The Reveille 1-31-22

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ONE YEAR LATER This March marks the one-year anniversary since the release of law firm Husch Blackwell’s report on LSU’s Title IX Office. But what’s changed since?

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Herget Hall residents have complained of a faulty elevatory, boiling hot showers and a gecko infestation.

ENTERTAINMENT

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UREC yoga instructor Jane Goodloe spent nearly 20 years helping students and faculty with their mental and physical health.

SPORTS

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LSU football star Maason Smith maintains a champion mindset during the off-season as he prepares for the big stage.

OPINION

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“If students did their part and actually followed the enforcements, I think the COVID-19 cases would drop significantly.”

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

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TITLE IX PROGRESS

LSU has completed almost all 18 Husch Blackwell recommendations.

BY BELLA DARDANO & PIPER HUTCHINSON @BellaDardano & @PiperHutchBR In November 2020, LSU hired law firm Husch Blackwell to review its Title IX policies and procedures following a USA Today investigation that uncovered the university’s repeated mishandling of sexual assault cases.

About four months later, the law firm released a 150-page report detailing the school’s failures and 18 recommendations to “fundamentally change the way the university handles these exceptionally complicated cases.”

Nearly one year after the report was released, LSU has completed 17 of the 18 recommendations so far, according to Jane Cassidy, interim vice president of LSU’s Civil Rights and Title IX Office. The recommendations deal with how the Title IX Office operates, reporting processes, investigative protocols and sexual assault training.

Cassidy said the Title IX Office now has four investigators and is planning to get another case manager to aid with civil rights claims, since the issues sometimes go hand-in-hand.

The office recently hired a deputy Title IX coordinator for training and prevention, Miranda Brown, and she’s working on training with a push for bystander intervention, Cassidy said.

LSU also hired Baker Tilly, another law firm specialized in Title IX procedures, in October to review the university’s progress in completing Husch Black-

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Editor-in-Chief LARA NICHOLSON Managing Editor ENJANAE’ TAYLOR Digital Editor JAYDEN NGUYEN News Editor JOSH ARCHOTE Deputy News Editor BELLA DARDANO Sports Editor JOE KEHRLI Deputy Sports Editor PETER RAUTERKUS CHYNNA MCCLINTON / The Reveille

A student holds up a sign Oct. 18, after speaking during the Feminists in Action protest following reports of LSU mishandling sexual assault cases at Hodges Hall on LSU’s campus. training.

The latest Title IX progress report on Dec. 20 showed 16 of 18 recommendations completed.

Cassidy said the recommendation to “thoughtfully consider presumptively appropriate sanctions’’ was completed shortly after the report and went into action on the first day of the spring 2022 semester.

The policy is meant to better outline how Title IX offenders should be punished.

“This matrix is for every individual behavior that could happen, where we kinda think we start, and then how would we figure out what the exact punish-

Louisiana Board of Regents is requiring all public institutions to give a power-based violence climate survey next year.

The predicted timeline is that the survey will be given to the university in the fall and the data will be analyzed in the spring, but it’s still in the works, Cassidy said. This semester will consist of groups meeting to discuss how to get maximum engagement with the surveys.

Baker Tilly also recommended five new changes on top of Husch Blackwell’s, three of which have been completed, Cassidy said.

The other two are establishing a committee to help get maxi-

CHYNNA MCCLINTON / The Reveille

LSU students watch speakers Oct. 18, during the Feminists in Action protest following reports of LSU mishandling sexual assault cases at Hodges Hall on LSU’s campus. well’s recommendations. Cassidy said the law firm agrees that 16 of 18 recommendations have been completed, as they’re waiting to see the training made for LSU Athletics in practice before they count it as completed.

This semester, LSU coaches and student athletes will undergo new, targeted sexual assault

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

ment is. This is provided to the hearing panel, and they’re the ones that decide whether to move that one way or another,” Cassidy said.

The recommendation still in progress is “regularly measure climate and effectiveness.” Cassidy says this will not be checked off until spring 2023 because the

mum student engagement in the upcoming survey and implementing mandatory sexual assault training for incoming students and a plan to continue providing that information every year.

Because the university is nearing completion of the recommendations, Cassidy said the office is pivoting to a focus on prevention.

“We’re really focusing now on how do we prevent this from happening in the first place,” Cassidy said. “We’ve got it set up if it happens, we know how to take care of it. We hope people will trust us.”

Cassidy and Tigers Against Sexual Assault agree progress has and is being made, but they know much remains to be done.

“If it stops now, it’s not enough,” said Emily Hebert, director of public relations for TASA. “But it’s an improvement on where we were before.”

As an example of gaps in improvements, Hebert pointed to the 2021 LSU Title IX biannual report, which gives a report of power-based violence incidents that were reported on campus, as required by state law. It showed that of 63 total incidents reported to the Title IX office between June 29 and Sept. 30 of last year 71% were closed without disciplinary action.

“I would say that the university has made great steps in the fundamentals of having a Title IX process that is effective and better for survivors,” said Angellina Cantelli, co-president of TASA. “However, there is always more to be done, and I am hopeful that they will continue to close some of the gaps we’re currently seeing in education and training about consent and survivors’ rights in the near future.”

Cassidy hopes the progress the university has made so far has helped gain community trust.

“I hope I’m right about this, but I feel like we have made progress in getting people to trust us,” Cassidy said. “We’ve worked with Tigers Against Sexual Assault, we’re working with Student Government, the We’re Committed group, we’re working with the Feminists in Action group, we have a group of faculty members from WGSS who we’ve been taking to.”

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CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS The Reveille holds accuracy and objectivity at the highest priority and wants to reassure its readers the reporting and content of the paper meets these standards. This space is reserved to recognize and correct any mistakes that may have been printed in The Daily Reveille.

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NEWS ‘DIRTY HERG’

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RESIDENTIAL LIFE

Residents complain of geckos, boiling showers and an unreliable elevator

BY DOMENIC PURDY & BELLA DARDANO @Tigerdom16 & @BellaDardano

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

During his first semester living in Herget Hall, Chris Morgan had to contend with more than just other freshmen. Those who lived on the first floor spent their first semester stepping over geckos.

“We got a bunch of geckos, a bunch,” Morgan, a jazz studies major, said. “I was walking out of my door to go to class and I almost stepped on a baby gecko.

And that’s just the first time.”

After checking with other Herget residents to see if someone was playing an elaborate prank, Morgan said that it was a consistent problem, one not isolated to the first floor.

Issues like gecko infestations, unreliable building services and the dirty floors have led many residents, current and former, to refer to the dorm as “Dirty Herg” and “Herghetto.”

Built in 1964, the dorm is located off South Campus Drive near University Lake.

One of the most commonly cited problems with the building is its elevators and their frequent outages, Morgan and another resident, Armani Stamps, said.

