of 1996. Marucci was 31 years old, a little over a decade removed from the same chapter of life where the players found themselves.
Longtime LSU athletic director Joe Dean needed someone to come into Baton Rouge and restructure the entire sports medicine division, and Marucci got right to work. He wasn’t just about rebuilding a flagship university’s athletic training department; Marucci was also about innovating and changing how we look at sports medicine.
In 1997, Marucci hired Shelly Mullenix, the first woman in the SEC to work in a training room. Over a quarter-century later, she’s a senior associate athletic director at LSU.
“She did a great job with the sports psychology,” Marucci said. “Some of these players were used to communicating with females, so there was a need there.”
Marucci’s ability to recognize a need and find a way to satisfy it is similar to that of some of history’s
pact.
“I always tell people, you can get opportunities through relationships and how you treat people throughout your life,” Marucci said. “It’s a circle. Opportunities can create relationships. Relationships can create opportunities.”
Sure enough, Marucci’s connection with Perez had turned his little bat-making hobby into a fullblown business.
“He was like the mouthpiece to start talking to everybody about these baseball bats,” Marucci said. “I was getting phone calls from all these Major League guys, and here I am just cutting these things in the backyard. It was like contraband, [Perez] called it.”
most infamous inventors. As society needed to transmit longer and more complex messages, Alexander Graham Bell patented the first telephone. When the world needed light, Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb.
In 2002, when Marucci’s son, Gino, was eight years old, he fell in love with the colors of Barry Bonds’s custom Canada maple wood baseball bat. Marucci called all the major bat companies with no luck: none made a small enough wooden bat for Gino.
“So I started thinking, ‘Well, maybe I can make one,’” Marucci said.
Marucci made his first wooden baseball bat using the experience he gained from working in his school’s wood shop in junior high.
“It wasn’t very good,” Marucci said. “Made the next one, and it got a little better. So my son used wood bats until, literally, until he’s probably 12 years old.”
Unlike Marucci’s first wooden bat prototype, Gino became a good hitter, and all of his teammates suddenly wanted wooden bats.
“They thought it was unique because no one was using wooden bats back then,” Marucci said. “So he’d say, ‘Oh yeah, go see my dad, he’ll make them for you.’”
That’s the moment Marucci’s bat brigade began. In 2002, Marucci started an LLC, and it continued to grow.
At an athletic training convention in St. Louis, Missouri, Marucci reconnected with Major Leaguer Eduardo Perez, whom he first met when Perez played baseball for the Seminoles.
When Marucci told Perez about his new bat business, Perez insisted that Marucci let him sneak one into an MLB game, even though the league prohibited them.
“I said, ‘Eddie, man, I’ve only seen seven and eight-year-old kids use these things. This might just blow up,’” Marucci said.
With enough convincing from Perez, Marucci gave him one of his bats, and sure enough, the bat stayed perfectly intact upon im-
In 2005, Marucci Sports received a license from the MLB to have their bats officially used in Major League games. The company even dethroned Louisville Slugger, the market leader for officially licensed MLB bats for over a century.
Marucci went on to sell Marucci Sports to an investment firm in 2020 before the company sold to Fox Factory for $572 million in 2023. On Jan. 1, 2025, Marucci Sports became the official bat of the MLB, a license that will run to the end of 2028.
However, some of Marucci’s most impressive innovations have come during his tenure in Baton Rouge.
For every LSU football player who comes through the facilities, Marucci and his staff use the S2 Cognition Test, which NFL scouts commonly use to test a player’s perception, processing speed and decision-making skills.
“S2 Cognition is a game changer for understanding how our athletes process action between the lines, and how they’ll instinctually react at full speed,” Florida State football head coach Mike Norvell said via S2. “S2’s technology provides unique insights about our players that allow us to understand how to maximize their abilities as we develop them on their climb to become elite performers on the field.”
Marucci believes he can help the coaches understand how players act on and off the field by understanding how they are wired. But nobody flew off the page as much as Justin Jefferson.
Most people have a dominant eye, which determines whether they perform better on certain routes or when batting baseballs from different angles, but not Jefferson.
“Justin Jefferson was a rarity that could see it from both sides,” Marucci said. “He’s the only player I’ve seen who could change his dominant eye.”
When the Minnesota Vikings first drafted Jefferson in 2020, the coaching staff asked multiple questions about his rare abilities, and he pointed them right to Marucci.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF LSU ATHLETICS
SPORTS FRESHMEN PHENOMS
Meet the star-studded freshmen of LSU gymnastics
BY GABBY GRAY
A championship in 2024 has brought great young talent to Baton Rouge in 2025.
After competing against the Iowa State Cyclones two weeks ago and gathering in Oklahoma City for the annual Sprouts Market Collegiate Quad – where they placed second – last weekend, three out of the five freshmen on LSU’s gymnastics team have made their debut with the Tigers.
With instantly recognizable names on the team, like social media sensation and first-year grad student Olivia Dunne and 2024 Paris Olympian senior Aleah Finnegan, the team has quite the reputation, especially after being named the 2024 NCAA national champions in gymnastics last spring.
So, what are the newcomers
see FRESHMEN, page 10
MEN’S BASKETBALL
BY ROSS ABBOUD
LSU gymnastics are giving out replica championship rings at Friday night’s meet to celebrate their 2024 NCAA Gymnastics national title.
The rings are replicas of the ones the team was presented with in September as part of their championship celebration.
The first home meet against Iowa State included fan handouts. The Tigers also celebrated their banner drop at that meet with mini replica banners for the first 1,000 fans.
The program hopes to pack the PMAC on Friday night as LSU prepares to compete in a top-10 matchup against the Florida Gators, currently ranked No. 7.
LSU men’s basketball comes from behind to beat Arkansas
BY TRE ALLEN AND ETHAN STENGER
While LSU and Arkansas’ expectations were polar opposites coming into the season, the Tigers and Razorbacks were faced with the same circumstances heading into Tuesday night’s game.
