Augustus becomes first LSU female athlete with statue on campus
ERIN BARKER / The Reveille
Seimone Augustus addresses the audience during LSU’s 84-54 win against Auburn on Jan. 15, in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on N. Stadium Drive in Baton Rouge, La.
decorated female athlete in LSU history.
The unveiling ceremony started about an hour before the Tigers’ matchup with Auburn. Tiger fans packed themselves in outside the LSU basketball practice facility where the statues of Bob Pettit, Pete Maravich and Shaquille O’Neal stand.
“It looks like all of Baton Rouge is out here,” Augustus said in her remarks following the unveiling. “Thank you to LSU, thank you to Baton Rouge and thank you to Louisiana.”
The statue of Augustus is now the fourth statue outside the facility, and the first statue of a female athlete. The statue represents LSU women’s basketball and Augustus as the most
“What a memory,” Coach Kim Mulkey said. “To think I got to see it, got to hear Bob [Starkey] talk, to hear Seimone [Augustus] talk, it was just great.”
The afternoon wouldn’t be complete without an LSU win. The fan attendance totaled 11,475, the fifth highest in program history, and the team came through for them all, walking away with an 84-54 win.
In all 18 games thus far, Angel Reese has had a doubledouble with double-digit points and double-digit rebounds. Against Auburn, she finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds. She currently stands sixth in the nation for points per game, and second in the nation for rebounds per game.
With her 18th double-double of the season, Reese is one double-double away from tying Sylvia Fowles’ record for most consecutive double-doubles in the program.
“It’s meant a lot to me. I’m just playing the game. I didn’t know I would break any of these records until you mentioned it,” Reese said. “I’m just
doing whatever it takes to win. Just to be mentioned with Sylvia Fowles, Seimone Augustus, it’s really a blessing.”
Reese wasn’t the only one that shined for LSU; Sunday’s game was a team effort. Alexis Morris had a double-double of her own with 12 points and 10 assists. She also added seven rebounds.
Jasmine Carson found her rhythm from behind the threepoint line. She finished with four three-pointers and a total of 18 points.
Flau’jae Johnson added 10 points, including going four of four from the foul line, and LaDazhia Williams added eight points along with four rebounds. Kateri Poole also added seven points including two three-pointers.
Precious Johnson led Auburn with 13 total points for the afternoon. She also grabbed six rebounds. Kharyssa Richardson added 10 points with five rebounds.
There was a lot to be excited about for LSU fans and proud of Sunday afternoon. It was the type of day LSU sports has looked to stand for; the passion-
ate fanbase made itself known, the winning mentality made itself known, and the rich history was honored. It was certainly a significant and meaningful day for LSU Women’s Basketball and LSU athletics.
LSU continues its undefeated season with a record of 18-0 and 6-0 in SEC play. With the win against Auburn, the longest win streak in program history remains alive. Regardless, Mulkey doesn’t let this distract her team.
“We haven’t done anything really, we’ve won games. We’ve won 18 games and that’s impressive, I get it,” Mulkey said. “We have beaten, I guess you can say those who we’re supposed to beat, and we’ve beaten them handily.”
The team will be back in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Thursday for a home matchup against Arkansas. Tip-off will be at 8 p.m. and the game will be televised on the SEC Network.
“We’ve got to get in the film room, we’ve got to watch their current games, and we’ve got to see how they’ve improved,” Coach Mulkey said.
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CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS
Jaren St. Clair’s doctors told him he wouldn’t be able to walk long distances or climb stairs for some time following his two knee surgeries. The finance freshman secured a handicap tag for the fall semester and quickly realized how difficult it was to find available accessible parking on LSU’s campus.
“Every now and then you’ll get lucky, but the spots are scarce,” St. Clair said.
St. Clair said he doesn’t understand what’s stopping LSU from adding more disability parking options for its growing student population. “There’s no reason why the school has so much funding…and can’t have adequate parking,” he said.
LSU students and faculty have complained about a lack of accessible parking, and parking generally, for years. The complaints range from a general lack of options for disabled students, especially if they are trying to get to the Quad; people who are not disabled parking in handicapped spots, including LSU Facility Services vehicles; and difficulty obtaining special parking permits.