“I live on the sixth floor, so when it’s out, I have to take six flights of stairs up and down,”

Kirby Smith to be demolished

BY CHANDLER MCINTOSH @GeauxChandler18

to put in work orders for ongoing issues because it is the best way for staff to quickly resolve them.

Trentacoste said he was unaware of the gecko problem, but believes it might be due to Herget’s close proximity to the campus lake and that they are not a species that can typically be sprayed or pretreated for. He says the Residential Life staff will look into it and do their best to exclude geckos from floors and rooms as notified.

In regard to elevator maintenance sometimes taking weeks, Trentacoste says Res-Life has an elevator service contract that quickly responds to outages, but

Kirby Smith Hall is set to be demolished in fall 2022 and will eventually become a green space, according to Roger Husser, assistant vice president of LSU Planning, Design, and Construction.

Demolition will cost about $4 million and should begin in June, finishing sometime in the fall. A demolition crew will use explosives to bring the 13-story building down since it’s too close to other buildings to be knocked over.

The last time students lived in the 57-year-old building was in 2019, when the university’s then-largest freshman class had to be temporarily housed there.

Though demolition has been planned for some time now, the university has relied on Kirby Smith as backup housing while having overflow issues on campus, delaying the demolition process.

The opening of two new residence halls in 2021, Camellia Hall and Azalea Hall, allowed Kirby Smith to be officially retired. With 800 beds between the two new halls, it’s more than enough to offset the 550 that Kirby Smith offers.

The demolition will allow LSU to build a green space and improved sidewalks around surrounding dorms that lead to the core of campus.

“This was all planned years ago before we built Cypress, Spruce and Cedar Halls,” Huss-

see HERGET, page 4

see KIRBY, page 4

MATTHEW PERSCHALL/ The Reveille

A drink machine sits against the wall on Jan. 29, in the basement of Herget Hall on Campus Lake Road in Baton Rouge, La. Stamps, a business maintenance student, said.

The problem, Stamps and Morgan explained, is that maintenance on the elevators takes days, even weeks, to get them operational again. There was a period in October where the elevator was out of service for two weeks, Morgan explained.

Another issue residents have is the inconsistent temperature control within the building. On the third floor, the air conditioning is out across the floor, Morgan said. This is not isolated to the third floor.

“The temperatures are either extremely warm or extremely cold on the sixth floor,” Elaina Bachmann, a vocal music educa-

tion freshman, said.

Temperature control issues extend to the bathrooms as well, where Morgan said that the showers “don’t go any lower than boiling” on the third floor.

There’s no cold or room temperature water, she said.

Stamps also said that the bathrooms aren’t very clean, hoping for a more sanitary environment.

Other issues include torn, uncomfortable furniture in common areas, broken washers and dryers throughout the semester and a basement that is “really gross,” Morgan said.

Peter Trentacoste, the executive director of Residential Life, says it is important for students

BUSINESS

LSU now host of statewide small business support network

BY JOHN BUZBEE @thebuzzbuz LSU has been awarded the host-leadership position in a statewide network that aims to aid small business activity and promote a healthy state economy.

The network, called the Louisiana Small Business Development Center, has locations all around Louisiana.

Small businesses across the state can seek consultation by contacting their regional office and getting help. The organization’s 10 offices will now take direction and report to LSU’s Innovation Park—the host seat of the LSBDC. Andrew Maas is the associate

vice president for Research for Innovation and Ecosystem Development at Innovation Park.

“We can help them. We can help them look at market opportunities, market size and the demographics of a location,” Mass said.

Business consultation services provided by the LSBDC are completely free.

Historically, the sub-centers have worked with a smaller institution; Maas said it hasn’t been as easy to contract with the smaller institutions compared to a larger one like LSU. Maas believes LSU is well equipped for the job. The university handles $165 million in research and contracts annually and has the infrastructure in

place to carry out these operations.

Still, he doesn’t want to make this an “LSU-centric” network.

“As the flagship institution, we have a job to educate the community and state,” Maas said.

Maas wants to see “true collaboration” across the regional offices and the host and wants to take a new approach to the management of the organization.

While employees of the other offices won’t be the employees of LSU and therefore won’t report directly to Innovation Park, he says that they’ll enter contracts ensuring LSU’s oversight so that the offices can reach their full regional potential.

see HOST, page 4

DYLAN BOREL / The Reveille

The LSU Innovation Park sign sits Jan. 27, on 8000 Innovation Park Drive.

Monday, January 31, 2022

page 4 KIRBY, from page 3 er said. “This has always been the intent of the master plan for this area with the new residence halls, and the demolition of Kirby will allow that plan to come to fruition.”

McVoy and Broussard halls are also planned to be eventually demolished, according to LSU’s campus master plan.

Built in 1965 and named after a Confederate general, the building has long been considered an

eyesore that doesn’t blend in well with the buildings around it. The hall has collected a variety of different nicknames from students like “The Hospital” and “Dirty Kirby.”

Former LSU chancellor Michael Martin quipped that living in the building was a “historic international experience.”

“It’s a chance to live in the Soviet Union,” he said.

The first time the building closed was 2006, but housing demand on campus grew and it un-

derwent a $1.7-million renovation and reopened in 2011.

The building, located on the north end of campus off West Chimes Street, is named after Edmund Kirby Smith, a Confederate general who after the war served as chancellor of the University of Nashville and later a mathematics and botany professor at the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee.

LSU building renaming efforts have avoided Kirby Smith because of its impending demo-

HOST, from page 3 The regional offices will meet on a quarterly basis to discuss initiatives and the direction of LSBDC. “Small business is the life blood of the U.S. economy,” Maas said.

Smalls Sliders, a casual burger restaurant on Nicholson Drive, used the services of the LSBDC and have now grown to a second location, employing more people and further stimulating the economy.

“The federal definition of a small business, depending on industry but almost universally, is under 500 employees,” Maas said, “So you could have a pretty big business and still be defined as a small business, with regards to the federal government.”

Because of the federal definition of a small business, many businesses that wouldn’t be thought of as small still qualify for the free services of the LSBDC. Funding for the LSBDC comes from three levels: federal, state and local. The Small Business

HERGET, from page 3 sometimes longer outages may last longer than expected if a new part needs to be ordered.

Their expectation is not to be out for a week.

Trentacoste also said Res-Life does not receive a lot of complaints about water being too hot but encourages students to put in work orders to ensure the issue can be resolved or examined.

“Unless we have a work order, we may not actually know there’s a problem with it [water temperature],” Trentacoste said. “So we’d rather have 20 students all at once telling us its a problem and that quickly gets attention versus the assumption of, ‘I’m pretty sure somebody has to know this,’ when in reality we may not.”

Trentacoste also noted that unlike other entities on campus, Res-Life is funded by student rent, not the university.