Both teams found themselves in 0-3 holes to start SEC play, but the tales of these two teams aren’t so black and white.
After a decade-and-a-half-long tenure at Kentucky, Hall of Fame head coach John Calipari took his talents to Fayetteville and brought D.J. Wagner, Adou Thiero and 7-foot-2, 245-pound forward Zvonimir Ivisic along with him.
Arkansas has had a streak of bad luck at the beginning of the new year. To start 2025, it’s drawn No. 1 Tennessee, No. 23 Ole Miss and No. 8 Florida, all of which resulted in defeat, with the latter two being single-digit losses at home.
But Matt McMahon’s group has played worse against worse competition. LSU dropped its first three conference contests, at home to Vanderbilt and on the road to Missouri and the No. 23 Rebels.
It might not be fair to Calipari and the Razorbacks, but the SEC is apathetic.
During early December’s ACC/ SEC Challenge, the SEC dominated, sweeping the ACC with an undefeated 9-0 record through the first night before finishing the event with an impressive 14-2 re -
cord. Before the conference play, the SEC held the highest winning percentage (88.9%) for a conference since the ACC in 2002-03.
There’s no other way to slice it; the SEC is the nastiest in the nation. So when two spiraling squads fall below expectations, something’s gotta give.
The Tigers gave their best effort against a team with high expectations. However, the first half wasn’t the most exciting. LSU shot 35.5% from the field and only scored 34 points.
It looked like another poor offensive game, but LSU only trailed by two heading into halftime.
In the second half, the ball started to roll in for LSU. Cam Carter put up 18 points in the second half, shooting 50% from the field and 66% from the threepoint line.
Carter finished with 27 points, shooting 46% from three and 50% from the field. However, as well as Carter played, others stepped up big-time for the purple and gold.
Jordan Sears has been moved to the bench but has been making the most of the opportunity. Although Sears wasn’t necessarily efficient, he added 17 points to the Tigers’ total.
“Bringing me off the bench allowed me to see the floor from a different perspective and read everything,” Sears said. “So when I come on the court now, I’m able to be more aggressive. My mentality has to stay in a positive state, stay the course, and just continue
to work better for the team.”
Dji Bailey almost finished with a double-double, having eight points and nine rebounds, while Daimion Collins had seven points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
Two individuals stuck out in this game: Mike Williams and Derek Fountain. These two players did not see much of the court this season, but McMahon called their number on Tuesday.
Williams had eight points, two rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block. Although the stats don’t pop, his impact was immense. He provided spacing for the offense and gave high intensity on defense. Williams finished with the second-highest plus-minus on the team with plus nine.
“You got to give him his credit,” Carter said. “Just staying down until his time came; that’s a strong dude. That’s not easy to
do and to come out and produce. You got to give him a lot of credit for that.”
The one who did lead the team in plus/minus was Fountain. Although Fountain did score from the field, he did impact the game in other ways. Fountain racked up three steals, six points and five rebounds. He played the fourth-most minutes on the team
FRANCIS DINH / The Reveille
The LSU gymnastics team lets out a cheer March 1 during LSU’s 198.325-197.325 win over Alabama in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
ERIN BARKER / The Reveille
LSU men’s basketball head coach Matt McMahon reacts to a play on Jan. 17, 2024, during LSU’s 89-80 win against Ole Miss in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La.
BASEBALL
Who are the key names for LSU baseball in 2025 season?
BY BRETT KEMPER
LSU is a mere 29 days away from their opening weekend series against Purdue Fort Wayne, kicking off the 2025 season in Alex Box Stadium.
The 2024 Tigers were swept twice, mercy ruled three times and went 4-6 in weekend series and 13-17 against conference opponents.
The Tigers did finally find some rhythm in their last regular season series when they swept Ole Miss.
LSU fell short of the conference trophy, losing to the eventual national champion Tennessee Volunteers by just one run, 4-3.
Against North Carolina in the regional final, the Tigers blew a one run lead in the final inning, eventually losing in 10.
LSU struggled all year with depth for both starters and relievers. From Friday to Sunday, the drop off of reliability from Luke Holman and Griffin Herring to seemingly a new face every weekend was painfully asymmetrical.
The offense was believed to be something that the Tigers could lean on in lieu of a domineering pitching staff but slow stretches from key names and a lack of clutch hitting was just another issue.
Head coach Jay Johnson responded with one of the best offseasons to date. Johnson pulled 15 star studded players from oth-
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
er schools and signed seven high school recruits, several of which were in prime MLB draft spots.
Baseball America named LSU’s newcomer class No. 1 in the nation, consisting of 11 top 500 draft prospects in the nation.
Johnson is now in the command of the No. 1 freshman class, five top 100 sophomores, five top 100 juniors and two top 75 seniors.
Key Returners
Gavin Guidry – RHP
Guidry is a Louisiana native and a seasoned player entering his junior year. Guidry saw innings in Omaha as a stellar relief pitcher with nine career saves and a fastball that touches the mid-90s on a consistent basis. LSU will need to lean on some consistent outings from Guidry to stave off upset-hungry teams.
Michael Braswell III – INF Braswell is entering his second year as a Tiger after transferring from the University of South Carolina. Last year he batted .311 with 12 doubles, three triples, four home runs, 36 RBI. His play in the postseason showed promise of delivering in high-stakes moments. The bar is set even higher for Braswell in his senior year.
Chase Shores – RHP
Shores underwent Tommy John surgery in April of 2023, so he didn’t see any action in 2024. He received a medical redshirt and is going to find himself back
on the bump this season. Reports late last year stated that if LSU had made the trip to Omaha, that Shores could have seen action. No one is hungrier than the 6-foot8 ace to impose a daunting presence on batters that face him.
