Exclusive interview: Mayor-President Sid Edwards breaks down proposal to divert library funding to police.
CAT IN TOWN
The Baton Rouge Zoo has its first jaguar since the 1990s.
NEW AT THE ZOO
Incoming cub represents big step in preserving jaguar population
BY EMILY BRACHER Staff Writer
BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo will introduce its newest and most adorable member to the public this spring.
The jaguar cub, officially named Lacumba III after Southern University’s mascot, was born in December 2024. Her birth was the zoo’s first since the ‘90s, and she is the first in the Jaguar Species Survival Plan (SSP) since April 2023.
The cub is only one of six jaguar cubs to survive in the United States in the past five years. Lacumba and her mom, Jenny, are currently off exhibit until the cub’s official debut to the public. The father is available for the public to see.
Lacumba’s name was settled after the community contest
“Name That Jag,” the original names featured being Seti, Taiyari and Soona. After multiple write-ins requesting that her name be Lacumba, the zoo went with it to honor the cub’s history and significance.
“Being up in North Baton Rouge and so close to Southern University, we have to give the people what they want,” the
zoo’s Senior Communications Manager Brittany Tully said.
SSP is a conservation program led by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). The goal is to manage and protect populations of different animals worldwide, as it focuses on genetic diversity, animal welfare and education, Tully explained.
The long term goal is to give very endangered species a long term survival. Lacumba, being a female, enhances the genetic pool of the AZA accredited jaguar population, which helps with that long term goal.
“When people think about the zoo, they think we just have animals,” Tully said. “There’s so much more behind it as far as conservation.”
Zoo Director Jim Fleshman explained how jaguars are highly endangered due to human encroachment and hunting pressures. The SPPs they are involved with are managed by zoo professionals who are also subject matter experts in managing specific species.
Breeding recommendations are then made after reviewing the genetic diversity and inbreeding coefficients of animals such as jaguars. From there,
they are able to find the most suitable match. Members of the AZA will then ship animals to the best location, such as the Baton Rouge Zoo, for them to reproduce.
Fleshman said Lacumba’s parents are not well represented in the jaguar population, which makes her birth valuable from a genetic perspective. He hopes the time she is spending now with her mother will increase her skill set to be a successful mother.
“The Baton Rouge Zoo has worked with Jaguar Saving Animals From Extinction (SAFE) to protect these magnificent animals in their natural world,” Fleshman said.
The Baton Rouge Zoo first opened to the public in 1970. Since then, it has gone through major reconstruction and reinvention to better the experience, for both the guests and animals on exhibit. With its new entrance, now at Greenwood Park, and a new area for giraffes and pygmy hippos, the zoo has enhanced its facilities, Tully said.
More renovations and animals will come with phases two and three, which are still in
the works. Tully said that what makes BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo a staple in Baton Rouge is its affordable ticket prices, maxing out at $10 for adults.
“When you think about it, you can bring the whole family out, and it’s affordable, and it’s right here in our backyard,” Tully said.
Lacumba’s existence has importance beyond just conservation, her name holding a deep history and honoring a legacy. The first Lacumba debuted on Southern University’s campus in 1971, being the first HBCU to have a live exotic animal on campus. Her successor, Lacumba II, was on campus until 2004. According to Southern University’s website, the name means “Heart of Africa.”
“The name Lacumba III honors the historical legacy, while celebrating a new chapter of wildlife preservation,” Tully said.
Lacumba III will only be available at the zoo and not on Southern’s campus. To stay updated on Lacumba and her story, or to get more information on the Baton Rouge Zoo and their conservation efforts, check out their website.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BREC BATON ROUGE ZOO
Jaguar cub Lacumba III at a doctor’s appointment.
COURTESY OF BREC BATON ROUGE ZOO Jaguar cub Lacumba III in front of her mother Jenny.
NEWS SPIETH SPEAKS
Art history professor distinguished by Honors College
BY CADE SAVOY Staff Writer
After being named the Erich and Lea Sternberg Professor, the highest award conferred to faculty by the Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College, art history professor Darius Spieth delivered a lecture about the art market to students and staff at the French House Thursday.
Sternberg professors exemplify both excellence in creativity and research and outstanding moral character. Since arriving at LSU in 2003, Spieth has earned a reputation as one of the most prominent art history scholars in the nation. Holding a doctoral degree in art history from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master of business administration from the International University of Japan, Spieth’s work focuses on the interrelationships between art, intellectual history and economics.
Spieth’s most notable publications include historical analyses of Netherlandish art markets in revolutionary Paris, exhibition catalogs describing 18th century Venetian art and a historiography of Giandomenico Tiepolo’s fresco painting, “Il Mondo Nuovo.” He currently serves as LSU’s art history area coordinator and is a three-time recipient of The Mag’s “Best Professor on LSU Campus,” a title awarded based on a popular vote by students.
Each year, Sternberg professors are asked to deliver a lecture in the Hans and Donna Sternberg Salon in the French House. Delivered Thursday, Spieth’s lecture was titled, “Predicting Financial Markets Through the Behavior of Art Buyers (and
vice versa).”
Drawing on Spieth’s financial expertise and experience as an art collector, the lecture problematized existing art market indices and offered valuable insight into the market’s volatility. According to Spieth, there is a gap between how art buyers perceive financial crashes’ effects on the art market and how buyers actually behave.
At the end of the lecture, Spieth invited members of the audience to role-play as financial analysts at the art broker, Sotheby’s, in the wake of the 2008 recession. He posed a simple question: in an unstable market, should Sotheby’s stockholders
Facility Services prepare for potential freeze
BY REVEILLE STAFF
LSU Facility Services is enacting “freeze protection protocols” to protect buildings and equipment in anticipation of freezing temperatures forecasted Feb. 20-21.