“This is not a campus-funded thing in that we don’t get money from tuition and then that somehow gets filtered to us,” Trentacoste said. “All of our renovations and improvements are funded through the collection of student rent and student housing payment.”

Herget’s reputation has long been established as less than satisfactory. As reported by the

DYLAN BOREL / The Reveille

LSU Innovation Park sits Jan. 27, on 8000 Innovation Park Drive.

Administration, through tax dollars, funds around $1.8 million.

The state affords $1 million via Louisiana Economic Development. The remaining money surfaces through local means and LSU itself. All three levels total around $4.5 million.

Most of this is tax-generated money and goes into paying the employees of the LSBDC so that they can provide their free services.

Innovation Park manager Hutch McClendon says that the LSBDC can be of great benefit to

Reveille in 2011, it ranked as the No.12 worst dorm in America.

Since then, it was announced in 2018 that the dorm would be demolished to make way for other, newer dorms. Along with other dorms scheduled for demolition like Acadian and Kirby Smith, it is set for demolition in 2023.

While demolition may have been the plan in 2018, Trentacoste says Herget could possibly be around for another 10 years due to factors like COVID-19, enrollment needs and low cost housing options for students.

“The good news is Herget and Miller are not falling into the earth,” Trentacoste said. “Quite the opposite. They are quality, well-built facilities.”

Trentacoste said Herget hasn’t been on a major renovation list in a while, but over 75% of LSU’s residence halls have been renovated in the past 20 years. They will still continue to evaluate the building and determine their needs while making improvements.

Trentacoste says although updating bathrooms, painting the facility and replacing furniture will not be a complete renovation, it will feel that way for many students because these facilities will be more reliable and have better finishes than they

started with.

“There’s been a lot of great work that’s been done here within LSU Residential Life, but we’re not done,” Trentacoste said. “My hope is that students that have kids someday come back to campus and are blown away by the condition and care that’s been taken by that point.”

Having these older dorms around campus provide a few benefits for students such as cheaper options for students that may not be able to afford the cost of newer dorms and the opportunity to live in the same buildings parents and grandparents lived in, Trentacoste said.

Catherine David, associate director of communications and development for Residential Life, says living in these buildings can become family tradition.

“Buildings like Miller and Herget, typically Miller, they’re like legacy buildings,” David said. “It’s become a tradition for families to live there.”

While some students like Stamps were placed in Herget after wanting to live in a newer dorm like Azalea, others like Morgan and Bachmann chose Herget as their new home, despite its historical reputation.

“I heard bad things about Herget before coming to LSU, but I actually kind of like the rustic

lition.

Students living in surrounding dorms have complained of the construction machines and fencing cluttering the area surrounding Kirby Smith.

“Honestly [the dorm] being there bothers me less than the construction surrounding it,” said Trinity Hunte-Angus, a freshman living in Cedar Hall. “Walking around the fencing is annoying because it covers some of the pathways. There’s a sign that covers the fencing, and it constantly

falls.”

Walking to class when it rains can be especially difficult since many of the paved pathways are obstructed by fencing.

“The gravel that’s next to the door by Cedar and next to the construction by Kirby becomes very muddy,” Whitfield said.

“Your shoes can get trapped in it and it’s very hard to get into Cedar Hall. I’ve heard roommates complain about it. I think overall everyone is frustrated about it and can’t wait for it to be done.”

LSU students.

“Students need to know they can come to us to get advice,” McClendon said.

There can be a stream of mutual benefit between students and the organization, where students can use the services of LSBDC and the state can push forward economic innovation.

This would create more jobs for students joining the Louisiana workforce. Maas speculates that a more vibrant economy might encourage something like a bigger night life and give more graduates a reason to stay in the state after completing their degree.

Small business growth is easier to instigate than a larger company.

Maas uses the example of a start-up that’s two people compared to a company of 1,000 employees. The start-up can grow by 600% if it hires only 12 new people, whereas the larger company hiring 50 new employees only grows by 5%.

Pat Witty is the director of small business and community service at Louisiana Economic

Development, a state office that works in partnership with the LSBDC. He’s glad LSU is using its leverage outwardly and not “living in its walls.”

“To say it is one thing, to do it is another; I think because they have a strong small business program, a small business development center, they already have an incubator, a strong business school, a strong public administration school,” Witty said “I think they have a great opportunity to leverage all of that and put it into place throughout their own small business development center.”

Witty looks forward to sitting at a table with the other organizations— LSU, SBDC, SBA, and LED— and ensuring the most effective use of their resources.

“If we can’t figure out how to support small businesses in this economy, we’re going to be losing from the get-go,” Maas said.

“LSU brings a robustness to the ecosystem, the network, that is more valuable to the small businesses that are being serviced here.”

MATTHEW PERSCHALL / The Reveille

An elevator door closes on Jan. 29, in Herget Hall on Campus Lake Road in Baton Rouge, La. appeal of it. I went to a boarding school with run down dorms, so it reminds me of that,” Bachmann said. “There’s kind of a romantic appeal to it being really lame.”

Even the nostalgic appeal of a 1960s-era dorm can’t bring Bachmann to recommend future students stay in Herget, even if it is a cheaper option.

Despite feeling the university “should be able to afford a clean space” with the amount the dorms cost to live in, Morgan

wouldn’t change where he lives on campus, citing a solidarity with his fellow residents.

He would, however, recommend against living there until the university does something to improve conditions.

“Literally every night, there’s anywhere from five, 10, 15 people hanging out in the lobby. We are all kind of bonding over our struggles,” Morgan said. “Sometimes the problems make it really fun, but still not ideal.”

ENTERTAINMENT

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THIS WEEK IN BR MONDAY AT 5

BY REVEILLE ENTERTAINMENT STAFF @Reveilleent

Women in Sports Panel

JANUARY

31

ST

Want to see your event in The Reveille?

Email information to editor@lsu.edu.

The LSU Sport Administration Association is celebrating National Women in Sports day with a panel featuring speakers from LSU, Houston Sports Authority, Allstate Sugar Bowl and the Houston Astros, Monday at 5 p.m. via Zoom.

The event is free to attend, and registration is available at Eventbrite.

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ND The Rough and Tumble La Divina Italian Cafe Award-winning Americana music duo The Rough & Tumble is playing live at La Divina Italian Cafe at 3535 Perkins Road from 6-8 p.m. While enjoying the free performance, sip on some espresso, wine or beer while eating a panini or gelato.

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Monday, January 31, 2022

page 6 LGBTQ+

Red Stick Social highlights importance of BR drag culture

BY MATILDA SIPP @SippTilly Eleganza extravaganza are the only words that describe a fabulous Wednesday night of watching a killer lineup of drag queens transfix a crowd of people, performance after performance.

Red Stick Social’s “Wine Sipping Wednesday” drag show featured drag queens Lady D. Andrews, Santana A. Savage, Nakita London, Dani Pax, Alicia Fierce and I’Yanna Andrews. The crowd was hot, but the queens were even hotter.