Josh Galasso, the transportation demand and parking manager for LSU’s Parking and Transportation Services, said the university is fully compliant with
MUSEUMS & LIBRARIESAmericans With Disabilities Act regulations.
There are over 450 ADA parking spots on campus, and to park in those spots, Galasso said students and faculty need to request a tag and have doctor verification, which is vetted by Parking
and Transportation.
The number of ADA spots required on a college campus is not necessarily based on size or population, Galasso said. Additionally, many buildings in the center of campus don’t have to follow current ADA regulations
because of their old age.
“We are in the process of reviewing and doing some renovations to lots. The minute that we touch that lot, do repairs or anything like that, we then have to
The Reveille’s editor in chief, Josh Archote, sued LSU for the release of records related to the university’s internal investigation of Donald Abels, a former Greek Life administrator who in 2019 was accused of creating multiple fake identities to entrap LSU fraternities in university policy violations and state drinking laws.
Archote is represented by lawyers from Tulane’s First Amendment Law Clinic, located in New Orleans. The lawsuit was filed Monday afternoon in the 19th Judicial District Court.
“The Reveille needs access to university records to continue serving as a watchdog over LSU,” Archote said. “We believe that records related to the investigation of a former Greek Life administrator are being unfairly kept behind closed doors away from the public, which deserves to know how the state’s flagship university handled a case of alleged employee misconduct.”
LSU Police concluded in 2019 that the then—assistant director of Greek Life, Abels, was using
LSU’s Museum of Natural Science plans to make 121 Native American skeletal remains available for return to various tribes by the end of the year, according to Rebecca Saunders, curator of anthropology at the museum.
A 1990 law requires U.S. institutions to make Native American, Native Alaskan and Native Hawaiin human remains available for return to tribes. However, over 100,000 remains are still held by museums, universities and federal agencies across the U.S., according to ProPublica.
As required by the Native American Graves Protection Repatriation Act, LSU has reported holding over 1,200 Native American remains, making it by far the largest collector in Louisiana.
The university has made available for return 91% of them, leaving 121 that still need to be processed, according to Saunders and data from ProPublica. The data also shows that the vast ma-
jority of remains made available by Louisiana institutions were made available to the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana.
Saunder said most of the remains that still need to be processed are fragile bone fragments.
Under NAGPRA, when an in-
stitution establishes a connection between remains and tribes, it must publish a list of tribes eligible to claim the remains. Once a tribe makes a claim, physical transfer can occur, according to ProPublica.
“To date, the LSUMNS has made available for return 91% of our collection of Native American skeletal remains and will have the remaining 9% done by the end of the year,” Saunders said. “The Museum is in compliance with NAGPRA regulations.”
LSU is by far the largest collector of remains in the state, accounting for 76% of all remains reported to the government, data from ProPublica shows.
Other Louisiana institutions that haven’t made remains available for return include the University of Louisiana at Monroe, which has returned none of the 135 remains in its collection.
The Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, Poverty Point World Heritage Site and Louisiana State Exhibit Museum, among others, also hold
remains that haven’t been made available for return, according to ProPublica.
The remains that still need to be returned by LSU were taken from the following parishes:
• Lafourche Parish
• St. Charles Parish
• Iberville Parish
• Allen Parish
• Rapides Parish
• Tensas Parish
• Richland Parish
A small number of remains were also taken from Mississippi.
The ProPublica data is part of a larger series launched Wednesday examining how various U.S. institutions have failed to return 110,000 remains.
As the United States expanded into the West throughout the 1800s and pushed many Native Americans from their land, museums and the federal government looted Indigenous remains and cultural items from homes, graves and places of worship, according to ProPublica.
PARKING, from page 3
bring those up 100% to current ADA standards,” Galasso said.
For example, the recent renovations to the Studio Arts Building and Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex will result in a more ADA-accessible lot.
Other than these renovations, LSU has no immediate plans to add more ADA parking spots to campus, Galasso said.
“As far as ADA permit holders, we have enough spaces to fulfill the need on the university campus,” Galasso said. “Now, let’s just say down the road, [there’s] 500 more, and so now you’re at a deficit, we would certainly look at that taking that… into consideration.”