According to Tammy Millican, the Facility Services executive director of facility and property oversight, the protocols are deployed when temperatures reach below 35 degrees Fahrenheit and involve heightening the water circulation
within HVAC coils to prevent freezing.
The resulting increased water circulation may result in buildings being slightly cooler than usual, with building coordinators and researchers being notified of the change ahead of time.
Baton Rouge is expected to see some of its coldest weather since last month, with forecasted temperatures ranging from 25 to 44 and 26 to 49 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
POLITICS
Mayor-President Edwards explains library proposal
BY SARAH WALTON Staff Writer
Mayor-President Sid Edwards released a proposal Feb. 6 to boost police salaries using funds from the parish library system, an idea that has since received considerable community pushback.
The proposal, which would move existing library system dedicated funds into the cityparish’s general fund, would raise police pay between 1541% and fund “other critical needs such as public safety, infrastructure and economic development.”
At a Metropolitan Council meeting Feb. 12, community members showed up in droves to speak out against the proposal, with the Metro Council un-
able to reach a decision on the Library’s funds before the end of the meeting.
Edwards sat down with the Reveille to discuss the proposal, explaining it as necessary given the city-parish’s finances, which include a $52 million deficit that has been exacerbated by the creation of the city of St. George.
In December, St. George approved a $48 million yearly transfer from East Baton Rouge Parish to St. George’s city government, a decision Edwards said has left the city-parish looking fiscally for “a way to close [the] gap.” This led him to the parish’s well-funded library system, an organization he has referred to as “rockstars.”
buy more shares or sell them? Spieth argued that because art buyers tend to continue purchasing art even amid macrolevel financial crashes, a wise analyst would take advantage of market uncertainty and buy stock while its value was depreciated. Eventually, he said, the market would stabilize, So -
see PROFESSOR, page 4
Political science professor receives lifetime achievement award
BY CADE SAVOY Staff Writer ACADEMICS
At their annual meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico last month, the Southern Political Science Association named LSU’s Emogene Pliner Distinguished Professor of Political Science James C. Garand the recipient of the 2025 Manning Dauer Award, a prestigious lifetime achievement distinction “presented biennially to a political scientist for exceptional service to the profession.”
Garand began teaching at LSU in 1985, and after 40 years at the university he has earned a reputation as one of the most prominent political science scholars in the nation.
He has published over 90 scholarly articles, served as President of the Southern Political
Science Association and the State Politics and Policy section of the American Political Science Association and earned several teaching awards at LSU. The Manning Dauer Award recognizes these outstanding accomplishments and is the crowning achievement of an exceptional career.
“It’s a very humbling award to have received. The list of previous recipients of the Manning Dauer Award reads like a list of political science heroes that I’ve had over the years,” Garand said. “To have joined that list of people is wonderful.”
Garand’s list of accolades is extensive, but when asked what the most gratifying part of his career has been, the decorated professor immediately pointed
MATTHEW PERSCHALL / The Reveille
The Ogden Honors College sits under a partially cloudy sky on July 7, 2023, near Highland Road in Baton Rouge, La.
THE REVEILLE ARCHIVES Carver Branch Library sits on Terrace Street in Baton Rouge, LA on Jan. 23, 2018. It is one of several East Baton Rouge libraries that offer various useful services to the public.
CAMPUS
BY CADE SAVOY Staff Writer ACADEMICS
PROFESSOR, from page 3
Rate My Professors site faces competition
LSU computer science professor Nash Mahmoud recently launched an app offering an alternative to the popular website Rate My Professors. The app, called Professor Index, aims to revolutionize how college students evaluate and select professors and courses.
Launched in 1999 by software engineer John Swapceinski, Rate My Professors allows students to anonymously evaluate professors based on teaching ability, quality of their courses and, until 2019, their “hotness.” Today, the website boasts 9 million monthly users and has emerged as a leading professor evaluation resource.
According to Mahmoud, however, Rate My Professors is riddled with flaws.
“I realized that the majority of our students rely on Rate My Professors to make their course selection decisions. But when I looked into that platform, I realized it had a lot of problems,” Mahmoud said. “Literally anyone can review any professor however they want and as many times as they want, so it’s really easy to manipulate the ratings of any professor either in a good or bad way.”
Professor Index seeks to remedy this by requiring users to authenticate their accounts by linking them to an “.edu” email address. This precaution, Mahmoud said, allows students to maintain their anonymity while deterring fraudulent reviews.
“We encrypt all the data and apply every measure to protect users’ identities,” he said. “But we ask for the .edu email to authenticate that reviews are actually coming from students. This also allows us to ensure that students only leave one review per professor per class.”
Another potential flaw with
Rate My Professors that Profesor Index aims to solve is that professor reviews rely on a biased sample size. Mahmoud observes that Rate My Professors users leave either overwhelmingly positive or overwhelmingly negative reviews, with no in between. Reviewers are either so enthusiastic that they flock online to write rave reviews or so upset that they use Rate My Professors to vent about their negative experiences.
“We approach that by creating a platform that is more engaging. We try to incentivize students to leave a review even if their experience has been average,” Mahmoud said. “We apply a gamification system that allows students to level up the more likes they get from friends … We find that having this tiny, level-up system actually drives engagement.”
The app also features built-in, AI-generated prompts to encourage users to leave more detailed reviews.
“If a student leaves a review that is short or extreme, we always encourage them to make it more informative,” he said. “With all these incentives — we call them nudges — we try to get students to be more objective.”