As recently as last July, Pax, a 2019 LSU alumnus who goes by Garret Phillips offstage, started in drag. Even as a newer queen on the scene, she held their own with the seasoned professionals of the group.

Looking like the ultimate good-girl-gone-bad, rockerchick-fantasy girl, Pax had the audience in the palm of her hand as she somersaulted and headbanged on stage to a mix of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 You” and Paramore’s “Misery Business.”

“When I’m performing, it’s almost like I go into a different headspace. I’m in a different

PETER NGUYEN / The Reveille

Drag queens close the show and thank the audience for supporting the LGBTQ+ community Jan. 26 at Red Stick Social. zone,” Pax said.

“When I’m done performing, I come back to, and I’m like, ‘oh my god, what did I even just do?’”

In the drag world, performers often develop a different persona to express parts of themselves that they don’t usually reveal to the world offstage.

For Pax, that means harnessing a different level of confidence that lives inside of her.

“I’m still myself, but just a more confident version of my-

self. I’m so nervous up until the music turns on, but as soon as that music turns on, I flip a switch,” she said.

She said she feels no greater happiness than when she are approached by an audience member who loved her performance.

Knowing that she could spark joy in that person is extremely meaningful to her.

When it comes to people who enjoy Louisiana drag, there may not be greater fans than Heather Prudhomme and Nicole

s l w o t nigh

Schweitzer LeGrange. The coowners of the visual arts website Queens of Louisiana use their platform to promote local Louisiana drag queens. LeGrange photographs the queens, and Prudhomme interviews them.

Prudhomme could write the bible of Louisiana drag; the drag guru grew up immersed in drag culture and has watched the industry change since her uncle was a drag performer in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

She said she remembers the abuse her uncle would suffer for being a drag queen and is happy that the public attitude toward drag is now more accepting and celebratory.

Pax, a self-described “baby drag queen,” is also happy to see the Louisiana community opening up to even the more niche drag genres.

“I’ve definitely been seeing a lot more different drag show up, like bearded queens and alternative queens. It’s nice to see that, and I think as long as the community opens up to those queens more, we’re going in the right direction,” she said.

With more drag culture in the Baton Rouge community, a greater appreciation for the art

form is being cultivated. For a queen to be truly successful, she needs to be bringing more to the table than just beauty, body or gimmicks.

Drag is about the physicality of a performer and how well they can connect with an audience and hone their craft. On Wednesday night, queen Nakita London demonstrated this perfectly while performing “I’m Every Woman” by Chaka Khan.

London fully embodied the song’s energy and radiated it out into the audience. The performance was aesthetically stunning, but it was also physically charged and dream-inducing.

Queens undergo numerous tasks in preparation for a performance, such as curating setlists, designing costumes, cutting foam padding to use as faux hips, snatching their waists with corsets and gluing down their brows, to name a few. The job is mentally exhausting and physically brutal. Most queens wake up the morning after with bruises from last night’s “death-drop.”

“The biggest setback has really been just learning how to do the makeup and really learning how to go out there and just perform for the crowd,” Pax said.

early birds

Monday, January 31, 2022

page 7 LIFESTYLE

Long-time yoga instructor helps students heal mind and body

BY MATILDA SIPP @SippTilly With one deep breath in and one deep breath out, Janice Goodloe is able to create a transcendental experience for a room chockfull of LSU students in her Yoga for Relaxation class at the UREC. Goodloe, an administrative program specialist at LSU’s Office of International Programs, is beloved by those who take her class.

As she guides students through each yoga pose with her gentle voice, cooing words of peace and encouragement, they can feel themselves let go of all the stress and anxiety of their day.

“Just knowing that I can help someone else and be the highlight of their day? That is priceless,” Goodloe said.

Goodloe started working at the university in 1985 and began teaching fitness classes in 1988.

Before the UREC was built in the ‘90s, Goodloe taught dance and step aerobics classes in the Carl Maddox and Huey P. Long field houses with a boombox in tow.

After a knee injury, a doctor recommended trying yoga to relieve her pain.

The more yoga classes she took, the better her knee felt.

Goodloe was hooked and decided to start teaching yoga at the UREC in 2005. Practicing yoga has helped her breathe through the everyday movements she makes that would usually strain someone’s body.

“At my age, I have very good flexibility, strength and posture, and it’s all because of yoga,” Goodloe said.

The response to Goodloe’s class has been overwhelming, with the 30 available spots in her Monday and Wednesday 5:30 p.m. sessions filling up within minutes of registration opening. She often has an extensive waitlist of people hoping someone cannot make the class so they can snag a spot. People can’t wait to join her class and

JULIAN COOPER / The Reveille

LSU Yoga instructor Janice Goodloe speaks to her class Jan. 26 at the LSU UREC in Baton Rouge, La. feel her loving energy.

“She’s just an angel, honestly,” marketing junior Emily Wesley said. “Every time I come to this class, I always walk away feeling ten times less stressed than when I walked in. It’s so good for kids our age to get into yoga right now so you can build a lifelong habit from it.”

Students are overcome by a feeling of calmness upon entering Goodloe’s class. Her passion for creating a welcoming and tranquil atmosphere radiates through the course, assuring all that they are in a safe space.

“I start my classes by saying,

‘Please remember that there is no judgment, and there is no competition,’” Goodloe said.

“If you’re a beginner, enjoy being a beginner. We all began at one point some time. Listen to your body, listen to your spirit. In yoga, pain is no game.”

Tye Tavaras, director of global partnerships at the university’s Office of International Programs, is Goodloe’s coworker who now frequents Goodloe’s classes.

“She just radiated such gentleness and positivity,” Tavaras said.

“When she told me she was teaching yoga, I knew I had to come for the class.”

“I didn’t quite know what to expect the first time I came, but she created an environment that was so welcoming and comfortable that I was going to become a regular,” Tavaras said.

When people tell Goodloe they are slightly nervous about the class, she tells them that yoga is about listening to your body and doing whatever is best for you.

There is no competition in her class, and no one is watching anyone else. Everyone is on a private journey.”

“We’re all there for a common goal; to tap into each other’s auras and bring positive energy to the

class,” Goodloe said.

Even Goodloe herself was once a beginner, unsure of what to do and slightly apprehensive. It took time, practice and patience to get to the level she is today.

“When I took that first yoga class, and I did that warrior pose?

My arms were shaking, and my legs were shaking.”

Goodloe’s yoga class is a mixed bag of yoga newbies, seasoned pros and even the occasional university powerlifters and track runners looking to loosen their rigid bodies. Regardless of who is in attendance, Goodloe encourages students to go with their emotions.