Another common complaint brought up by students is seeing Facility Services vehicles taking up handicapped parking spots. According to students, the white trucks can often be seen in the spots, seemingly using them while fulfilling maintenance requests or other duties.
Political science senior Delaney Ferrer uses handicapped parking due to a leg injury. Her biggest issue came when she had classes in the Quad during the spring, but she also recalled seeing LSU vehicles parked on the sidewalk while working on the East Campus Apartments.
“I see [LSU Facility Services vehicles] parked there all the time, or they’re in, like, the little accessibility…zone,” Ferrer said. “Sometimes I sit there, and I’m like, ‘OK, maybe a Facility Services member is handicapped,’ but there’s no indication of that there, and I think it’s just really frustrating that you’re looking for a parking spot...You’re already having trouble getting to your class because of your disability and then you see that and that just kind of stinks.”
A student who requested anonymity said they once saw LSU Facility Services vehicles blocking off multiple handicapped
LAWSUIT, from page 3
the Interfraternity Council’s secure database, fake social media profiles and a fake email account to entrap fraternities in university policy violations.
No criminal laws were broken, however, so they referred the matter to an internal investigation. On Sept. 29, Archote submitted a public records request to LSU’s general counsel office to inspect records related to an internal investigation of Abels.
LSU denied the request, saying that the requested documents weren’t subject to public record, and used a previous court case, McMakin v. LSU, as a basis for the denial.
In the McMakin case, LSU was sued for the release of the same records, but the court sided with the university because Abels’ “right to privacy in his employment/personnel records are superior” to the plaintiff’s public records request.
The lawsuit filed on Archote’s
parking spaces near the Quad, which causes issues for them since they cannot walk far without experiencing back pain.
“I’ve seen this constantly on campus – people parking in handicapped spots...And not just students or faculty…Facility Services,” the student said.
After reaching out to LSU Police following one incident in the fall, the student said there were no facility vehicles parked there the next day.
The student has also had issues obtaining a medical tag to park in the handicapped spots. Despite having the proper verification, for their first four years
behalf describes why the public’s interest in the content of the records—how LSU investigates employee misconduct—greatly outweighs whatever privacy concerns Abels or LSU may have.
“If LSU declined to investigate him, that is a matter of public interest,” the lawsuit states. “If LSU investigated his conduct but found that it did not violate any policies, that also is a matter of public interest. If LSU investigated Abel’s conduct, found it improper and imposed discipline, that is a matter of public interest.
And if LSU investigated Abel’s conduct, found it improper, but declined to discipline him, that also would be of interest to the public -- here and elsewhere.”
The lawsuit asks the court to require LSU to produce the requested documents or show cause to the contrary;
• pay reasonable attorney’s fees and costs; and
• award Archote any damages civil penalties he may be entitled to.
at LSU they would be mailed a commuter tag and would have to wait in line at the Parking and Transportation office to exchange it.
“By limiting the number of people who apply for medical permits, [Parking and Transportation] just give them a commuter permit, and then they enter some kind of override in the system. If the parking agent walking around gives [someone] a ticket, they might not know that person should have been allowed to park there,” the student said. “But I got two or three citations, and…I had to keep telling them ‘I’m not paying.’”
Had they known about the handicapped parking situation before enrolling, the student said they likely wouldn’t have chosen to attend LSU, and that issues like parking are part of the overall experience “as a disabled person at this university.”
St. Clair said having LSU Facility Services vehicles parking in handicapped spots is insensitive to students and faculty.
“There are older staff members at LSU that need those parking spots…People have actual trouble moving around…and it’s not being taken seriously,” St. Clair said.
Galasso said that while his
department tries its best to enforce rules about vehicles without handicapped tags parking in ADA spots, it can’t fully control where people park.
“We can’t speak for other departments or speak on their behalf. Whether or not that employee that’s working there has an ADA need…they may need to access that just as any individual does, they’re just not going to have a special handicap [tag] because that’s not their specific vehicle,” Galasso said. “There are some other things that could go into play that may not be taken into consideration when an individual sees that.”
Want to see your event in The Reveille? Email information to editor@lsu.edu.