Launched on March 14, 2024, Professor Index has surpassed 21,000 downloads and is active at 19 major American universities as of January. With nearly 4,000 reviews, approximately half of LSU professors have been rated at least once.
As the Professor Index continues to grow, Mahmoud hopes to gather more data to determine whether the app has been successful at reducing biased reviews.
“We’re not there yet,” he said. “We’ve implemented a lot of checks, but right now we’re focusing on growth. We’re trying to test as much data as possible across as many universities as possible to make the app better.”
theby’s stock value would rise and the analyst would profit immensely.
After fielding questions from the audience, in true Sternberg lecture tradition, Spieth shared dinner with the audience in the French House lounge. The discussion represented academia at its finest, a healthy mix of pleasantries, jokes and opinions on the preceding lecture.
For Joseph Givens, LSU’s manager of national fellowships and Spieth’s longtime colleague in the art history department, the lecture was a beautiful recognition of Spieth’s contributions to LSU.
“Darius is one of the more prolific professors on campus.
He’s in a unique case where he’s probably teaching more students than anyone on campus, yet he’s publishing at a rate that is insane for someone with that kind of teaching load,” Givens said. “He’s both an excellent teacher and an amazing scholar.”
Even more salient for Givens than Spieth’s teaching and academic prowess is his upstanding character.
“The person who has had the most influence on my career is Darius Spieth. He’s stood up for the art that I study even when other people have called it ‘trite garbage,’” Givens said. “He’s the exact opposite of the stereotype of an art history professor. He cares about all kinds of art and all kinds of people.”
to his work mentoring students.
“The number one element has been my work as a mentor. When I was an undergraduate and a graduate student, I had faculty members who took me under their wing and helped me, so when I became a professor, I had a pay-it-forward mentality,” he said. “Once I started to direct graduate students and bright undergraduate students, mentoring became an integral part of my work as a professor. It’s a thrill. I get to hang out with bright 20-somethings whenever I want.”
Garand has mentored 35 students who have gone on to hold faculty positions at colleges and universities across the country, including top institutions like Notre Dame, Michigan and Yale. He even has an award named after him: last fall, the Southern Political Science Association created the James C. Garand Out-
LIBRARY, from page 3
“I am committed to making our Library the best-funded library system in the state of Louisiana to continue that, and I believe in them,” Edwards said, calling them part of his family, but explaining there are also other issues that need his attention.
He acknowledged the proposal came across as if he was putting the Library and BRPD against each other, but this he says is not the case.
“Can I do it all? Can I tend to all those things that are broke, and still keep the Library in outstanding position?” Edwards asked himself when examining the budget. “And after my study I saw that absolutely we can, that’s when we came up with [the proposal].”
Edwards emphasized he is asking the people of Baton Rouge to decide how the money will be spent, and that he is “still going to fund the Library better than any other library system in the state of Louisiana.”
Since the Metro Council couldn’t immediately reach a resolution, Edwards said he will continue to work with them and the Library to find a way forward.
“I’m not a politician, I’m a unifier,” Edwards said, “and I’m a peacekeeper, and all I’m doing is I’m looking out for everybody.”
Though Edward’s proposal is still up in the air, he says he is intent on keeping the Library in a position of strength.
“The last thing I want to do is hurt our Library, because they’re outstanding,” he said. “In my plan, I believe from the bottom of my heart, I can keep our library system outstanding just as it is while fixing the other things that are broke.”
sified.
standing Mentor Award, which “is intended to recognize outstanding mentors in political science.”
As extensive as Garand’s work as a mentor has been, equally noteworthy is his career as a scholar. In addition to serving in leadership roles in several well-respected scholarly journals, Garand’s research interests have followed a fascinating trajectory, making him one of the most dynamic scholars in the field.
“I started off, when I was working as a Ph.D. student, doing work in state politics. My dissertation had to do with the exciting topic of budgeting in the American states. If anyone’s looking to fall asleep, I’m happy to share a copy of my dissertation,” he joked.
Though Garand has published a great deal of research on state politics, he noted that as he has progressed as a scholar, his research interests have diver-
“Over a period of time, I took advantage of the fact that there’s no one placing a limit on the kind of work that I did,” Garand said. “So I’ve tried to tackle research questions that are of interest to me, and I’ve moved all over the place in terms of my research.”
Over the past 20 years, Garand’s scholarly work has ranged from race and finance to gender and parenting to federal antipsychotic regulations. His most cited paper is titled, “Explaining Voter Turnout in Latin America, 1980-2000.”
While recognizing that his research interests might seem eclectic, Garand thinks studying such a wide variety of topics has made his career more interesting.
“A lot of my inspiration has come from students I’ve worked with, who come to me and say, ‘I’m interested in topic X’ and I say, ‘oh, let’s try to do a project on that,’” he said. But for Garand, that’s all part of the fun. “It’s been very exciting to me that I’m not limited in the kind of work that I can do.”
GARAND, from page 3
ELIZABETH SULLIVAN / The Reveille Stubbs Hall sits on Sept. 5, 2020 on LSU campus in Baton Rouge, La.
ENTERTAINMENT
Restaurant Review: Express Bowl’s viral $8 hibachi bowl
BY LANA LAWSON Staff Writer
Express Bowl, a Baton Rouge hibachi bowl restaurant, has gone viral all over TikTok.
LSU student and local social media influencer, Fabian Beaucoudray, posted a video to her TikTok account showing off an $8 hibachi bowl. The food and lifestyle creator has over 78 thousand followers on TikTok, with some of her most popular videos being local food recommendations.