Key Newcomers
Derek Curiel – OF Derek Curiel was suspected to be the 78th pick in the 2024 MLB draft but after talking with Johnson and the LSU staff, he elected to come play for LSU. The freshman is great at getting on base and quick on the base paths, characterized by his 19 stolen bases. He
batted .314 with 10 doubles and 21 RBI in high school. While the Tigers are not known as a stealhappy team, that could change with Curiel in the lineup.
Zac Cowan – RHP Cowan caught the eye of Johnson when he threw six innings in the Chapel Hill Regional against LIU and had six strikeouts and allowed no runs. Cowan is from Blythewood, South Carolina, and left Wofford College to join the Tigers. Cowan was 10-2 pitching and adds some experienced depth to the bullpen for LSU.
Dalton Beck – OF, 1B, LHP
One of the most versatile players on the team with the ability to fill in lots of places if needed, Beck is a senior and was a top 100 transfer coming from Incarnate Word. There he hit .377 with 20 doubles, 18 home runs and 67 RBI. He led the Southland Conference in slugging at .733, hits with 89, as well as RBI and home runs, simultaneously setting the Incarnate Word records in doing so.
It’s safe to say Johnson and company are holding the bar higher than ever with this 2025 team stacked with talent.
LSU women’s basketball’s big three wins battle with Vanderbilt
BY TRE ALLEN
It was a back and forth battle in the bayou. The Tigers took the court on Monday night against the 14-3 Vanderbilt Commodores in their fourth conference game of the season. LSU remains undefeated after winning 83-77.
The offense didn’t have the explosiveness that people were used to seeing. This was only the sixth time this season the Tigers scored under 85 points. However, with the help of its big three, Flau’jae Johnson, Aneesah Morrow and Mikaylah Williams, they prevailed.
Johnson led the way, producing 25 points, five rebounds and four assists. Mikaylah Williams put up 20 points, five rebounds and five assists. Morrow added 23 points and 15 rebounds and became the eighth player in NCAA DI history to record 2,500 points and 1,500 rebounds in a career.
“I once had the game taken away from me,” Morrow said. “Every time I step on the floor every night, I give it my all because you never know when your last game is, and I love basketball that much, so I have to come out and give everything I got, whether it’s practice or a real game.”
Vanderbilt came in as the underdogs, and just like any underdog, its job was to make the game sloppy and keep the deficit as close as it could. That’s exactly what it did.
Both teams shot poorly in the first half.
From the field, the Tigers shot 39.4%, from the three-point line they shot 20% and even from the free-throw line they shot only 62.5%.
For the Commodores, it wasn’t much better. Their splits were 41.4%, 33.3% and 76% respectively.
On defense, Vanderbilt was doing it all, forcing LSU into bad shots, offensive fouls and turnovers.
“We just got sloppy,” head coach Kim Mulkey said. “Turnovers in any sport will cost you, we’ve just been fortunate enough to score one more bucket than somebody else.”
The Tigers tallied 12 personal fouls, with four different players getting two fouls. They also turned the ball over 12 times in the first half. Once again, Vanderbilt was the same as its opponent.
The Commodores also had 12 personal fouls to go along with their 15 turnovers. Each team wreaking havoc on the other produced a tied game at half, 37
apiece.
“I want to give them credit,” Mulkey said. “They’re coming off of two losses, and sometimes you can fold or bow your neck and I just thought they bowed their neck.”
The second half brought more offense, but Vanderbilt didn’t go anywhere. In the third, the Commodores scored 20 points and shot 66.7% from the field.
Even with LSU scoring 21 points in the third quarter and shooting 50% from the field, the Tigers only led by one heading into the fourth. Of their 20 points, Williams produced 11, leading the team that quarter.
Her impact on the offense was needed, hitting timely shots to ensure Vanderbilt didn’t gain any momentum.
In crunch time, LSU turned to
its best player in Johnson. She scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to put away the Commodores.
In a game where the bench only scored nine points, the big three of Johnson, Morrow and Williams stepped up in this one.
The Tigers will get a few days off before they travel to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators on Sunday night.
MATTHEW PERSCHALL / The Reveille
LSU baseball head coach Jay Johnson watches the team warmup on June 2, 2023, prior to LSU’s regional 7-2 win against Tulane in Baton Rouge, La.
PEYTON PRICHARD / The Reveille
LSU women’s basketball senior guard Shayeann Day-Wilson (50) dribbles around a Vanderbilt player during LSU’s 83-77 win against Vanderbilt on Jan. 13 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La.
NEWS LESS THAN 1%
Reports reveals Louisiana universities spend minimally on DEI
BY PIPER HUTCHINSON
Louisiana Illuminator
Last year, Louisiana lawmakers asked every Louisiana public school to submit a report on their spending related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Based on an Illuminator review of their submissions, there has been minimal spending on these programs.
Attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion – one of the flashpoints in conservative culture wars in the education realm –are often premised on the idea that such programs bloat college budgets and increase student debt. But information every public Louisiana college and university provided shows that about half of its post-secondary institutions spend nothing on DEI. Those that do spent between 0.001% and 0.42% of their respective budgets.
In total, 17 schools spend about $3.5 million on DEI measures out of $2.7 billion in state money appropriated to them in the most recent fiscal year, making up 0.1% of the state’s total higher education spending. The other 16 schools – including every campus in the historically Black Southern University system, most schools in the Louisiana Community and Technical College System and two schools in the LSU System – reported spending nothing on DEI.
The reports are required by Act 641, which Rep. Emily Chenevert, R-Baton Rouge, authored. It mandates school-level reports on all DEI personnel, programs and spending from all Louisiana public two- and four-year colleges. The Illuminator obtained the reports through public records requests. The reports list program names, their purpose and description as well as the number of personnel and the state funding for each.
The personnel metric is interpreted differently by each school and should be taken with a grain of salt. For example, some schools included students or volunteers in the count, others included only employees who were dedicated to the DEI program and others included employees who worked on DEI projects as well as other tasks.