Come enjoy live music at L’Auberge Casino & Hotel, 777 L’Auberge Ave., from Little River Band. Ticket prices are $35 and can be purchased on Ticketmaster. The performance starts at 8 p.m.
Dance Marathon at LSU is having a gala, Winter Wonderland, from 7 to 11 p.m. This event will be held at Baton Rouge Marriott, 5500 Hilton Ave. There will be a dinner, silent auction, and games. Ticket sales will end on Jan. 17 and prices vary. Buy your tickets at dmatlsu.org.
Theatre Baton Rouge, 7155 Flordia Blvd., is having a performance of Broadway show “The Boys in the Band.” Sunday’s showing starts at 2 p.m. Tickets can be bought online at theatrebr.org. Tickets are $30 for adults and $25 for students.
The LSU gymnastics team narrowly falls 197.450 - 197.600 to Oklahoma on Jan. 15, in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Though it has been a stable offseason so far compared to last year, there has still been plenty of movement in the LSU football program since the season ended.
With the transfer portal and NFL Draft deadlines now passed, LSU’s roster for the 2023 season is starting to take shape. Despite some of the movement, the Tigers still return the bulk of their production, especially on offense. With that said, here’s a look at where the roster stands with athletes now enrolled for the spring semester.
The latest headline regarding LSU’s offense was the rather surprising transfer of freshman quarterback Walker Howard. Howard was a former five-star recruit from Lafayette, Louisiana, whose father, Jamie Howard, played quarterback at LSU from 1992-1995. His transfer announcement came just over a month after his high school teammate, Jack Bech, announced his intentions to leave the program, eventually committing to TCU.
Though there was early specu-
WOMEN’S BASKETBALLlation he would join Bech at TCU, Howard announced his commitment to Ole Miss this week. With Howard gone, that leaves LSU with three scholarship quarterbacks: Jayden Daniels, Garrett
Nussmeier and freshman early enrollee Rickie Collins.
Brian Kelly made it clear after the Citrus Bowl that Daniels was still the starter but did clarify that Nussmeier would get a chance
to compete. Barring any more movement within the quarterback room, Collins would likely see a limited role his freshman year,
It’s unfortunate that we have to sit through another season that features a four-team playoff, knowing full well that a game like this year’s championship could serve as its conclusion.
I am not discounting the incredible run TCU endured throughout Sonny Dykes’ first season with the program. Although the Big 12 conference was clearly weakened compared to the last few seasons, evident by the fact that it finished bowl season with the worst record by far at 2-7, the Horned Frogs still shattered preseason expectations and ended the regular season undefeated, and they deserve to be commended for that.
As polarizing of an underdog as TCU was, you couldn’t help but respect it for what it was able to accomplish and root for it once
BY TYLER HARDEN @ttjharden8
Looking ahead at LSU women’s basketball’s matchup with Arkansas, many Tiger fans may think it’s a guaranteed win, being that LSU had already beaten the Razorbacks by 24 points in late December.
But in the SEC, no game is a guaranteed win. The Razorbacks, in fact, head into Thursday night’s matchup with great momentum, having won their last four games, including a 28-point win over Florida, and a 22-point win over Missouri.
Arkansas has proved it is no slouch in the SEC West, as it sits with a 13-3 overall record, and a 4-1 conference record.
Forward, Erynn Barnum, is the Razorbacks’ leading scorer, averaging 15 points per game, seven rebounds per game, and 2 assists per game. In the last matchup with LSU, the Tigers held her to seven points and four rebounds.
However, Samara Spencer was the one who shined against the Tigers. The sophomore guard led the Razorbacks with 17 points, and she is second on the team in points per game with 15.
Barnum and Spencer have
been a dynamic duo all season, as Barnum sits at sixth in the SEC in scoring, and Spencer sits at seventh. The first priority for the Tigers to beat the Razorbacks again is to limit Barnum and Spencer to a minimum. Defending the paint to limit Barnum is something Angel Reese and LaDazhia Williams both have to focus on.
Makayla Daniels was also a presence against LSU in the last matchup, scoring 10 points along with six rebounds and three assists.
Spencer and Daniels combined for five three-pointers against LSU, so guarding the perimeter will also be something the Tigers have to lock down early.