The restaurant is located near The Legacy apartments at 11 Ben Hur Rd Suite B and has been packed to the brim with a 30-minute wait time this past week due to its viral success. Express Bowl has been in business since 2018 and has gained traction on social media.
Its rising popularity enticed me into deciding to give the restaurant a try. When I arrived at the to-go hibachi shop, it was surprisingly empty. The rain had been coming down all day, so that might have detoured customers from coming in, but the rain didn’t stop me from trying out the famous bowl.
My first impression of the place was that it was fairly nice. As soon as I walked in I was greeted by a staff member and upbeat music. The restaurant was very clean, and the staff succeeded at providing a welcoming atmosphere for customers.
At Express Bowl, customers have the option to build their own bowl starting with size. From there, you can choose between various protein options, vegetables and one starch. Express Bowl currently has a special for a $6 small chicken hibachi bowl until Feb. 20.
The ordering process was fairly simple. Just follow the steps on the menu and enjoy.
I ordered a small hibachi bowl with fried rice, shrimp, mushroom, carrots and onion. My bowl came with two additional sauces; yum yum sauce and teriyaki sauce. The bowl was just okay, without the sauces, but adding the sauce made the entire bowl significantly better.
I paid about $15 for my bowl, and it was very filling. Even though I ordered the small bowl, it was portioned adequately and filled to the top. I had only eaten
half of it before I had gotten full. The food was hot and fresh once I received it and didn’t take too long to prepare. The bowl was pleasantly flavored and seasoned well.
A while after sitting down to eat my food, a few people started to trail in behind me. Once their food was prepared, no one else sat in the store to eat, making the indoor seating atmosphere lack a sense of liveliness. Similar to my experience, none of the other guests waited too long for their food to be prepared.
The bowl wasn’t entirely what I was expecting, but I still liked it overall. It was pretty good but I think if I go back, I’d like to try something new. Express Bowl allows customers to create their own bowl, but the menu also offers a variety of pre-made bowls such as the Tiger Bowl and Seafood Bowl. I would rate Express Bowl a solid 7/10. If you like hibachi and you happen to catch them when they aren’t as busy, I would recommend giving it a try.
Express Bowl is open Monday to Friday, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on the weekends.
LANA LAWSON / The Reveille
Express Bowl sits on a gloomy day in Baton Rouge, La.
LANA LAWSON / The Reveille Shrimp hibachi bowl from Express Bowl.
BY PAYTON PRICHARD
LSU BASEBALL CLOSES OUT THE WEEKEND WITH AN 8-1 WIN AT HOME AGAINST PURDUE FORT WAYNE ON FEB. 16.
PHOTOS
PHOTO SPREAD BY RILEY WHITE
LSU baseball players celebrate after Ashton Larson (44) hits a home run at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU baseball junior first baseman Jared Jones (22) swings at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU baseball sophomore outfielder Jake Brown (7) walks towards the dugout at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU baseball freshman outfielder Derek Curiel (6) confirms with the referee that he is safe at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU baseball sophomore infielder Steven Milam (4) makes it to third base at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU baseball redshirt sophomore right-handed pitcher Chase Shores (34) pitches at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU baseball senior utility Luis Hernandez (23) catches a ball at Alex Box Stadium.
King cakes and drag queens at Eloise’s Market and Cakery
BY COURTNEY BELL Deputy News Editor
Not every bakery in Baton Rouge has a king cake-making class, a drag queen and bingo games on a Friday night in February, but Eloise’s Market and Cakery combines all three to foster Carnival community and bring a New Orleans flair to the capitol city.
For the past three Carnival seasons, the bakery has offered king cake classes, but like many Louisiana traditions, the classes are centered not just on food, but also on community. On Jan. 31, the bakery was decorated with neon lights, hanging streamers and spraypainted hearts and filled with 50 people chatting to friends and strangers as jazz music played in the background.
“I hope that I make everybody realize that there is a place here that every single person is welcome no matter what,” Maddie Schmidt, the owner of Eloise’s Market and Cakery, said. “We’re just here to build a community and get to know each other.”
To attend the sold-out class, participants bought $40 tickets that provided the materials needed to make the king cake, including the dough, cinnamon sugar, icing and even a small, plastic baby. Schmidt directed attendants to roll the dough out, add filling and shape their cake. From there, the cakes needed 40 minutes to rise and bake.
During this time, drag queen Zia Lush performed and led bingo games. Clad in a purple-sequined leotard, thigh-high boots and a multi-color wig, Lush strutted through the small bakery to cheers and applause.
“New Orleans and drag queens could be synonymous, and so it just felt like an awesome extra touch,” Schmidt said.
After her energizing performance, Lush led bingo games to entertain the amateur bakers. Schmidt said she chose bingo as the activity to fill the 40 minutes
of rising and baking, because it was a fun activity for all, but also because it reminds her of New Orleans.
Calling numbers, cracking jokes and awarding winners with Mardi Gras beads and noisemakers, Lush said she was happy with the evening’s turnout and atmosphere.
“My favorite part is just meeting people,” Lush said. “I love making people happy, I don’t know. Just like, changing someone’s mood from, ‘Oh gosh, I don’t want to do a bingo,’ to like, ‘Oh my god, I’m glad I went to the bingo.’”
Lush feels Baton Rouge and New Orleans are the “most open” places in Louisiana for drag queens; she doesn’t think the rest of the state is as welcoming. She has felt a sense of community and support with the sold-out classes at Eloise’s.
“I think it really shows how many people don’t mind it, so I feel like it is really good for the community,” Lush said.
Krista Rippel, Lynne Browning and Shawn Graphia sat in the back corner, shaping their cakes and enjoying the atmosphere. The three women attended the class for a “girls night out,” packing a full charcuterie board and a bottle of wine. This was their first time seeing a drag performance, an experience they greatly enjoyed.