Monty Sullivan, president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System and a defender of DEI, said a diverse workforce is something industry partners are looking for Louisiana schools to provide.
“The whole diversity, equity and inclusion is nothing more than a firestorm. We don’t need
a firestorm right now,” Sullivan said. “What we need is to produce more graduates that go to work and pay taxes in Louisiana.”
Sullivan called the political focus on DEI a distraction from the economic mission of the state’s post-secondary education institutions to produce a workforce that meets Louisiana’s needs.
“But with 58.5% of our people working, we are not accomplishing that goal,” Sullivan said.
What constitutes DEI?
The wording of Chenevert’s legislation resulted in several items being included in the reports that are not typically considered DEI matters, making the reports a liberal estimate of actual spending.
The law specifically seeks reporting on any “program, activity, initiative, event, instruction, action, or policy that classifies or references individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, culture, gender identity, or sexual orientation or promotes differential or preferential treatment of individuals on the basis of such classification.”
For example, eight of nine University of Louisiana System Schools listed their international student centers on their reports. Among other things, these centers help recruit international students and help them with visas and other legal matters. Such centers are not typically considered a DEI undertaking.
The eight schools reported collective spending of $918,803
on their centers, making up about a third of what all universities spent on DEI.
“While we are uncertain if international offices should be included, this is the first time we have completed this report,” Marcus Jones, the UL System’s chief operating officer said in a statement to the Illuminator. “Therefore, we included anything that might fall under the statute’s broad definitions. To be clear, we are not deciding whether international offices are definitively considered DEI programs.”
DEI efforts are not limited on college campuses to race and LGBTQ+ status, which are often named during debates on legislation seeking to curb the practice. They could encompass any number of programs that seek to provide equal opportunity. Because they are not specifically mentioned in the new state law, spending for other groups who benefit from DEI measures — such as programming for students with veteran, disabled, rural, non-traditional or firstgeneration status — are not included in the reports.
“It’s important to remember that creating conditions which support individual success are not inherently zero-sum, and in fact removing formal or informal barriers which may hinder any one person’s opportunities can have a positive impact on the entire campus community,” LSU Faculty Senate President Dan Tirone said in a statement to the Illuminator.
HIGHER ED
Itemized spending, cuts
The LSU System’s report also includes many items that have since been eliminated.
Its main campus in Baton Rouge last year stripped language related to diversity, equity and inclusion from most of its websites. Later in 2024, the LSU Board of Supervisors approved a resolution requiring he elimination of DEI programs across the system, which includes two medical schools, a two-year college in Eunice and a regional university in Shreveport.
Across all schools, the largest individual DEI expense was for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Center for Louisiana Studies. The center is described as being “dedicated to researching, publicizing, promoting, and preserving Louisiana’s cultures and history.” The university spends more than $710,000 on the center annually, according to the report.
Other items included in the reports varied widely in cost and purpose.
LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport reported spending $1,915 on a Mardi Gras celebration.
McNeese spent $10,000 on its “Black Male Initiative” which is designed to help those students build a support network at the Lake Charles School.
LSU’s College of Engineering reported spending $6,244 on the “ExxonMobil Diversity Scholars Program,” which offers funding and mentoring to minority students with the goal of increasing graduation rates for these engineering students.
The LSU Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs at the Manship School of Mass Communication reported spending $180,054 on a lecture series. This included the salary of the director of the center and a note that only one of the lectures was related to equity.
LSU spokesman Todd Woodward did not respond to a request for comment about this item.
Of the 139 items listed on the report, 59 were done at zero cost, including a series of student events at the University Recreation Center at LSU, a “Coming Out Day” event at Grambling and a DEI Workgroup at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center.
Other expenditures include small-dollar amounts for student organizations. DEI spending in athletics and Greek life were specifically excluded from the legislation and are not included in the reports.
Landry names new LSU Board members
BY PIPER HUTCHINSON Louisiana Illuminator
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has named Scott Ballard as the next chairman of the LSU Board of Supervisors.
Ballard, a Covington businessman and PJs Coffee franchisor, was appointed to the board by Landry last year. Ballard is also a political donor who has given extensively to Landry and other candidates.
Landry also announced the appointment of Roderick “Rico” Alvendia of New Orleans to the LSU board. An attorney and U.S. Army veterans, Alvendia replaces former chair Jimmie Woods of New Orleans.
Alvendia has contributed to Republican and Democratic candidates. President Joe Biden appointed him in 2022 to a three-year term on the board of directors for the U.S . Military Academy at West Point.
Alvendia will reign as king of Washington Mardi Gras, which takes place later this month. Neither man is an LSU alumni. Ballard received an economics degree from Tulane, and Alvendia graduated law school from Loyola New Orleans.
Landry is the first governor to choose the LSU board chair directly thanks to legislation approved last year that gives him broad authority to select the heads of powerful state panels and commissions. Prior to the law taking effect, governors could only appoint members to the board who would then select their own chairs.
MATTHEW PERSCHALL / Louisiana Illuminator
LSU’s Memorial Tower on March 20, 2023, on Tower Drive in Baton Rouge.
GABRIELLA GUILLORY / The Reveille Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry points at the crowd on Oct. 1 outside of the LSU Memorial Tower on Dalrymple Dr in Baton Rouge, La.
LSU Women’s Basketball plays against Vanderbilt on Jan. 13 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU women’s basketball sophomore guard Mjracle Sheppard (1) looks to pass during LSU’s 83-77 win against Vanderbilt.
LSU women’s basketball junior guard Flau’Jae Johnson (4) blocks a Vanderbilt player during LSU’s 83-77 win against Vanderbilt.
LSU women’s basketball senior guard Shayeann Day-Wilson (50) dribbles around a Vanderbilt player.