LSU needs to get off to an early start to control the game; Arkansas has too much good momentum heading into the matchup for the Tigers to have to make a second-half comeback.
Overall, the Tigers have to trust what’s been working for them all season. Arkansas is a team LSU is already familiar with, so making the adjustments needed from their last matchup along with continuing to excel in what they’re best at will lead them to their 19th win of the season.
ROSTER, from page 9 but still has the potential to be an exciting option in the future.
Looking at the rest of the offense, LSU lost just two starters to the NFL Draft, both wide receivers. The Tigers will be without Kayshon Boutte and Jaray Jenkins in 2023, but return a strong core of Malik Nabers, Brian Thomas Jr., Kyren Lacy and Chris Hilton Jr. LSU also added a loaded class of newcomers including Alabama transfer Aaron Anderson and freshman Shelton Sampson Jr., Jalen Brown, Khai Prean and Kyle Parker.
LSU returns all of its key pieces at running back and on the offensive line, but signed a handful of highly-touted freshmen. At running back, the Tigers added four-star Louisiana natives Kaleb Jackson and Trey Holly, Louisiana’s all time highschool rushing leader.
On the offensive line, LSU brings in a strong class of freshmen led by five-star Louisiana native Zalance Heard. Tyree Adams, DJ Chester and Paul Mubenga.
LSU’s defense will have a different look once again in 2023 after another large wave of trans-
EXPANSION, from page 10
your respective team got eliminated from playoff contention. And when most expected their run to come to an end in the CFP Semifinals against Michigan, the Horned Frogs once again pulled off the improbable, defeating the Wolverines in a 51-45 thriller.
But all good things must come to an end, and unfortunately, the end to TCU’s run was abrupt and hard to watch. And what’s even more difficult to accept is the fact that kept getting proven over and over again throughout that game: the Horned Frogs shouldn’t have been there.
Through 118 days of its 119day season, Michigan appeared to be the playoff team with the best chance of dethroning Georgia. In their regular-season finale, the Wolverines decimated another eventual playoff team in Ohio State by three scores, a team that came one field goal away from beating the Bulldogs in the College Football Playoff Semifinal.
For TCU to defeat Michigan, everything had to go right.
The Horned Frogs acquired a 19-point cushion at the end of the third quarter thanks to two picksixes, a terrible fourth-down call in the red zone by Jim Harbaugh and one of the best defenses in the country not showing up to play, a cushion that vanished into thin air in less than two minutes of game time. Without all the early mistakes from the Wolverines, I doubt TCU pulls it off.
That doesn’t mean the Horned Frogs didn’t deserve to win, they clearly did. Max Duggan and the TCU offense played a tremendous game, its defense made plays when it needed to and it ultimately outcoached Michigan to a welldeserved victory. But that doesn’t mean the win shouldn’t be consid-
fers. For the second year in a row, the secondary was almost completely overhauled following the departures of Jarrick BernardConverse, Colby Richardson and
Mekhi Garner. LSU brought in transfers JK Johnson from Ohio State, Denver Harris from Texas A&M, Darian Chestnut from Syracuse and Zy Alexander from
Southeastern Louisiana University.
At linebacker, LSU returns Harold Perkins after his electric freshman year but lost Micah
Baskerville and Demario Tolan. The Tigers supplemented the loss of Tolan through the portal, adding the experienced Ovie Oghoufo from Texas. Along with Oghoufo, LSU added freshmen Christian Braithwaite and Whit Weeks.
The defensive line saw an overhaul as well, with six newcomers entering the program. The freshman defensive line class is led by four-star recruit Dashawn Womack and also includes fourstar Jaxon Howard and three-star Dylan Carpenter. The Tigers also added three transfers including Jaden Lee coming from Florida, Jordan Jefferson coming from West Virginia and Bradyn Swinson coming from Oregon.
With the overhaul, LSU’s 2023 freshman class currently ranks seventh in 247sports composite rankings and fifth in the 247sports transfer portal rankings. Despite the early movement, the roster could still see more changes as the February signing period approaches where the remaining unsigned high school recruits can sign.
Following the end of spring practice, the transfer portal will also open back up, allowing more players to come and go from the program before the season starts.
ered an upset.