If they are having fun, she loves to see smiles and hear laughter. If they are overcome with emotion, she wants them to let themselves cry. Goodloe said that allowing yourself to let go and release your emotions is a part of the yoga experience and her class at the UREC. “I am truly honored to work at the LSU UREC, this wonderful and beautiful facility, in my beautiful yoga studio,” Goodloe said.

Goodloe thanked Executive Director Laurie Braden, Fitness and Wellness Assistant Director Bre’una Keeton, Fitness and Wellness Coordinators Montse Molas and Ethan Kerr, her fellow instructors, the facility services workers and the entire UREC staff for helping her throughout her career.

At the end of every one of her yoga classes, Goodloe has the class participate in what is called “Shavasana,” when you lie flat down on your yoga mat, relax your body and meditate. Goodloe softy coaxes the class into a state of meditation in the silent room.

Many students find that they drift off to sleep during this time.

“When someone comes up to me after class and says, ‘Ms. Janice, your voice is so calming, and it makes me so relaxed, I can fall asleep,’ there are just no words to express how much that means to me,” said Goodloe.

LIFESTYLE

LSU junior cashes in on NFTs, makes thousands in the last year

BY KATY-ANN MCDONALD @katyann0 Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, exploded last year when curiosity into the world of blockchain digital art took the mainstream by storm.

Collins Dictionary made “NFT” the word of the year, while Post Malone, Stephen Curry and Jimmy Fallon invested in popular collections. Average sale prices rose from less than $100 million to $23 billion.

LSU juniors Hunter Cagle and Brennan Williams refused to miss out on this virtual money-making opportunity, as there are millions of dollars being exchanged every day on NFT trading sites like OpenSea. Their friendship seems to

be a match made in Metaverse heaven, despite stark differences.

“I’m an art major and he’s a business major; when it comes to creating and selling NFTs, we just bounce off each other,” said Williams.

Cagle, less involved in the artistic aspect of NFTs and more so in day-trading them, started investing when the pandemic hit.

“I was stuck in my room. I didn’t know what to do. I had maybe like $6,000 to my name,” Cagle said.

“I remember investing in Tesla and I did pretty well.”

Cagle and Williams gave credit to entrepreneur and internet personality Gary Vee for their early jump onto the NFT

bandwagon.

Cagle had ditched all his Tesla stocks by May 2021, investing all of that money in NFTs instead. He has been collecting and selling NFTs over the past year and a half; he is currently the owner of 20 NFTs. “The first NFT I bought was ... 2.7 ethereum, $6.5k at the time. Now the cheapest one is 40 ethereum, which is $50k,” said Cagle.

His success was by no means easy or a stroke of luck. Daytraders like Cagle had to act quickly and precisely to take full advantage of the volatile NFT market.

Cagle said he earned over $163,000 last year, and has earned an additional $40,000 just this month from trading

NFTs. Cagle and Williams have started working on their own NFT collection called “Smiles ‘N Stitches.” They plan to release the collection later this year.

“Once it’s out there, it’s out there forever, so we don’t want to do it wrong. We want to put something out there with quality and meaning,” said Williams.

Cagle and Williams are confident about the NFT hype and are convinced that LSU sees the potential in NFTs too.

In September 2021, RECUR, a leading NFT company, launched a new Collegiate NFT Marketplace, NFTU. They announced that LSU was one of the first colleges to join the program.

Trevor George, Co-CEO of

RECUR, mentioned LSU and Syracuse University for their meaningful early entrances into the college NFT arena, an action he believes could result in more fan engagement.

Since LSU and Syracuse joined RECUR, the number of schools now a part of NFTU has grown to 49.

Like many other individuals, institutions, and corporations worldwide, Cagle and Williams have faith in the NFT market’s future success despite its volatility.

“I can’t even fathom the space five years from now,” said Williams.

“The world is going so tech and digital, there’s no way I can see NFTs and the digital life not sticking around,” added Cagle.

SPORTS MAKING MOVES How No. 0 is becoming a hero this off season

BY JACOB VERDIN @jacobhverdin Athletes are tasked with being the most skilled and gifted individuals in the world, but how can they maintain such ability? For LSU sophomore Maason Smith, he is centering his off-season preparation around overall player development.

“Going into my sophomore year, I know things that I will have to work on to become the player that I’ve always wanted to be,” Smith said. “I am going to keep working on my craft this off-season and be ready for next football season.”

As a freshman, Smith spent most of his spring getting familiar with LSU and life on campus.

Thankfully, as a returning player this year, he will be used to his new way of life and spend most of his time in training facilities.

However, there is more to being a great athlete than just training to stay physically prepared.

Staying mentally prepared for a stressful season is also important, but every athlete handles this task differently. Smith sees mental preparation as a potential distraction if you sink too much time into it.

“Mentally, there is nothing that I do to prepare for a season. I am used to turning on that switch when it is time to start playing,” Smith said, “I feel that too many athletes worry about too much and they get in their own head.” Smith stays confident and believes in himself to get the job done when the time comes.

page 8 GYMNASTICS

Alexis Jeffrey enrolled at LSU REVEILLE STAFF REPORT

season, Smith ranked in the Top 10 in total sacks in the SEC and he looks to gain an advantage over his competitors this off-season.

LSU football is undergoing a rebuilding period, having just cleaned house, following the termination of the former Head Coach Ed Orgeron. This will be a good chance for the team, as Brian Kelly has shown success in his last four years of coaching, boasting a 44-6 record. The team has undergone a minor rebuild with its personnel as well – vital players were replaced, schemes

LSU gymnastics Head Coach Jay Clark confirmed that Alexis Jeffrey is enrolled at LSU and is a part of the active roster; though, she did not travel with the team to its meet against Georgia.

A freshman transfer from UCLA, where she was a scholarship athlete, Jeffrey will be eligible to compete immediately for LSU as a walk-on.

“There is not an issue within our team surrounding this or anything else right now,” Clark said in a press conference Jan. 25.

The transfer deal quickly became the subject of criticism on social media, as Jeffrey’s time with the Bruins came to an end as teammates have grown restless with a lack of communication from the school’s athletic department.

Margzetta Frazier and Sekai Wright, Jefferey’s former teammates from UCLA, appeared on actress Amanda Seales’ podcast “Small Doses with Amanda Seales” Jan. 26 to acknowledge rumors that have been spread about why Jeffrey left the team and their dissatisfaction with how it was addressed by UCLA’s leaders.

Seales prefaced the interview by stating that they would be addressing a “white gymnast” who

see FOOTBALL, page 9

see GYMNASTICS, page 9

Peter Nguyen / The Reveille

LSU football freshman defensive line Maason Smith (0) attempts to swat a pass Jan. 4, during LSU’s 42-20 loss against Kansas State at NRG Stadium in Houston, TX. Smith played football at Terrebonne High School in Houma.

He didn’t have the usual introduction to his high school defensive line coach, James Frank-Upon their first interaction, Frank thought Smith was ready to play varsity football.