LSU women’s basketball sophomore guard Mikaylah Williams (12) evades a Vanderbilt player.
LSU women’s basketball junior guard Kaylin Gilbert (16) attempts to score during LSU’s 83-77 win against Vanderbilt.
LSU women’s basketball senior forward Aneesah Morrow (24) attempts to evade a Vanderbilt player and score.
LSU fans hold up a sign during LSU’s 83-77 win against Vanderbilt.
LSU women’s basketball junior guard Flau’Jae Johnson (4) takes a shot during LSU’s 83-77 win against Vanderbilt.
LSU women’s basketball junior guard Flau’Jae Johnson (4) attempts to score during LSU’s 83-77 win against Vanderbilt.
LSU women’s basketball sophomore guard Mikaylah Williams (12) talks to head coach Kim Mulkey during LSU’s 83-77 win against Vanderbilt.
LSU women’s basketball senior guard Last-Tear Poa (13) stands on the court.
Photos by Payton Prichard
Design by Rei Zimmerman
ENTERTAINMENT 2024 IN THE LSUNIVERSE
The Best Pop Culture Moments of 2024
BY OLIVIA TOMLINSON
The most important way to start the new year is to reflect on the old one.
LSU has become popular in the media due to its abundance of viral moments in recent years. From winning National Championships to rappers giving the school a shoutout, 2024 was a successful year for LSU. To celebrate the start of 2025, take a look at some of the best pop culture moments for LSU from last year.
Sports
LSU Gymnastics made history last year when the team earned its first NCAA Women’s Gymnastics National Championship. On April 20, 2024, LSU Gymnastics took home gold, making LSU’s National Championship total rise to 52. It was a record breaking event where five gymnasts scored 9.9+ in the final rotation, making it one of the best LSU sports moments of 2024.
Music
Social Media
LSU athletes teamed up at Michael Rubin’s popular “All White Party” and went viral for an iconic picture. Celebrities are invited to party at Rubin’s mansion in the Hamptons, on the coast on New York every summer. Former LSU football players Odell Beckham Jr., Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Burrow were pictured in their all white attire, with the LSU gymnastics star Livvy Dunne. LSU football fed into the virality of the picture by posting it to X, with the caption “Why not LSU?”
Six LSU athletes were featured in the 2024 Prime Video docuseries “The Money Game: LSU.” The show premiered on Sept.10, 2024 and highlighted NIL deals of gymnast Livvy Dunne, LSU women’s basketball forward Angel Reese, LSU men’s basketball guard Trace Young, track and field star Alia Armstrong, LSU women’s basketball shooting guard Flau’jae Johnson and 2023 Heisman winner Jayden Daniels.
The show addresses the NIL policy change in 2021, how it affects players and how it will affect future ones. This series is also produced by LSU legend
In June of 2024, LSU student, women’s basketball star and musician Flau’jae Johnson released her second studio album “Best Of Both Worlds” where she acknowledges her busy life balancing her music and basketball career. On the fourth song on the record, “Came Out A Beast”, listeners received a feature that felt like home.
Lil Wayne and Flau’jae collaborated on this song and each gave LSU a shoutout during their verses when they rap “Yeah, and I go to LSU and I be reppin’ it like I’m Joe Burrow (Yeah).”
Everyone knows that LSU Women’s Basketball Head Coach Kim Mulkey brings game and style to the court.
The coach’s outfits are always a surprise to fans, adding more excitement to a game. Some of Mulkey’s most popular looks were from the 2024 season. Mulkey has no fear when arriving at a game in an extreme look. She’s not afraid of straying away from the classic LSU colors: purple and gold.
One of the most popular looks from 2024 was a rainbow striped, sparkly pantsuit at the LSU v. Middle Tennessee game, held in the PMAC. Like many of her outfits, this one caused some commotion online.
Travis Scott also deserves an honorable mention for fashion in 2024 at LSU. The rapper collaborated with Michael Rubin’s brand Fanatics and multiple colleges across the U.S. to create a limited edition streetwear collection with each university. LSU students lined up for hours outside of the LSU Bookstore to purchase merchandise and hopefully take a picture with the rapper.
Shaquille O’Neal.
PILAR FRANKLIN / The Reveille
The LSU gymnastics team is celebrated for their 2024 championship during the game against UCLA, Sept. 21, at Tiger Stadium.
COURTESY OF BILLBOARD.COM
Flau’je Johnson and Lil Wayne in “Came Out A Beast” music video.
COURTESY OF LSU TWITTER Odell Beckham Jr., Ja’Marr Chase, Joe Burrow and Livvy Dune at Michael Rubin’s “All White Party“ on July 4.
COURTESY OF THE U.S. SUN
Kim Mulkey standing sideline in her striped rainow suit at the LSU vs. Tennessee game on March 24.
THE SCOOP
BY OLIVIA TOMLINSON
January
THURSDAY AT 12:45 p.m. 16th
Want to see your event in the Reveille? Email information to editor@lsu.edu.
Weekly Tea Time
Howe-Russell W253
Weekly tea time in the Miles Richardson Lab, located in Howe-Russell W253 starts at 12:45 p.m. and allows students to relax with tea, coffee, snacks and a good time. This is a great way for arts, humanities and social sciences to meet students in similar majors like geography and anthropology.
Pop-Up Art Tour
LSU Museum of Art, 100 Lafayette St.
The LSU Museum of Art, located at 100 Lafayette Street, will host a 45 minute guided tour of exhibits that is designed for everyone to enjoy. No registration is required and Friday nights are free. Check out their website for more tour dates.
MONDAY
January
19th 20th January
Martin Luther King Day Holiday No classes.
Global Jam Game
This is the world’s largest game creation that takes place in the Digital Media Center. The game revolves around an intellectual challenge that combines innovation, experimentation and collaboration. Must be 18+ to enter.