An upset shouldn’t place a team in the championship game, a game that’s completely separate from the rest of the college football season and typically results in most of the remaining world of sports taking a night off. That’s why the structure of the NCAA Tournament in college basketball gets praised every season and still typically results in entertaining final rounds.
Since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, there’s been an average of just under 13 upsets per bracket, most of which occurred in the first round. Despite such a high number of upsets, it’s rare that a lower-seeded team makes it past the second
round, as its next opponent is often wary of what it’s capable of. Those that do make it further, like St. Peter’s last season or UCLA in the season prior, typically prove to be worthy of a deep tournament run through great coaching and chemistry.
But in college football’s current playoff structure, there’s no chance to eliminate a team that doesn’t meet those criteria, on top of the fact that a talent gap in football means more than in basketball. In this case, if the playoff had been expanded, it’s highly doubtful TCU would have advanced further than the second round, if that (considering its projected opponent would have been Tulane according to CBS).
Many laughed at Nick Saban for campaigning through the night for Alabama to be let into the playoff, then watched in disbelief as the Crimson Tide crushed the Big 12 Champion Kansas State Wildcats in the Sugar Bowl, the one team that was able to blemish TCU’s perfect record prior to Georgia.
Tennessee proved it could perform well against decent competition without Hendon Hooker at the helm and as Penn State proved itself with a strong, two-score victory over PAC-12 champion Utah. Even Tulane, the projected Group of Five playoff candidate in a world where the NCAA made quicker decisions, pulled off a stunning victory over a USC team led by Heisman-winning quarterback Ca-
leb Williams, winning its first New Year’s Six bowl since 1935.
If the playoff had been expanded in 2023, it would’ve been incredibly exciting. While it likely would’ve concluded in a repeat of last year’s matchup of Alabama vs. Georgia, if those were the two best teams in the country, so be it.
Personally, I feel like Penn State and Tennessee would have been fun dark-horse squads to root for later in the bracket, teams that realistically could have toppled a frontrunner or two.
And if Georgia still found itself in the championship game in the end, I doubt we would have witnessed its biggest blowout victory since the early goings of last season.
“Our democracy is under threat,” hail the pundits from left and right. It’s under attack, the Democrats say, by the bad orange man; it’s in jeopardy, Republicans say, by the Biden administration or the deep state. Democracy, nowadays, is a buzzword, a cudgel of political parties.
Democracy is a vital aspect, a main artery, that pumps the United States’ lifeblood throughout its governmental system. Indeed, it’s the case that the United States is a government based on consent. Our free and fair elections express the will of the people.
For centuries, even millennia, democracy was looked upon as an inferior form of government. The foundational text of Western political philosophy, Plato’s “Republic,” in fact, says democracies are one of the worst regimes in which to live. Democracy, Plato believed, was predisposed to devolve from the freest society into an oligarchy and finally into a tyranny. “It is plain,” he says, “that tyranny is transformed out of democracy.”
This is the case because the end goal of a democracy is to maximize the freedom of its sub -
jects. And freedom tends to make people apathetic and lackadaisical. People will become “drunk” on their freedom and will “pay no attention to the laws, written or unwritten, in order to avoid having any master at all.”
Subtly, slowly, a few select men will begin to rule as the rest turn a blind eye, according to Plato, and they will end up betraying everyone else, forcing them to serve their own personal purposes.
In an effort to save their freedom, those outside this new ruling class will turn to a single charismatic man, who promises to free them from the chains built by the ruling few.
But this man, this demagogue, is likely to betray his supporters in favor of his own interests, interests that are beneficial only to him and his small circle of counselors. And eventually, the demagogue will seize all power for himself, transforming what was once a free democracy, into a tyranny.
Our Founding Fathers knew of Plato’s concerns about democracy in the “Republic,” and some feared what democracy could do to a young, unestablished nation. Of these men, presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams knew this well.
As shown in two LSU professors’, Nancy Isenberg and Andrew Burstein’s book, “The Problem of
Democracy: The Presidents Adams Confront the Cult of Personality,” the two presidents identified three interconnected ways democracy could heighten factionalism and divide the United States.