“She did awesome,” Browning, 53, said of Lush. “She was incredible. I wish I could dance that well,” she joked.
Another attendant came to the class to learn more about the state’s culture as Mardi Gras approaches.
“I moved here recently, so Mardi Gras and king cake, the whole culture is kind of new,” Jada Daniels, a 26-year-old from Georgia, said as she spread cinnamon-sugar filling. “So I thought that it would be fun. What is a better way to understand than to do it?”
Daniels was unsure what king cake was before she attended the class, but caught on quickly as she rolled her cake into the circular
shape Louisianians know and love. Embracing the culture, she sipped a daiquiri and laughed with her friend, Evian Vo, as they played bingo, watched the drag performance and prepared for Mardi Gras.
“Just the culture of it,” 24-yearold Vo said when talking about her favorite part of Carnival season. “Like being able to be in a city just partying, celebrating Louisiana culture. It’s just a fun, welcoming environment.”
Schmidt provided attendants a replicable experience. She shared her king cake recipe so participants can recreate the king cake to continue sharing the tradition.
“This class is super important to me, because I feel that king cakes are a huge part of our culture here,” Schmidt said. “But we always eat them, and we never make them, and it’s kind of some big-kept secret that I don’t really agree with because the only way for traditions to continue is to share them with each other.”
Bre Meilleur and her friends attended the class to celebrate Meilleur’s 27th birthday. The group had never been to Eloise’s before, but after seeing a post on TikTok about the event, Meilleur said the group was excited to attend the popular class.
“When I found out they had king cake plus drag, that motivated me to find a date that had both things, because that is so fun to me,” Meilleur said.
Meilleur graduated from LSU in 2020 with a degree in food sciences. She said she was familiar with baking, but did not know how to make king cake, and found the process very fun. Born and raised in New Orleans, Meilleur is excited to share her new knowledge with those around her this Mardi Gras.
“I love being around the people and cooking jambalaya on the neutral ground and celebrating the culture of the city,” Meilleur said. “The king cake is just the icing on the cake, literally.”
COURTNEY BELL / The Reveille
Drag queen Zia Lush performs at a king cake-making class at Eloise’s Market and Cakery on Jan. 31.
COURTNEY BELL / The Reveille
Attendants shape a king cake into a heart at a class at Eloise’s Market and Cakery on Jan. 31.
SPORTS
Why LSU gym dropped down in rankings system
BY AINSLEY FLOOD & ETHAN STENGER Staff Writer & Sports Editor
No. 2 LSU dethroned No. 1 Oklahoma in a high-stakes victory on Friday, but instead of rising to the top spot, it fell to third in the national rankings.
Why? Because seven weeks into the season, NQS takes effect.
Short for National Qualifying Score, it’s a ranking formula determining which 36 teams will advance to NCAA regionals. Rather than averaging from a team’s collective totals, this system has its own way of calculating overall performance.
First, take the top six scores and make sure at least three were earned in an away meet. Next, delete the highest team score and average the remaining five; the final result is a team’s NQS.
This means only five out of the purple and gold’s 11 meets will matter come the postseason. Their NQS currently stands at 197.420 behind No. 2 UCLA with 197.455 and the No. 1 overall Sooners with 197.730.
The Tigers were overtaken when UCLA’s NQS brought them up three ranks from fifth to second.
LSU head coach Jay Clark spoke on the subject in this week’s press conference.
“This year was pretty seismic,” Clark said. “There were some people that moved pretty significantly in the first week of NQS.”
The Tigers have only competed on the road three times so far, so their season-low score of 196.600 from Arkansas is counted towards their NQS. Their season-high of 198.050 earned against Oklahoma last week is dropped.
“We let one get away from us
a few weeks back, and that’s the ripple effect,” Clark said.
Additionally, NQS determines individual and event-specific ranks. As a result, freshman sensation Kailin Chio jumped from No. 22 to No. 9 in the all-around and officially has the No. 1 vault in the nation. She tied Oklahoma’s Faith Torrez with an NQS of 9.930.
Despite dropping in floor and the all-around, LSU remains No. 1 in vault with an NQS of 49.430.
But why does the NCAA use such an archaic system to determine its top teams? It used to be called RQS, Regional Qualifying Score. When the postseason format shifted from Super Six to Four on the Floor in 2021, so did the formula’s name.
NQS is meant to account for rusty early-season performances, higher home scores and even forfeits, which rarely happen. The
see GYMNASTICS, page 10
GYMNASTICS
Gym’s Chase Brock out indefinitely
BY AINSLEY FLOOD Staff Writer
According to LSU head coach Jay Clark, Tigers gymnast Chase Brock will be out of competition “indefinitely” due to an Achilles injury.
“I don’t know if it’s been scheduled to be repaired, or what the date is just yet, or anything like that,” Clark said. “It was a little unusual.”
During Friday’s meet against Oklahoma, Brock was crying and carried away by Clark after injuring herself on floor. In the postmeet conference, Clark said she would receive an MRI in the upcoming days.
“It’s been done,” Clark said. “It’s an Achilles injury. We will move forward.”
In this week’s press conference, Clark confirmed Brock sustained an injury to her Achilles and will be out until further notice.
“Yeah, she’s done,” Clark said. “She will be out indefinitely.”
Louisiana moves to sanction girls’ flag football as a varsity sport Column: ESPN hurts college gymnastics
BY GABBY GRAY Staff Writer
After airing an ‘80s themed commercial during Super Bowl LIX, the NFL is pushing for the establishment of varsity girls flag football teams.