23rd January
SUNDAY
PUZZLES
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
January
TUESDAY 21st
Internships and Abroad Information Center French House
Students interested in interning abroad in Summer 2025 should attend the information session held in the French House from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Classical Studies Movie Night 152 Coates Hall
At 152 Coates Hall, classical studies will present Lou Ferrigno in Hercules. The event will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Free pizza while it lasts.
THURSDAY AT 5:30p.m. 23rd January THURSDAY AT 6:00 p.m.
January
FRIDAY 24th
Star Party Nicholson Hall
Classical Music Recital Music Building, Recital Hall
Enjoy a freeartists recital by Rossitza Jekova-Goza and Vesselin Todorov with the LSU String Faculty. This will be an extraordinary night of classical music held in the Music Building, Recital Hall.
Explore the night sky in Nicholson Hall where students can gaze through telescopes to see the Moon, planets and many stars. The event will take place from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and is free to everyone.
January SATURDAY AT 7:00 p.m. 25th
BASKETBALL WIN, from page 3
finished with a plus-minus of plus 10.
“I thought Derek also gave us a huge lift,” McMahon said. “We were struggling to score early in the game. He got to the free-throw line and converted. But I thought
FRESHMEN, from page 3
bringing to the team as freshmen?
As mentioned earlier, audiences have yet to see collegiate routines from two of LSU’s freshmen on the team, all-arounders Zoe Miller and Victoria Roberts.
Standing at 5-foot-2 from Spring, Texas, Miller is a member of the World Champion Center and was a member of Team USA for the Olympics for three years before coming to LSU.
Competing in the 2023 Pan American Games and Winter Cup, Miller was named the uneven bars champion in both categories. However, she had to retire from elite gymnastics after suffering an injury to her shoulder in February 2024.
Having already committed to LSU for gymnastics, Miller received five anchors in her shoulder and began her recovery for the upcoming collegiate season. While she hasn’t been seen on the floor just yet, she has expressed her excitement to join the team this year on her In-
both those guys played really well.”
Collins, who competed for three years under Caplin at Kentucky, capped off the night with sweet revenge: an emphatic block to erase a layup as the clock hit zeros. It marks the second consecutive season in which the Bayou
stagram by posting LSU media day photos.
Also, posting media day photos alongside her teammates is Roberts, who is a Louisiana native.
Roberts is from Belle Chase, Louisiana, but trained in Baton Rouge with Edge Gymnastics. Her skills have led her to qualify for the Junior Olympic Nationals and is four-time state champion.
In addition to those achievements, last year, she was named the floor champion during her level 10 career at the Region Eight Championships.
These accomplishments give fans a sneak peek at what to expect from Roberts this season as she embarks on her journey with LSU gymnastics.
Audiences can direct their attention to the freshmen who have competed in the two events of this season. One is all-arounder Kailin Chio, a former member of the USA national gymnastics team.
As a member of Team USA, the Nevada native was named the 2021 American Classic champion
Bengals have beaten Calipari in Baton Rouge after Tyrell Ward’s mind-numbing, game-winning buzzer-beater sent home No. 17 Kentucky, 75-74, in 2024.
“They deserve to win the game,” Calipari said. “I’m just disappointed in myself that I’m not getting through to these guys
on bars, vault, and all-around. Her skills on vault and bars continued to follow her as she participated in the 2023 Women’s Developmental Program National Championship, being named a champion in these rotations once more.
Known for receiving perfect vault scores in the past, Chio has proven her skills here at LSU, starting with her participation against Iowa State, where she received a 9.825 on vault.
In uneven bars for that same meet, Chio’s score tied with senior Aleah Finnegan, both girls scoring a 9.900.
Once again, Chio earned one of the highest scores on the balance beam that day, tying with Finnegan once more with a 9.925.
At the Collegiate Quad in Oklahoma City, she received the highest vault score for LSU, a 9.950, while also scoring one of the highest scores on the floor exercise, a 9.925. She trailed just behind sophomore all-around Amari Drayton, who scored a 9.950, and Finnegan, with a 9.975.
where we have to get over the hump.”
In a game in which both coaches desperately needed a win, McMahon’s men rallied behind him at halftime to come from behind and tally the team’s first SEC victory of the season.
“I was really proud of our play-
Another freshman who also participated on vault in the Collegiate Quad was all-around Kailya Lincoln, where she received a 9.825, the same score for the same rotation against Iowa State one week prior.
Serving as an alternate for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Lincoln’s talents have led her to join the Tigers this season, with her decorated career as a record of her achievements.
A four-year member of Team USA and five-time national champion on floor exercise, Lincoln’s training from WOGA Gymnastics has only helped her grow.
Also, as a member of the 2020 junior national team, Lincoln helped lead her team to gold. In 2023, she was a silver medalist in floor exercise with Team USA and became a Winter Cup floor exercise champion.
Her history as a gymnast and what she brought to LSU so far should have fans on the edge of their seats as they watch Lincoln take to the floor.
Finally, LSU received a commit-
ers’ fight, toughness and response tonight,” McMahon said.
The Tigers will need to continue to play with fight and toughness to begin a conferencewinning streak when they travel to College Station to play No. 11 Texas A&M in an SEC showdown on Saturday night.
ment from freshman Lexi Zeiss in October 2022.
Since then, the Omaha, Nebraska, native has been a twotime member of the U.S. National Team and was named a 2022 World Champion.
She reached the elite gymnastics level a year prior, at the 2021 Winter Cup, where she was named the allaround champion.
In addition to earning several awards for dedication and character as an athlete during the 2022 Pan American Championships, Zeiss has already made her debut as an LSU Tiger, starting at the meet against Iowa State.
She received a 9.800 on uneven bars, and during the Sprouts Collegiate Quad, she participated in both vault and uneven bars.
On vault, she received a 9.850, and on bars a 9.825.
While there is room for Zeiss to grow this season, she will do it alongside her teammates, who Tiger fans hope will shape her and the other newcomers into the best versions they can be for LSU.