The first was the cult of personality. The elder Adams had seen this early in his political career when he was a diplomat to the French alongside Benjamin Franklin during the Revolutionary War. Adams witnessed with annoyance how enamored seemingly all of France was with this strange colonial man, famous for his wit, scientific knowledge, quaint sense of fashion, and, inexplicably enough, a geriatric sexual allure that the ladies couldn’t seem to resist.
John Quincy recognized this potential problem during his political career too. His father lost his bid for reelection in 1800 due to what the younger Adams saw as big personalities. In this case, Alexander Hamilton, whom the Adams saw as the one mainly to blame for John’s electoral loss.
The Adams identified this cult of personality with the second danger of democracy: what Isenberg and Berstein call “manufactured partisanship,” which is “masses of committed people surrendering their capacity for critical thinking to an unwavering party orthodox.”
John and John Quincy were worried that a charismatic personality could enamor a group of voters into suspending their better judgment. One need not think hard to come up with examples from our own time of such a person.
The third problem the Adams foresaw in democracy is its tendency towards an “overindulgent popular democracy” rather than the one the Founders planned: a representative democracy.
The difference is crucial. In a representative democracy, citizens are ruled by restraint and oriented more towards the common good; it’s ruled by reason and restraint rather than emotions and vitriol; it’s aimed at national dignity over self-possession and demagoguery.
In Federalist #10, James Madison, our fourth president, agreed with the two Adams in that a representative government, a republic, was the way to avoid “factionalism.” In simple democracies, in which citizens vote themselves on all manner of policies, “A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by the majority of the whole … such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention.”
Republics are more likely to avoid such problems in that: their representatives are more likely to be qualified to run the govern-
ment, and the minority is saved from the passions of the majority through electoral processes.
Contrary to Plato, none of the Founders took democracy for granted. They knew that to advocate for democracy was, for their time, quite radical. They also respected its dangers and its potential for factional madness. For us today, this serves as several warnings.
First, it means that we should not take democracy for granted. If the Founders didn’t, we shouldn’t, either. Second, and perhaps more importantly, we should be careful even when we talk about democracy. It’s not a political tool to be appropriated by the factionalism warned against by the Founders. If we believe that freedom is the highest form and end of government and that democracy is the lifeblood of ours, we should treat its concept and practice with more respect than that.
This is contingent upon one’s opinion concerning the alleged threat of fascism, socialism, or authoritarianism.
But what I am concerned about is the apparent misunderstanding, seen through the appropriation of the term democracy, of an integral part of our governmental process.
Predatory military recruitment practices have turned a profession once viewed as a high honor into a field of gimmicks and recruiters trying to meet quotas.
The No Child Left Behind Act allowed military professionals access to high school students. This invites predatory recruitment methods into schools. Considering that teenagers are likely to make quick, impulsive decisions, preying on their innocence is unethical.
“I see two trends with people wanting to join the military. One, free school and two, a way out of a previous life,” said Kenneth Johnson, a retired Air Force aerospace jet mechanic.
Impoverished and inner-city youth have targets on their backs when it comes to the recruitment process. Many jump at the promise of free education, signing bonuses and healthcare.
Targeting the financial insecurities of minors is an easy way to get them to sign the dotted line.
Not only is this done via recruitment but also through Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs. As recently as 2017, there were over 500,000 adolescents in ROTC nationwide. Of those youth, 56% of them qualify for free or reduced lunch according to a study done by the RAND Corporation.
ROTC programs don’t market themselves as recruitment. Regardless, having children as young as 14 dress in military uniforms, present the nation’s colors, do physical training and more is a way to push youth into the mili-
tary.
The topic of military recruiters has reached social media. There are thousands of TikTok videos mocking the great lengths that recruiters go for their job. In these videos, the person behind the camera says, “[last name], why did you join the military?” The response is usually, ‘for the money, my recruiter lied to me,’ or ‘I wasn’t smart enough for college.’” This highlights both the several reasons people join, but it also shows the similar backgrounds military personnel come from.
The negative recruitment stories beg the question: Why are recruiters going to such great lengths? It could be that every branch of the military is facing a recruiting shortage, according to CNBC.
Recruiters are running into some common problems that prevent young people from en-
listing, including poor physical or mental health and mistrust of the government. The Reagan National Defense Survey reports that American trust in the military has dropped from 70% to 56% from 2018 to 2021.