Names like Pat McAfee and Justin Jefferson appeared alongside female flag football athletes in the NFL’s message advocating for varsity female flag football. The commercial reached an
audience of 127.7 million people gathered to watch the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles.
“Leave the past behind,” the NFL said in the ad. “Let’s make girls flag football a varsity sport in all 50 states.”
Establishing a varsity sport nationwide isn’t something that happens overnight, and the NFL keeps this in mind as it encourages states to hop on board with its sanctioning.
Flag football has been a part of the NFL since 1994, when the sport was introduced in a youth camp series in New England. At the time, both genders competed. It has since grown as a girl’s league at the collegiate level, especially in recent years.
So how is Louisiana doing its part in this national endeavor?
To sanction a sport the high school sports associaton of the particular state must fully recognize it as varsity sport. Currently, 14 states have sanctioned girl’s flag football. Louisiana is still in the “pilot stage,” in other words, a trial run.
The New Orleans Saints reported that because at least 80 schools across the state expressed interest in girl’s flag football, the LHSAA is able to move forward in evolving the sport from its trial run with an executive committee voting process in April.
It is in collaboration with the Saints that the state of Louisiana is able to pursue girl’s flag football as a sport played at both the high school and collegiate level.
BY ETHAN STENGER Sports Editor COLUMN
Ok, ESPN, we need to talk.
It all started on a Friday last spring, the first day of March. No. 2 LSU is set to host No. 9 Alabama in a top-10 SEC showdown at the PMAC.
But something felt strange; the meet was scheduled to start at 5 p.m. locally rather than the usual 6-7 p.m. start time.
“The meet felt weird in the beginning,” Tigers head coach Jay Clark said. “It felt a little flat when we got started.”
During the first routines of the entire afternoon, Crimson Tide gymnast Mati Waligora took a hard fall on uneven bars and was forced to perform her routine over again, resulting in an 8.400 that killed any early momentum and put Alabama in an early hole that they never could dig themselves out of.
The Crimson Tide lost on the road that day, 198.325-197.325.
The meet was moved by the network broadcasting the event on TV, ESPN, who demanded that it start at 5 p.m. local
time so it could also fit in No. 6 Michigan at No. 1 Oklahoma on ESPN2 later that night.
The company has opted to broadcast NCAA gymnastics across its networks to help the sport grow, with the national championship telecast being telecast on ABC since 2021.
ESPN announced its 2025 broadcast schedule with over 100 hours of college gymnastics — the most in the network’s near half-century existence.
But there’s a catch: the company doesn’t care about college gymnastics, or at least as much as they may make you think they do. As part of its deal with the NCAA, ESPN gets to select the start time and network for regular-season broadcasts.
On Friday, ESPN forced the meet into the 9 p.m. ET slot, with an 8 p.m. start locally.
“I, prefer to have it a little more in primetime than that,” Clark said.
While the company can’t seem to get a start time right, that’s not even the worst.
PAYTON PRICHARD/ The Reveille
LSU gymnastics all-around freshman Kailin Chio competes on beam during LSU’s 198.050-197.675 win against Oklahoma on Feb. 14, at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La.
FLAG FOOTBALL
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL DEN
A team gathers at the 2024 Saints Girls High School Championship Games on March 4.
Column: The governor shouldn’t be involved in LSU football
BY GORDON CRAWFORD Staff Writer FOOTBALL
In 2024, preceding the highly-anticipated LSU-Alabama football game, Gov. Jeff Landry made the polarizing decision to revive the tradition of bringing a tiger back to LSU’s sidelines.
The announcement was filled with anger and confusion, with several commenters questioning why the governor was involved in LSU football.
This event, however, was not particularly unusual.
The governor’s office laid the very foundations of LSU football. Huey Long broadly prioritized new construction on LSU’s campus but ultimately directed much of his passion to building the Tigers into a prestigious team. He wrote the pre-game music the band plays today, built the stadium we still use and even offered recruits state jobs.
Long saw the football program as a way for Louisiana to assert itself over its neighbors and, thus, a way he could assert himself over his political rivals. The team was his personal project. At times, he even called plays.
When he died, possession of the throne and all the jewels that came with it naturally went to his brother, Earl. Earl maintained a looser grip over the program, busier with other affairs, but he nonetheless still participated in recruiting. Every subsequent Longist state governor maintained an active role in football management.
Edwin Edwards was the first governor who tried to avoid interference, resisting calls pushing for the firing of coach
thought of a team just missing the postseason cut by having to count a zero has motivated the NCAA to keep the system around for decades.
So, how could we replace it?
“Straight average. Count everything,” Clark said. “I don’t know what sport counts 50% of what they do, but that’s what we end up doing.”
Many agree with Clark, believing this formula is detrimental to the growth of college gymnastics, and it’s not like a forfeit has happened any time as of late.
“It certainly doesn’t make us more understandable,” Clark said. “I mean, that’s the thing in a sport like ours. The things that I advocate for, the things that I tend to get perturbed about, are things that erode our under-
ESPN, from page 9
ESPN doesn’t have anywhere to view scores, watch videos and highlights, or find any college gymnastics news or content on their website or app, neglect-
Charles McClendon. However, he, too, would eventually give in to the tantalizing power of the office. This ultimately led to a unique battle between himself and former Gov. John McKeithen over a plan to build a $1 million dollar fund to boost the head coach’s salary, which McKeithen alleged was a scheme to replace coach Jerry Stovall.
When Edwards left office, bringing the dominant run of the Long machine to an end, the practice went into a lull. Republicans focused themselves on party-building, whilst Gov. Blanco contended with an entirely separate football battle to keep the Saints in New Orleans.