OPINION
America is not special, its history is filled with atrocities
ANDREW’S ANGLE
ANDREW SARHAN
I was born and raised in the United States. I love this country. I love what it stands for. I love the freedom it occupies. In fact, that freedom gives me the right to write the following words: the United States of America is an incredibly flawed country.
This isn’t that bold of a statement. In fact, you’d be pretty hard-pressed to find a country that didn’t commit atrocities before in its history. However, the difference between other countries and America is that we don’t take accountability.
As soon as someone tries to criticize the United States, suddenly, people start throwing out ad hominem attacks towards your character. They’ll even assign you different labels, such as “unpatriotic” and “communist.”
I don’t recall pointing out bad behavior being in any of Karl Marx’s theories.
Furthermore, I don’t think it is unpatriotic to admit the faults of this country. In fact, if we know about how we used to be, we can, as a nation, be proud of the progress that we have made since. As stated by philosopher George Santayana:
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
A lot of the reasons that America can’t take criticism is because of a lack of education reading the full extent of U.S. History. History is written by the victors, and a lot is omitted in history classes throughout the United States because it paints the country in a bad light.
One of the main issues that isn’t fully explained in commoncore history classes is the extent of slavery and how rough it truly was. One thing that I learned while writing this article is that while slavery was made illegal after the Civil War, slavery still existed until the 1940s in a form known as neo-slavery.
Neoslavery was the practice of slavery after the Civil Rights Movement, and the way it was done was using legal loopholes. In the novel, “Slavery By Another Name” by Douglas A. Blackmon, the author tells the story of a young man charged with vagrancy. At the time, vagrancy meant
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not having a job.
The young man, named Green Cottonham, committed no crime, but he was arrested. He was swiftly found guilty, and when he couldn’t pay his court fees, he was sentenced to an extra year of hard labor. It was then that he was approached by the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company.
They paid off Cottonham’s bail under the condition that he worked for the company for cheap. Cottonham became a warden of the corporation, and instead of one year of hard labor, he had to suffer a lifetime of work with very little pay.
Furthermore, the treatment of Cottonham and other forced laborers was as bad as chattel slavery since the companies treated the laborers as if they were disposable. All that would have to happen is another man would be charged with vagrancy, and you have successfully replaced a worker. This disposability shows true as in a four-month span, at least six of Cottonham’s co-laborers dropped dead and were replaced shortly after by other laborers.
This was slavery. Full stop. This was enslaving human beings for forced labor for a corporation. Sure, the workers were paid, but the workers had to pay back the debt they owed to the company,
plus interest, and so were condemned to slavery for the rest of their lives.
Slavery and subsequent neoslavery aren’t the only times white Americans have subjected another race to suffering. One must also consider the genocide committed against Native Americans. The United States was a growing nation and needed more room to expand its population. If this is starting to sound familiar, this is the same tactic Adolf Hitler used for “Lebensraum.”
Source: The New Yorker.
Killing Native Americans for more room wasn’t the only thing white Americans did, they also weaponized food by killing and subsequently starving a large portion of natives. How did the Americans starve the Native Americans? They did this by killing a ton of buffalos. An army general was documented, stating: “Kill every Buffalo you can! Every Buffalo dead is an Indian gone.”
By murdering all the buffalos in an area, the colonial Americans starved the Native Americans into submission and would eventually give up their land to the colonial Americans. Instead of condemning this weaponization of food, we Americans embraced it.
One of the few remnants of this genocide can be found in
the NFL. The Buffalo Bills are the only NFL team in New York State. The Buffalo, New Yorkbased team is named after a western outlaw named, “Buffalo Bill Cody.” Cody was known for killing many buffaloes, hence why he was named that way.
Now, I do not believe that the Buffalo Bills should change their name. I believe that is just performative and not beneficial. Renaming would only cause further division in the nation. What should happen, though, is educating on this atrocity in the common core curriculum so that we all know the true story.
To make the situation worse, after being kicked off their land, Native Americans weren’t given U.S. citizenship until 1924. President Calvin Coolidge signed the “Indian Citizenship Act” in response to many Native Americans enlisting in World War One.
To me, what shocks me the most about this story is that Native Americans enlisted in the first place. When they were fighting in the war, they weren’t even considered citizens of the U.S. and yet they still fought for a country that didn’t even want them to exist.
As a society, America has gotten better since 1924. In fact, 100 years after Native Americans received citizenship, President Joe Biden made a long overdue apol-
ogy for the U.S. government’s role in oppressing Native Americans. We should be allowed to criticize and admit the faults of the United States without being ad hominem to silence. We should be able to have these uncomfortable conversations because, as great as America is, there are countless issues with America right now.
However, if we are never able to discuss these issues with America, both historic and contemporary, then we will never grow and heal from it. Americans should not be so sensitive to criticism because a society without criticism doesn’t help anyone. A society without criticism is an immature society, like a petulant child who gets told no for the first time.
Look, I love America. I love the opportunities that I have here. I’m proud of being an American, but when we bury our heads in the sand, we show our immaturity as a young nation. No country is perfect. Every place has issues, both historic and current. To advance society to be the best it can be, we must address our faults and atrocities. To open the door of progress, we must use the key of change.
Andrew Sarhan is an 18-year-old mass communication freshman from Baton Rouge, La.
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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.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin
and
Luther King Jr. Activist, political philosopher
Baptist minister 1929 — 1968
Sports Editor
Taylor Hamilton Opinion Editor
AP PHOTO COURTESY OF TERESA CRAWFORD
Beware, the end of TikTok is near
GARRETT’S GAVEL
GARRETT MCENTEE
Every once in a lifetime, a star will touch down to earth. In that glittering moment, humanity is connected in a blazing supernova of awe. Such a star was TikTok.