The only problem was Smith was in seventh grade.

When the time came for Smith to step onto Terrebonne’s field, he was slowly integrated into Frank’s defensive schemes. Smith moved from playing a couple of drives a game in his freshman season to playing halves of games in his sophomore year, and finally to being an all-out

star in his final two seasons.

During his time playing defensive lineman for Frank, Smith impressed him in several ways.

“He was very coachable,” Frank said. “He had drive and desire.

He was focused on pushing himself.” Smith left a legacy at Terrebonne High School, and he is on his way to creating another great impression here in Baton Rouge.

Throughout the 2021 season, Smith showed flashes of greatness, accumulating 19 total tackles and four sacks through only nine games. Playing as a true freshman is rare for most, but Smith has proven to be worthy of the privilege. During this past

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Three takeaways from LSU’s bitter loss to TCU on the road

BY PETER RAUTERKUS @peter_rauterkus It was another disappointing outing for LSU men’s basketball as the Tigers took another loss on the road, this time against TCU in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

Here are three quick takeaways: LSU had its worst game on defense.

The biggest storyline of the game for LSU was how easily TCU got points all game long. LSU gave up a season-high 77 points in the loss, which cannot happen to a team like LSU that struggles to score. TCU had a great offensive game plan from the onset, attacking LSU inside out and taking advantage of the openings in LSU’s switch-heavy defense. Mike Miles and Charles O’Bannon led the way for TCU with 19 points each in an offensive attack that

was both balanced and highly effective. O’Bannon had a stretch in the second half where he made three consecutive three-pointers that gave TCU its biggest lead of the game and forced LSU to make some major adjustments on defense. Once LSU made these adjustments to try to get better closeouts, TCU was able to effectively attack the paint and get easy points there.

Xavier Pinson’s limited presence helped, but not enough.

For the first time in five games, Pinson made an appearance for LSU, albeit in a limited role. Pinson came off the bench and played seven minutes, scoring two points in that time. Just having Pinson on the court gives this offense a calming presence, but it was obvious that Pinson is still not back to his normal self.

His playing time was limited and

you could tell that he was not 100%.

It is a positive sign, however, that he seems to be getting back in the swing of things, but it will take some time for him to make the same kind of impact he was before his injury. Fortunately for LSU, its upcoming stretch of games is the perfect time to start to get back in a rhythm moving toward the back half of the season.

LSU’s next five games are against Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, Mississippi State and Georgia, all of which are unranked.

Pinson’s health will be a huge factor in LSU’s success this season, and it appears that progress is being made.

LSU continues to struggle in the half court.

Half court offense has been an issue for LSU all season long, and

see TCU, page 9

PETER NGUYEN / The Reveille

LSU men’s basketball freshman center Efton Reid III (15) and junior forward Shareef O’Neal (24) reflect on the game Jan. 26, after LSU’s 70-64 win against Texas A&M in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Monday, January 31, 2022

page 9

FOOTBALL, from page 8

TCU, from page 8

were updated, and the culture has changed.

“New coaching brings a different culture and identity for the team,” Smith said.

Not only will the team’s culture change because of the new coaching hires, but the team chemistry will grow as well.

“The team is getting more disciplined and is learning the true meaning of teamwork,” Smith said.

As the team builds more familiarity amongst each other, they begin to trust one another.

These steps are crucial, as this is the early stages of developing a team that plays as one.

The training done after the season is normally the most impactful on a player and their foundational formation. Many believe the offseason provides the biggest opportunity to get ahead of everyone around you.

Smith sees the offseason as the time to sharpen his skills and uses it to get better every year.

Smith has not been on this road to glory alone; he was guided by his veteran teammates.

Throughout the season, LSU’s football team has bonded and

that problem has really started to manifest since conference play started. This team doesn’t have the same kind of scorers that LSU teams of years past have had, and that has been problematic for this LSU team when operating in the half court.

LSU has been most successful this season when it has been able to turn teams over and play in transition, and struggles when the game slows down.

TCU turned the ball over early, but down the stretch the Horned

GYMNASTICS, from page 8 has transferred to LSU, along with allegations of her saying racial slurs in song lyrics and being repeatedly told to stop.

“On my team, our truth is that more than one thing was said that was very inappropriate,” Frazier said. “Whether it was racially, whether it was ranking girls on their ugliness or body shape.”

“There’s rules when you steal, there’s rules when you fail a drug test, there’s gotta be rules when you’re racist or a bully, so what are they?” Frazier added regarding how UCLA handled the situa-

ABBY KIBLER/ The Reveille

LSU football freshman defensive lineman Maason Smith (0) holds up a number one and senior defensive end Soni Fonua (53) does a hand motion Oct. 16, after a play during LSU’s 49-42 win against Florida at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. shared advice, which in the end serves as instruction for these young players. The experiences each of these players take part in adds a new layer of understanding to the game of football.

“I’ve taken different things from different players,” Smith noted, making sure he absorbs as much information as he can. In addition, he believes playing as a true freshman has “helped connect with the older players to see how to lead or how to act when adversity hits.”

Smith has grown into the heart of the freshman class. Not only does he represent the future of LSU football, but he shows himself as a selfless leader on the field. He picks up his teammates when they are down, he motivates his team when they need a spark, and he is ready to play whatever, whenever, against whoever.

The core of the LSU football team is bonding together well, and the future of LSU football looks bright.

tion. “We want to take Lexi [Alexis Jeffrey] in and really educate her on what she did wrong.”

Frazier then later said that Jeffrey never apologized for anything, which to her made the situation worse.

The day before the podcast’s release, Coach Clark took questions at his press conference as the LSU team is coming off of a canceled meet against Arkansas due to COVID-19 protocols.

“I don’t know where a lot of it’s coming from, quite honestly,” Clark said about the circulation of online rumors about Jeffrey.

Clark explained to the media

that this is the first time he has added an athlete from the transfer portal, and that he gathered the team to hear their feelings about adding a teammate midseason.

“Our team is healthy. Our team loves each other,” he said.

“We’ve taken on the idea of having the conversations that need to be had when they’re had and talking to each other rather than about each other.”

Clark went on to discuss that he was not alone in making the decision of adding Jeffrey to the squad mid-January. Ashleigh Clare-Kearney Thigpen, associ-

PETER NGUYEN / The Reveille

LSU gymnastics junior all-around Kiya Johnson does a split Oct. 26, above the balance beam in the LSU Gymnastics Training Facility in Baton Rouge, La.

Frogs did a good job of protecting the ball, which kept the Tigers from being able to score in transition. When the game slows down, it is obvious that LSU is stagnant, and there is not much movement in the Tigers’ offense.

LSU rarely runs sets or plays, and with a team that doesn’t have pure, isolation scorers, that can cause problems. It will be interesting to see what Head Coach Will Wade does to combat this issue, but at the moment LSU is having major problems scoring points when the game slows down.