However, when Gov. Bobby Jindal took office, he once again
standability because as popular, as great as we’re doing here in terms of attendance, nationally, we’re still trying to grow as a sport and increase the awareness.”
A more straight-lined approach could help the younger and more casual fanbase that college gymnastics carries. By counting straight averages, No. 1 Oklahoma would stay first, followed by the No. 3 Tigers in second, No. 5 Florida in third, the No. 2 Bruins in fourth and No. 4 Utah to round out the top five.
“I want us to be as easily understandable as possible,” Clark said. “That’s ultimately where I go with it.”
But until NQS is made a thing of the past, it’s important to understand how it works and who it will send to this April’s postseason.
ing a sport it claims is helping so graciously.
The company also put the Tigers’ 198.050-197.675 victory over the Sooners on ESPN2, the network’s secondary channel.
So a matchup hailed as the
stepped into LSU football affairs. His term would genuinely expose the perniciousness of the governor-football relationship.
In 2013, Taylor Porter, a Baton Rouge law firm, delivered allegations of sexual misconduct against LSU head coach Les Miles to three members of the LSU board, along with athletic director Joe Alleva.
Despite Alleva’s calls to fire Miles, the board issued a letter of reprimand and a few minor punishments and moved to quickly place as much of the documentation out of the public record as possible.
Gov. Jindal appointed every member of that board. Jindal maintains he did not know of the allegations, and there is no
reason to suggest otherwise.
However, combined with Jindal’s intense public support of Miles in 2015 when Alleva again sought to oust him and Miles’ attendance at one of Jindal’s presidential fundraisers, it’s just a really terrible look.
This is the core reason why this outdated practice must be done away with. The governor’s constant involvement in LSU football can create a strong appearance of impropriety in the instance of significant controversy, especially as the governor is generally permitted to appoint whoever they wish to the Board of Supervisors.
It’s not that governors shouldn’t be allowed to be friends with head coaches or be
“This grows the opportunities for girls in our state to compete in a sport that is growing worldwide thanks to the support of the NFL, the Saints and all of our teams,” Saints owner Gayle Benson said. “This progress further increases access for young women to the ideals of athletic competition, inclusivity and the power of teamwork.”
In addition to flag football being an approved sport for 2028 Olympics, two NAIA universities in Louisiana already have female flag teams, one at Southern University at New Orleans and one at Xavier University.
In the meantime, the NCAA is in the process of deciding whether female flag football should join the Emerging Sports for Women program.
banned from attending games; I don’t even mind the idea of the governor going to the locker room to give the boys a pep talk before a big game. However, the current power of the governor in shaping LSU oversight means that any relationship must face intense public scrutiny.
With Gov. Landry’s signing of a bill in 2024 that gave him the power to directly appoint university presidents, the influence of the governor over LSU appears to only be increasing. This means that any coach who builds a strong personal relationship with a governor would be significantly insulated from any punishment for misconduct and would be much safer from threats of ousting.
Furthermore, leveraging gubernatorial power and influence within the program for political purposes is only growing more egregious. Coach Ed Orgeron made the unprecedented move of formally endorsing Gov. John Bel Edwards, a close personal friend, during his re-election campaign in 2019, a step up from Miles’ tacit support of Jindal. Gov. Landry has now used his position to draw culture war battle lines on football by unilaterally altering LSU game-day practices.
Football is meant to be an escape. It’s meant to be one of the few places left where anybody, regardless of any upbringing, state in life or worldview, can come together to celebrate victory or grieve defeat. When the governor seeks to unnecessarily insert themself and their agenda into football games, it builds walls where the love of the game is meant to tear them down.
As the NCAA reported, the Committee for Women’s Athletics has made a recommendation for the sport to be a part of the program, but it first must pass through the governing process before an official decision is made.
“We are thrilled that Louisiana has decided to sanction girls flag football as a high school varsity sport,” NFL vice president of flag football Stephanie Kwok said in a press release.
Louisiana moves forward with the Saints to pursue NFL FLAG’s dream of making noncontact sports and their competitive nature more prevalent throughout the nation. So keep an eye out, and you might see that your former high school or one nearby has decided to be a part of the change in female athletics.
‘Super Bowl’ of college gymnastics was tossed to the side by the NCAA’s broadcast partner and could only warrant a late Friday night appearance on the network’s secondary channel?
That doesn’t seem very help -
ful to the sport at all, ESPN. But it’s not too late, you can fix it.
If you genuinely cared about college gymnastics, you would let the NCAA provide their starting times and adjust accordingly, even putting specific meets
on ESPN and ABC that aren’t the national championship, when warranted.
But until that is done, it will be hard to convince me that ESPN cares about college gymnastics.
GYMNASTICS, from page 9
FLAG FOOTBALL, from page 9
PAYTON PRICHARD / The Reveille
LSU gymnastics graduate student Sierra Ballard celebrates after a successful jump on the beam during LSU’s 198.050-197.675 win against Oklahoma on Feb. 14, at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La.
ALEXIS PERSICKE / The Reveille
An LSU cheerleader yells into a megaphone Nov. 30, during LSU’s 37-17 win over Oklahoma at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.
OPINION
Sex education isn’t teaching students enough about actual sex
BESKE’S BUZZ
KATE BESKE Columnist
My experience with sex education in high school was short, weird and insufficient.
I recently watched the Netflix show “Sex Education,” which touches on the importance of a well-rounded sex education. While watching the show, I learned and reinforced my knowledge of sexuality, gender identity, sexually transmitted diseases and other topics.