TikTok, the short-form content app meant for dancing that defied expectations and became a nebula of human connection, is laying upon a sweet bed of roses. After years of threats to ban and bar the platform, her opponents have won.
I know we mourn; I feel our despair reverberating across the land. Alas, we must look past the remnants of this dying star and raise our eyes to the future. What will we allow to steal our data and valuable time now?
Are we to put down our phones? Go outside? Touch grass and unplug from the internet world that is much more desirable than our daily mortal coil?
You could. It’s probably a good idea to do as much. Start reading again, instead of watching people live the life you want; you could make active moves to create that life for yourself.
Or, you could say no to growth like I am. Instead, you can do what is perhaps the thing humans do best: be spiteful. There are several apps that sit before the masses attempting to ascend into the role of the supreme. Here are my thoughts on some of the top picks.
Instagram, more so the Reels feature on Instagram, is the most plebeian, troglodyte, corporate sellout of a choice. Not only is it an American company, but it just isn’t a good replacement. The algorithm is not up to par, and in my belief, Instagram should do what it does best only: post photos in a slideshow format. My
reasoning can be boiled down to an ancient proverb, “Don’t eat where you poop.”
In the same vein as Instagram, we have X (formerly Twitter.) Just no. X is its own thing, so far removed from TikTok. It is a cesspool of all of its own acrimonious making. It is a place for grifters and people who either care too much or too little. Absolutely ruined by Elon Musk.
In all honesty, the best choice is obvious for Americans. We need to really use this moment to show that the government’s unsupported banning of TikTok is a horrible mistake on their part by downloading an app all but unheard of in America. The most spiteful choice is Xiaohongshu.
Xiaohongshu, also known as “Red Note” or “Little Red Book,” is the Chinese equivalent of TikTok. Is it heavily censored like most (if not all) Chinese media? Yes, of course.
However, the irony of TikTok being attacked over it allegedly stealing the data of American users and giving it to the Chinese government just for American citizens to travel to a Chinese app controlled by the Chinese government cannot be overstated.
Xiaohongshu has already opened its gates to American users, the two countries’ distinct citizens having a plethora of funny interactions. From what can be seen on social media, it seems that the TikTok transfers have begun calling themselves refugees and that the Xiaohongshu natives have been nothing but welcoming.
TikTok is on her deathbed, but perhaps a shining, spiteful shooting star is streaking across the sky for any Americans who desire to stick it to the government.
Garrett McEntee is a 19-year-old English sophomore from Benton.
Student athletes shouldn’t be the only ones LSU brings the red carpet out for
BODACIOUS BLAIR
BLAIR BERNARD
The new year excitement fades, and the awkward exchanges of “Hi, how were the holidays” small talk flood in. As creaturey of habit, we all fall victim to cliche resolutins, and that’s expected. With the holidays and reminiscence of the year before, I realize that the experiences that I have had in my young adult life are all a part of a cycle.
We all know the very large football crowd that comes with LSU territory. Known for its star-studded team and frequent winning streak, LSU football is renowned all throughout the nation. So what does LSU do to maintain the comfort of their precious selected few? I got to witness this first-hand on campus move-in day. Dozens of entourages decked out in LSU attire. A videographer and glamorous decorations. An actual red carpet rolled out for LSU freshman football players.
I love my school, I love my community and I have as much respect for athletes as the next person. I think their talent should be celebrated and rewarded, but that doesn’t take away from the equally talented scholars, artists and architects, around us.
This campus move-in a day; however, I was reminded of the very distinct difference we all have compared to athletes. Special treatment, which brings me
back to that cycle. We all can pin point in our adolescence when we were made to feel different than a group of people, less than and unworthy. I wouldn’t have felt so strongly about reporting my experience that day if it meant all students moving in were treated with the same lavishness.
To add even more to the very eventful start of the semester, a fire occurred in my building on campus. Though the firefighters and police got the situation under control, it led my roommates and floormates to evacuate for several hours. Left to roam the block around the apartment complex, we somehow managed to find ourselves in the very established football facilities whilst awaiting to return to our rooms.
Though the experience was memorable, my roommates and I were lucky enough to be safe and comfortable. I thought about my own department facilities and the lack of dryerase markers. As I stared at the freshly painted walls and fully stocked shelves in the football facilities, I realized how fortunate the athletes are to have these amenities at their leisure. I could only think about those dry-erase markers; if only there was equal disbursement of support for other areas on campus.
I hope as all students return to campus facing whatever challenges await them, they recognize their resilience to continue to work hard even if that means not being rewarded equally as athletes. It goes deeper into social class, status and association,
which can affect someone’s selfesteem. What makes someone else’s efforts more deserving? Money, attention? Sadly, this is the reality we promote when we emphasize certain people over one another.
No matter your ticket to success in life, your niche or calling, there will always be someone better, more talented or wealthy. That’s one of the many famous laws of the universe. The way institutions choose to buy into the mainstream idea of ego in 2025 is just elementary to me. It makes you wonder how the people in authority really evaluate status. They must discriminate within their own careers and possibly in their friend groups. When you look around and put these ideas into perspective, you realize how superficial social rules even are. I don’t know who lied and told everyone humility was out, ‘cause it’s very much in. Look it up, write it down, live it, learn it and promote it. I want to reiterate how important giving credit where it’s due is. But if you really have to make it known and broadcast how much status you have, do you even really have it?
I think it is as simple as just being disappointed that I can’t even move into a new place and not be reminded of the importance of status. A false status that was set up by my educational institution that is supposed to lift me up despite our differences in interests and fields.
Blair Bernard is a 21-year-old theater performance major from Lafayette, La.
AP PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDY WONG
Icons for the smartphone apps Xiaohongshu and TikTok are seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, China, Jan. 14.
FRANCIS DINH / The Reveille
A student is assisted by his family with Move-In Day Aug. 12, 2023, outside Spruce Hall on LSU’s campus.