To combat their reluctance, different compensation incentives have been added to enlistment contracts. But upon entering the service, the reality often doesn’t match the dreams sold. Recruiters shouldn’t make false promises to potential recruits. They especially shouldn’t target impoverished youth.
While the recruitment process is calculated, there are benefits to joining the military.
“The military helped me in a lot of ways with discipline, focusing on the task at hand and the willingness to speak up,” Johnson said. “Without the training, I would not have the depth of
knowledge in my civilian career if I had not been in the military. It’s hard to say where I would be without the military, but one thing is for certain I don’t believe I would be able to handle hard situations with the ease I do now.”
The military can offer great benefits, but that doesn’t negate the devious ways it acquires its employees. Improving recruitment methods can lead to more positive testimonies like Johnson’s.
America’s need to be the strongest military in the world shouldn’t supersede the well-being of the youth in this country.
Resolving the current issues within each branch and doing honest recruiting may bring a sense of morality back to the process.
Jemiah Clemons is an 18-year-old kinesiology freshman from Miami, Florida.
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“I think we agree, the past is over.”
George W. Bush American president 1946 — presentBenjamin Haines is a 24-yearold history graduate student from Shreveport.
SERIOUSLY KIDDING
FRANK KIDD
@FK446852315
At the start of the 118th Congress, California representative Kevin McCarthy failed to secure a majority of votes for the speaker of the house positions cast on the first ballot. All Democrats and 19 Republicans opposed him, making this the first time since the December 1923 speaker election that the first ballot did not produce a speaker. McCarthy finally received a majority on the 15th vote, delivering an important message about perseverance. McCarthy’s eventual win should be a reminder that anything is possible.
Many people struggle with maintaining a good marriage and divorce is the unfortunate fate they face. The split often leaves both parties looking to find new partners but are hesitant to remarry, given their past experiences. Recent divorcees should feel comforted knowing that if their next marriage fails, they have 13 more bites at the apple before they cross the McCarthy line.
Raising children presents similar problems. Parents know but seldom admit when their offspring are not up to par. Tra-
ditional parenting would suggest that parents love even their inadequate children, but in the age of McCarthy, that idea is being challenged. Why focus on trying to fix one child when you could just have more?
There’s no shame in defeat and learning to cut one’s losses early is important. When gamblers lose over and over again, sometimes they go to another game — this approach should be tried with children as well. Once a kid has been rejected from every social group in their school, it’s time to accept defeat. Switch from roulette to slots and hope for a better result from the 14 upcoming pregnancies.
Children of rich parents also struggle with finding something to fill their time and give their life meaning, considering that all of their needs are taken care of. Many of them opened businesses that ultimately failed because of their narrow target audience. Hopefully, the McCarthy vote gave them the courage to continue.
They shouldn’t feel discouraged that their idea to sell gator skin dog collars failed. They should push on to their idea to open a store that sells Call of Cthulhu-themed briefcases.
McCarthy’s eventual win was delayed in part by a disagreement
over the house Republicans’ approach to the national debt. Some Republicans aren’t in favor of raising the debt ceiling, which would result in a default.
The estimated cost of this default would be roughly 3 million jobs, leaving the newly unemployed desperate to make money. Naturally, some of them will try get rich quick schemes, and hopefully, they remember the message of McCarthy’s win as well. If the mega vitamin-selling pyramid scheme doesn’t work, don’t hesi-
tate to take out a loan to play the lottery.
Lastly and most importantly, Hillary Clinton should take McCarthy’s vote as an inspiration. Everyone’s favorite girl boss spent her entire life trying to be president and failing, once in hilarious fashion. Joe Biden ended up being the Democrat to take back the White House in 2020 but growing concerns regarding his mental state could open the door for another Clinton to enter the White House.
She should run for president perpetually for the rest of her life. If she loses in 2024, she should begin her next campaign that night during the concession speech. Hillary Clinton’s interminable adrenochrome-fueled presidential run is the best thing that could happen to America, and hopefully, McCarthy’s vote has inspired her to make it a reality.
Frank Kidd is a 21-year-old mass communication junior from Springfield, Virginia.