GARETH PATTERSON/ Associated Press

LSU guard Brandon Murray (0) looks to drive to the basket as TCU center Souleymane Doumbia (25) defends in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Fort Worth, Texas, Jan. 29. TCU beat LSU 77-68. ate athletic director for diversity, equity and inclusion, was called upon to answer some of the diversity and inclusion questions that arose from Jeffrey’s time with the UCLA program.

“At every step, we considered how our decision-making aligned with the values, objectives and commitments of our entire department,” a spokesperson for LSU Athletics said. “We are all comfortable with our decision,

confident in our processes, and committed to growing together.

“The process we went through was thorough, was thoughtful, was intentional,” Clark said. “Everybody will make their decision, but the information we have is not at all what is being floated out there.”

Jeffrey, a Warrensburg, Missouri native, is a freshman and former four-star recruit, according to College Gym News.

PETER NGUYEN / The Reveille

LSU gymnastics freshman all-around Tori Tatum performs a floor routine Oct. 26, in the LSU Gymnastics Training Facility in Baton Rouge, La.

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THE Daily Commuter Puzzle ACROSS 1 __ party; bash for a bachelor 5 Fundamentals 9 Fashion designer Chanel 13 Defame in print 15 Night light 16 Jungle beast 17 Stroll 18 Of the stomach 20 __ person; apiece 21 Word with want or classified 23 “TV Guide” or “People” 24 “It’s Now or Never” singer 26 Make illegal 27 Films 29 Sea by the Gulf of Finland 32 Of the Far East 33 Falls short 35 Late Bernie 37 Fraudulent offer 38 Extremely important 39 Full of pep 40 Sombrero 41 Salary 42 Footwear 43 Alcove 45 Intense craving 46 Punch 47 Intended 48 Toward a boat’s rear 51 Peculiar 52 __ over; everywhere 55 Fearless performer 58 Boredom 60 Ice __; cold periods 61 Hourglass contents 62 Quarterback woes 63 __ up; reconcile 64 Murder 65 Actress Amanda DOWN 1 Open-handed blow 2 Part of ETA

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Created by Jacqueline E. Mathews

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OPINION

page 11

Quad renovation can’t take years THE STABILER SCOOP LURA STABILER @lstabiler The Quad is the heart of campus and home to some of the university’s most neglected buildings.

Almost every student will take at least one class in the Quad during their time at the university or visit the largest library on campus.

Buildings surrounding the Quad like Lockett, Allen, Coates and Himes are notorious for their outdated classrooms. Broken air conditioners and leaky ceilings are all too common.

The Quad has not seen a full renovation in decades, Assistant Vice President of Planning, Design and Construction Roger Husser said. According to the LSU Master Plan, major improvements are not coming anytime soon.

The LSU Master Plan lays out all of the university’s future plans for renovation and construction. According to the plan, projects are prioritized based on academic priority and building condition.

The future plan for the Quad includes tearing down the library to rebuild it in a different location and demolishing

Lockett Hall. However, several projects are expected to be prioritized before the Quad renovation, and funding is still needed.

This means it will likely be years before the Quad is fully renovated.

Considering the high student traffic in the Quad and the notorious dysfunction of its buildings, the university’s choice to prioritize other renovation projects is confusing.

The deterioration of the Quad stands in stark contrast to the newer buildings on the edge of campus like the Business Education Complex and Patrick F. Taylor Hall.

The LSU website describes the BEC as a world-class teaching facility with new designs that blend modern glass, metal and stone. The BEC is equipped with the latest technology and spaces for learning and collaboration.

According to the LSU website, PFT was renovated in 2014 in what was a $144 million project.

Students at PFT have access to state-of-the-art labs and even a 3D printer. The most innovative technology that the buildings in the Quad have to offer are oldfashioned projectors.

Although buildings like the BEC and PFT are major-specific, students campus-wide should have access to modern technol-

ogy and functional spaces.

One of the university’s most recent renovations was Memorial Tower. According to the LSU Master Plan, this was a $10 million project. If renovations are truly based on academic priority and building condition, this was a puzzling project choice.

Husser said that Memorial Tower was in “very poor condition,” but I am not sure what could be worse than ceiling tiles collapsing in three different classrooms in Lockett Hall back in 2019.

It seems like the university’s real priority is projects that will impress donors and prospective students.

“Smaller, ongoing repairs and maintenance within the Quad will continue as we await this full renovation,” Husser said.

While the university working to repair the Quad is a step in the right direction, the buildings deserve a full renovation to match the beautiful landscaping. This could be a chance for donors to give to a project that would actually benefit all students, not just the future engineers.

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

QUICK TA K E S

SHOULD THE COVID-19 VACCINE OMICRON VARIANT BE MANDATORY FOR STUDENTS? “Depending on what practices you look at, the university’s re-

“The COVID-19 should absolutely mandatoryand for noteworLSU stusponse to thevaccine Omicron spike is bothbe lackluster dents who live, work or attend classes on campus.

I know a lot of thy. Assuming it’s still seen as a worthwhile tool, the COVID-19 people are going to argue that it’sserves an infringement their rights or symptom tracker no longer a clear upon purpose without QRit’s codes as a unjust motivating incentive.

The opt-in style of online that somehow or unfair, but honestly, it just makes sense.”

classes for two weeks seems counterintuitive and potentially Marie Plunkett detrimental as we prepare for the semester ahead. On the other @MarieC_214 hand, it’s clear that the university anticipated new and recurring issues. There are now locks around HEPA filter plugs, an

indoor mask mandate and vaccine requirements for students

“Yes yes.Stadium.”

Not only because I want my life to return to normal — and andyes Tiger I believe mass immunization is the only way to do so —Drake but because BrignacI @drakebrignac have long relished the opportunity to be micr-eaux-chipped

by LSU.” Cécile Girard @_cegi_ “The university has not noticeably changed their COVID-19 mitigation measures in comparison to past semesters, which seems odd to me considering that at this current moment, there are more cases in Louisiana than at any point during the pandemic.

“Vaccines should not be mandatory.

Some people, including myself, I hope that the university considers adding a COVID-19 booster areshot highly wary of the rush on this vaccine.

I do not think it has been to the immunization schedule ASAP.”

tested long enough to know the long-term effects.”

Charlie Stephens @charliestephns Tamia Southall @tamiabrem_

“I do not think that the university is doing a good job at stopping the spread of Omicron. However, the reason why the uni“The University should every who isthere medically versity is not doingrequire a good jobperson is because are able a lottoof getstudents a vaccinejust for not COVID-19.

We are all desperate todid return to part a more doing their part.

If students their and actually followed enforcements, I think the vaccination.

COVID-19 cases normal world, but thatthe cannot happen without mass This would drop significantly. university needs to require those policy is necessary if we wishThe to resume more in-person instruction aretraditional unvaccinated to experibe tested every two weeks and require andwho other college Claire Sullivan those who have gotten vaccinated to get their booster shots.”

