The Reveille 2-16-23

LEAVING

LOUISIANA

Some aspiring doctors look to practice elsewhere amid near-total abortion ban.

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STRUGGLING TO STAY

Aspiring doctors hesitating to stay in Louisiana amid abortion confusion

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BY CLAIRE SULLIVAN @sulliclaire

Cécile Girard, a Lake Charles native, visited a doctor as a high school sophomore to go on birth control. The doctor was adamantly against it.

He told her she had a heart condition that meant the medication would be dangerous. No other doctor corroborated this condition, Girard said.

That experience and hearing stories of women having difficulty accessing abortions in Louisiana drove her to the pre-medicine track in hopes of becoming an OB-GYN.

Girard will begin her medical training at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans in August amid a near-total abortion ban— and with a splintered vision of her future.

“It might be, you know, less emotionally fraught to go into some other fields,” she said. “Or it makes me think that I don’t know if I would want to stay in Louisiana.”

Girard is one of the aspiring young doctors struggling to see a future in a state where treating a miscarrying patient could lead to a criminal investigation. Louisiana’s trigger law went into effect in July after Roe v. Wade was overturned, allowing abortions only when the pregnant person’s life is in danger or the pregnancy is medically futile.

But these stated exceptions have meant little practically for doctors. Physicians with questions have been turned away from the state health department and directed instead to Attorney Gen-

eral Jeff Landry, who sent letters to every doctor in the state saying he would prosecute anyone who violated the abortion law.

State Rep. Aimee Adatto Freeman, a Democrat from New Orleans who opposes the law, said the doctors she’s spoken to don’t even know what medically futile means. It’s a legal term, not a medical one, she said.

Patients have been left to pay the price of the uncertainty.

A Baton Rouge woman had to travel to New York in September to get an abortion after learning her baby would be born without a skull. Doctors in Louisiana refused to perform the procedure.

The woman, Nancy Davis, organized an abortion rights rally on the 50th anniversary of the passage of Roe v. Wade in January. She said the Louisiana law is putting women’s lives in danger.

“It’s a traumatic experience,” Davis told the Reveille at the rally. “It’s already traumatic enough to grasp that your baby has a lethal and fatal condition and that they’re non-viable outside the womb.”

Davis isn’t the only woman who has felt the consequence of the law. Another woman, Kaitlyn Joshua, was turned away from two Baton Rouge emergency rooms as she experienced heavy bleeding and pain, NPR reported. No doctor would confirm to her that she was miscarrying. She lost her baby.

For Tiffany Dang, a soon-tobe biological sciences grad from Louisiana State University, these stories have made it harder to imagine practicing medicine in the state.

Dang’s first choice for a medical specialty is psychiatry and second is OB-GYN. Like Girard, she will attend LSU Health New Orleans in the fall.

“It’s scary to think that I would have to be complicit in a healthcare system that is forcing this person to carry a pregnancy to term,” Dang said.

Dang said that if she decides to become an OB-GYN, she would leave Louisiana.

“I would definitely have to go to a state that supports women’s health to the fullest extent and in a state where I wouldn’t be jeopardized for the oath that I took whenever I entered med school,” Dang said.

State Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat who represents New Orleans, said the state’s abortion law prevents doctors from using their discretion to protect patients’ lives.

“I don’t think that lawmakers like myself or my colleagues should be trying to play doctor and inserting themselves into the process between a doctor and a patient,” he said. “And that’s what this law does.”

Lawmakers often lament Louisiana’s “brain drain,” or the exodus of young college grads from the state. Duplessis fears the abortion law only worsens that problem.

“This does not make us an attractive state for people to want to move to,” he said. “We’re already doing everything that we can to keep people in Louisiana. This is a way to, unfortunately, keep people out of Louisiana.”

A biological sciences junior at LSU, who requested anonym-

ity to avoid personal backlash, is applying to medical school in the summer. She has wanted to be a doctor since she was 14 and leans toward specializing in either physical rehabilitation or high-risk maternal patients.

But, like Girard, the state’s abortion law has shaken her plans. She isn’t sure she could stay in Louisiana if she pursues maternal health, but she’s also questioning whether she should enter that specialty at all.

“I’m trying to weigh in my head, is it worth it for me to go to OB-GYN, whenever I do have to deal with these things, these laws that come out that police what a doctor can do?” she said.

The woman said she wants to think she would do what’s right for the patient regardless of the personal legal risk. But, with doctors potentially facing more than a decade in prison, she isn’t sure.