For me, most of what I learned was through peers, media or my own research rather than an actual professional, and when a teenager is getting any of their sexual knowledge from porn, there can be a lot of false notions.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, adolescents need developmentally appropriate knowledge about their sexuality and how it relates to the world and relationships around them.
They define sex education as teaching about human sexuality, which includes “intimate relationships, human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexually transmitted infections, sexual activity, sexual orientation, gender identity, abstinence, contracep -
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Colin Falcon Editor in Chief Managing Editor John Buzbee
Editor
tion and reproductive rights and responsibilities.”
The AAP states that sex education helps to prevent and reduce the risk of adolescent pregnancy, HIV and STIs in the United States.
Reading and learning about how much sexual knowledge an adolescent should be taught in a safe environment with professionals, I began to think about my own sex ed experience, which felt like an afterthought.
It was called health class and was taught by a P.E. coach once a week utilizing videos that were clearly shot decades ago. I think there needs to be a better-standardized sex education offered to middle and school-aged adolescents.
In 2023, Planned Parenthood conducted focus groups and a survey, which showed that 96% of parents surveyed believe it’s important to teach sex education in high school.
The problem is that there is no one regulating how sex education is taught. Since education decisions are made state by state and not every state even mandates sex education, adolescents and young adults in the U.S. have a range of sexual knowledge, with few receiving the curriculum recommended by pediatricians.
According to Planned Parenthood, 39 states and the District of Colombia mandate a form of sex
and HIV education taught in high school. This means that many students in the U.S. are receiving no sex education at all.
They say the type of sex education someone gets comes down to where they live and go to school, with some places offering more informed or comprehensive knowledge, while others carry different beliefs or have less access to the necessary resources.
One of the biggest problems with sex education today is the stigmas surrounding sex and puberty, but these are things that adolescents need to feel comfortable discussing and should have access to ask questions with a professional.
While it may take funding to achieve the proper sex education adolescents deserve, just using updated resources and providing unbiased information covering a range of topics under the sexuality umbrella, the state of sex education could get better across the country.
If the country can develop a standard for sex education, after successfully implementing these classes in middle and high schools, the college students at LSU will be much more informed young adults.
Kate Beske is a 21-year-old journalism senior from Destrehan, La.
Porn addicts are unable to focus on politics
TANTAWI’S TABLOID
TANTAWI’S TABLOID
MOHAMMAD
TANTAWI Columnist
MOHAMMAD TANTAWI @mowinator
It takes a lot to keep people from their vices. We all survive day by day, looking forward to the things we enjoy, even if they aren’t in our best interest. One of the biggest vices in the world is porn consumption. It’s a growing industry that is set to continue to grow as time goes on.
We accept that some things will take us away from our vices; however, the 2024 presidential debate demonstrates that the second people have an opportunity to gratify their coveted pleasures, they will grab it by the horns.
If you need a reason to start to reconsider the passionate take of others, consider looking at what happened to porn consumption during the 2024 presidential debate according to Pronhub.
In preparation for the debate, we saw a slightly above-average usage rate. The debate started, and there was an immediate drop in usage, continuing downward for 36 minutes.
After that point, we saw a steady uptick as the debate reached its first commercial break, which continued until the end of the debate. It’s a sad representation of viewer focus and interest, leading me to assume that between porn usage and any other possible distraction, few were actually paying attention.
People’s daily scheduled programming was so thrown off that after 36 minutes; we saw a positive trend that continued till the end of the debate.
Broadly speaking, I was wondering how often a person will be so consumed with something that for a long period of time (say an hour and 45 minutes, the length of the debate), nothing can take them away from it.
Just like in sports, few actually dissect the plays and analyze the components that lead to the ultimate result. We’re all merely craving the highlights. Similar to how I can’t bear the sports opinions of others, people’s political opinions usually make me cringe.
I can’t trust what you’re saying because you sound confident
or appear highly knowledgeable because I don’t know the hours behind the scenes you’ve put into harnessing the information necessary to have a valid opinion.
Now, not every viewer’s attention was swooped away because of porn, but for Pornhub to experience such a drop in viewership, we must assume the two are somewhat connected.
This doesn’t speak to the thousands of other porn sites and distractions that came about during the debate. How am I supposed to value someone’s political opinion when stats like this appear? This places doubt in my confidence in the American people and causes me to be slightly uncomfortable with the fact that these are potential voters.
This is why I’m leery of passionate argumentation, specifically when someone gives the impression that they are definitely correct. Despite being an opinion columnist, I don’t enjoy giving my opinion very much. The fragility of my point of view cautions me to listen and consider what people have to say; meanwhile, I wrestle with my own opinions, weighing the possibility that they may be out of my mind.
The trust we have in people who sound passionate or knowledgable can consume our own ability to assess what other possibilities might be. People could not hold their attention for a debate that would influence who would be the next president, so how knowledgeable could they be on other topics?
We are driven by fulfilling our own interests that gratify our guilty pleasures, allowing us to function tomorrow. The uptick in usage we see around the commercial breaks alludes to the charade we all partake in to be functional members of society.
While we have general and passionate interests, we have darker, more self-indulgent passions behind closed doors that act as an escape from our daily responsibilities. We live for moments where we can satisfy those interests and rationalize them in our own ways.
Mohammad Tantawi is a 24-year-old mass communication senior from Smyrna, Tenn.
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“Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what’s for lunch.”
Orson Welles American actor, producer and writer 1915 — 1985
Sports Editor Jason Willis Oliver Butcher News Editor Taylor Hamilton Opinion
SAM TAYLOR / AP PHOTO
This image released by Netflix shows Asa Butterfield, left, and Gillian Anderson in a scene from “Sex Education.”