@sulliclaire Kacey Buercklin @0kacey1

“No, I do not believe the COVID-19 vaccine should be mandatory. If and when the vaccine is accessible to everyone, I think it is a personal decision.

If someone is comfortable getting it, by all means, they should.”

“LSU isn’t taking the Omicron variant seriously. The university hasn’t required professors to provide an online option and also Crochet has not been following up on symptom checks.Elizabeth However, this @elizabethcro_ problem isn’t specific to LSU; seemingly the entire country is throwing caution to the wind.”

Frankto Kidd “Yes. It’s as simple as that. Once the vaccine is available the larger @FK446852315 public, the priority should become promoting the vaccination of the entire student, faculty and staff body. If you refuse to get the vaccine, then you won’t be allowed to ‘return’ to the pre-pandemic status quo...”

“The university is doing as much as it can to handle the OmiDomenic Purdy cron variant. Masks have been reinstated and many professors @Tigerdom16 are offering their classes both in person and on Zoom.

The only area where the university is lacking is strictly requiring vaccination. Students who are not vaccinated required to send on in ”COVID-19 vaccination should definitely beare required for students negative COVID-19 tests, but this is hardly enforced. I wish the campus.

Thecould University already requiresfor students to receive university require vaccination all students, buta Inumber know of other vaccines to ensure the safety of its students, staff and faculty many students would push back against this.”

members. Why should this vaccine be any different?” Lura Stabiler

BY EMILY TRAN

Editorial Policies and Procedures EDITORIAL BOARD Lara Nicholson

Editor in Chief

Enjanae’ Taylor

Managing Editor

Josh Archote

News Editor

Bella Dardano

Deputy News Editor

Claire Sullivan

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.

Evan Leonhard @lstabiler @evan_leonhard

Quote of the Week “ALL I CARE IS WHAT THE BOYS AT THE FORKS OF THE CREEK THINK OF ME.”

Huey Long

former governor 1893 — 1935

Monday, January 31, 2022

page 12

Our flagship can’t survive without adequate funding CHARLIE’S ANGLES CHARLIE STEPHENS @charliestephns Former LSU President F. King Alexander sat in front of the Louisiana House Appropriation Committee in 2016, battling an onslaught of university budget cuts.

“If you expect us to compete with Ohio State, fund us appropriately,” Alexander told legislators. “We’ll do more with less.

We’ve shown that.”

While presenting to the committee, Alexander riddled off the consequences of deep cuts to the state’s flagship university: the loss of 500 faculty positions, including 27 assistant professors, over a decade.

“We have become a poaching ground for many institutions,” Alexander noted.

LSU President William Tate IV has echoed Alexander’s sentiment that other universities are keen to take our best and brightest.

“They treat us like we are a farm team,” Tate lamented at his investiture last year. “This is a flagship!”

Though Tate shares Alexander’s past concerns, he finds himself in a very different position than his predecessor to improve the university.

Every budget for the first four years of Alexander’s presidency included cuts to higher education. Tate, on the other hand, is staring down an executive budget proposal that would increase Louisiana’s higher education spending by over $100 million.

Tate still faces obstacles, however. The university’s struggles with obtaining funding are not only with the state but also with private donors.

In his first speech to the Baton Rouge Rotary Club—a civic organization that draws business leaders and politicians with deep pockets—Tate emphasized moving past “parallel play.” The term parallel play usually refers to young children playing alongside each other without engaging with one another.

Tate argues that the value the university generates for its graduates and the state warrants increased investment into the institution—or, in other words, doing more than parallel play.

The university brought in $166 million in research dollars this last year alone, generating

an economic impact of nearly $500 million for the state, Tate told club members. Not only that, but the lifetime earnings of LSU graduates amounts to over

BY EMILY TRAN $8 billion.

But Tate warned donors of a grim potential future: an obituary for the university in 2050.

Cause of death? “A lack of empathy expressed in the form of

limited philanthropic support,” Tate said.

This is not dissimilar to Alexander’s struggle in obtaining public support for the university, which eventually led to the university drafting plans for academic bankruptcy.

Alexander and Tate, to no fault of their own, have both struggled to convince politicians and philanthropists to contribute to the university.

Louisiana must improve investment in higher education, and especially in its flagship.

“Whether you’re talking about poverty or crime, economic development, jobs, healthcare, education cures a lot of ills,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said while previewing his 20222023 budget proposal, which includes the highest proposed increase in higher education funding in 14 years.

The legislature must pass the governor’s proposal for historic higher education funding, and private donors must step up to ensure that the university becomes the flagship of flagships we all want it to be.

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

Cryptocurrency’s decline ‘a more likely reality everyday’ SERIOUSLY KIDDING FRANK KIDD @FK446852315 Rams wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. chose to accept his entire $750,000 salary in Bitcoin.

Then, Bitcoin dipped 44% in value, sinking his once handsome contract to a value of just over $35,000.

Internet snake oil salesmen have championed Bitcoin as the investment of the future, some even going as far as saying that it could become the new gold standard. The road from unsecured investment to being the security itself is a long and unlikely one.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are an uninsured investment, meaning they aren’t backed by a government and are not insured like cash placed in a bank account. This is an issue for investors looking for long-term security.

At the same time, the prospect of increased government regulation raises issues for cryptocurrencies.

One of the allures of cryptocurrencies is the idea of being able to trade assets free of regulations. This lack of regulation made pump-and-dump schemes easy to pull off without fear of repercussion.

Meme coins were the biggest culprit of this deceptive trading practice, in which regular people,-- and even some influential

BY EMILY TRAN figures-- would promote a coin with the intent to sell at the top and leave naïve investors footing

the bill.

The European Union passed the Crypto Travel Rule on June 20,

2021, regulating the movement of some crypto assets and applying a tax on derived earnings that rang-

es anywhere from 0 to 50%.

The Biden administration plans to release an executive order in the near future tasking federal agencies with regulating cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.

With the U.S. poised to take action, other countries will be inclined to follow suit in fear of falling behind both the U.S. and the E.U. With regulation coming and increasing in scope, and most people already aware of the many pitfalls of these investments, cryptocurrency’s decline seems like a more likely reality everyday.

This is not to say that cryptocurrencies will disappear completely in the future. They will have their place in the market, but it will be a diminished position. To say that they will be the new gold standard is a stretch that even Mr. Fantastic could only dream of pulling off.

The shiny novelty of the investment is eroding—be it from volatility, government regulation, awareness of scams or other problems down the road we’ve yet to encounter.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are highly speculative investments and nothing more. The time to get rich off of them has long passed.

If you were hoping to hit the crypto-cowboy jackpot, you’re going to need a time machine. Bring Beckham Jr. with you.

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