“I mean, obviously, it’s easy to say, ‘Oh, because I care, I’ll do the right thing no matter what,’” she said. “But then also, if I’ve worked this long, and medicine has been my dream since I was 14, I don’t know if I would make that decision.”

Girard, too, finds herself struck by that dilemma. She thinks she’d take care of her patient, and she worries the ban will leave behind mostly the doctors who wouldn’t.

She struggles to decide if it’s a fight she wants to wage.

“Is it worth sacrificing so much of my own…peace of mind and daily stability and whatever just to stand up to this system that I don’t agree with?” she said.

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CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS

The Reveille holds accuracy and objectivity at the highest priority and wants to reassure its readers the reporting and content of the paper meets these standards. This space is reserved to recognize and correct any mistakes that may have been printed in The Daily Reveille. If you would like something corrected or clarified, please contact the editor at (225) 578-4811 or email editor@lsu.edu.

ABOUT THE REVEILLE

The Reveille is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University. The Reveille is an independent entity of the Office of Student Media within the Manship School of Mass Communication. A single issue of The Reveille is free from multiple sites on campus and about 25 sites off campus. To obtain additional copies, please visit the Office of Student Media in B-39 Hodges Hall or email studentmedia@ lsu.edu. The Reveille is published biweekly during the fall, spring and summer semesters, except during holidays and final exams. The Reveille is funded through LSU students’ payments of the Student Media fee.

MATTHEW PERSCHALL / The Reveille Protestors chant and carry signs on Jan. 22 during an abortion rights march to the State Capitol in Baton Rouge, La.

CHALLENGE KICKS OFF

Challenge SG ticket seeks to improve transparency and safety

BY CORBIN ROSS @CorbinRoss5

Two LSU students are leading the Challenge ticket in the upcoming Student Government election, vying to become the next study body president and vice president.

Biological sciences junior Munjed Isa and kinesiology sophomore Macye Brown announced their candidacies for student body president and vice president, respectively, in a campaign ad on Instagram released Feb. 3.

Isa said he’s a first-generation college student. He said he was born in Alexandria but spent some time in Palestine, where his parents are from. He served as an SG senator for three semesters and currently serves in the executive branch as assistant director of athletic relations.

Brown is from Belle Chasse and is a member of the Kappa Delta sorority as the outreach chair. Brown said she served on the LSU community council for Azalea Hall and served in the Freshman Leadership Council. She currently serves as college council president of the university Center for Advising and Counseling.

Isa said his campaign has received funding from various oil companies. Brown secured funding from some construction and air conditioning companies in Belle Chasse. The new SG election code caps campaign spending at $4,000.

see CAMPAIGN, page 4

Brooks suspect arrested in third case

REVEILLE STAFF REPORT

A man charged with rape in the case of LSU student Madison Brooks, who was charged shortly after with the rape of a minor, is now facing charges in a third rape case, according to arrest documents reviewed by The Advocate.

Kaivon Washington, 18, and an unnamed 17-year-old were charged with the third-degree rape of Brooks in January. Washington was charged shortly after with the first-degree rape of a 12-year-old girl in Livingston Parish in 2020, when he was 16.

Now, he’s facing charges in a third case that draws parallels with the Brooks case.

The arrest warrant drawn Tuesday alleges Washington and another man met the victim in the parking lot of Reggie’s bar in 2022, The Advocate reported. The woman asked to go to the home of the other man, Karson Jones, 18, because she was too intoxicated to drive.

The arrest warrant alleges Jones raped the woman, who was intoxicated, and that Washington “walked over and joined the act” by groping her, according to The Advocate.

Police say Washington, the unnamed minor and two other men charged with principle to third-degree rape met Brooks at Reggie’s before the alleged rape took place in a car, according to The Advocate.

Brooks’ blood-alcohol content was 0.319, about four times the legal limit for driving.

see BROOKS, page 4

Michigan State urges: ‘Run, Hide, Fight’ as gunfire erupts

BY HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH & JOEY CAPPELLETTI Associated Press

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP)

— They broke out windows to escape, barricaded doors and hid under blankets. They silenced their phones — afraid to make even the slightest sound for hours as police searched for a gunman who had already killed three students and critically wounded five others on the Michigan State University campus.

The terror felt by thousands of students — some experiencing their second mass shooting — was evident in texts to parents, posts on social media and in 911 calls.

It started around 8:30 p.m. Monday when Anthony McRae, a 43-year-old with a previous gun

violation, opened fire inside an academic building and the student union.

Alerts sent out to students urged them to “run, hide, fight,” and video showed them fleeing as police swarmed toward the chaos. The massive search that ensued ended roughly three hours later when McRae fatally shot himself in a confrontation with police miles from campus, officials said Tuesday.

McRae was neither a student nor an employee of the university. The motive is a mystery.

Jaqueline Matthews, a member of the Michigan State rowing team, remembers crouching inside her school when gunfire erupted at nearby Sandy Hook

see MICHIGAN, page 4

CRIME

CRIME

COURTESY OF MUNJED ISA

Munjed Isa, the Challenge presidential candidate, right, and Macye Brown, the vice-presidential candidate, left, pose for a photo.

AL GOLDIS / Associated Press

First responders stage outside Berkey Hall following shootings on the campus of Michigan State University, Feb. 13 in East Lansing, Mich.

Brown said the pair shares goals of improving campus in sectors of public safety, transportation and transparency.

“We met each other and instantly clicked, and we kind of got to talking about what we wanted to change about LSU’s campus and what was already in place that we could kind of alter and make better,” Brown said.

Brown said she wanted to be a voice for underclassmen at LSU. She said she wanted to show that students don’t have to wait until later in their college careers to make changes.

“I just wanted to let them know that they can achieve their goals whenever they want to, they don’t have to wait for a cer-

Elementary. Now a decade later, the 21-year-old international law major was watching chaos outside her campus window, stunned to find herself here yet again.

“The fact that this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through is incomprehensible,” she said in a TikTok video that she recorded in the early morning hours, demanding legislative action. “We can no longer allow this to happen. We can no longer be complacent.”

She wasn’t the only one experiencing her second mass shooting. Jennifer Mancini told the Detroit Free Press that her daughter also had survived the November 2021 shooting that left four students dead at Oxford High School in southeastern Michigan. Now a freshman at Michigan State, her daughter was traumatized anew.

“I can’t believe this is happening again,” said Mancini, who didn’t want her daughter’s name used.

Others across campus experienced the terror for the first time.

tain time,” Brown said.

Isa serves as the recruitment chair for his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon. He said he serves on the Interfraternity Council and is director of recruitment and registration.

“It’s really eye opening to be in so many different areas, seeing different aspects of campus life,” Isa said.

They plan to improve transparency between LSU police, Baton Rouge police, students and staff, Brown said. In the wake of the crimes that occurred last semester involving LSU students, they want to improve safety and add more cameras and lights to campus, she said.

They also want to create a blue light system, where buttons will be placed around campus

Ted Zimbo, a 26-year-old astrophysics major, said he was heading back to his residence hall after an off-campus meeting when he saw police cars everywhere and a blood-covered woman hiding behind a car. She told him that someone came into her classroom and started shooting.

“Her hands were completely covered in blood. It was on her pants and her shoes,” he told The Associated Press. “She said, ‘It’s my friend’s blood.’”

That, he said, is when it hit him: “There was a real shooting, a mass shooting.”

The woman picked up her phone and started crying, unsure of what happened to her friend.

Zimbo spent the next three hours hunkered down in his Toyota SUV, a blanket tossed over him.

In a nearby residence hall, Karah Tanski said she spent two hours “crunched under a desk, crying, thinking I was literally going to die.”

The 22-year-old resident assistant said about 40 freshmen relied on her, social media and police scanners for updates during the lockdown. From empty

that can immediately notify police, Brown said.

“We want to add another way for students to feel safe, at the click of a button, if they need help, they will get attention within seconds,” Brown said.

Parking and transportation is another issue area the team is eying. Isa said they want to institute a “No parking, no fine,” policy, meaning that if there’s sufficient evidence a student was unable to find a parking spot, they won’t be fined for parking somewhere they’re not supposed to.

Brown said they also have ideas to improve the bus system, such as making bus driver breaks scheduled so that students are aware of them in advance and can plan accordingly. She said currently the drivers are taking

bomb threats to incorrect details about the shooter, the updates were sometimes wrong and added to the “mass hysteria” of the night, Tanski said.

About a half-mile east of campus, junior Aedan Kelley hid with his roommate, locking his doors and covering windows.

“It’s all very frightening. And then I have all these people texting me wondering if I’m OK, which is overwhelming,” he said.

Ryan Kunkel, 22, said he and his classmates turned off the lights and acted like there “was a shooter right outside the door.” For more than four hours, as they waited, “nothing came out of anyone’s mouth,” he recalled.

“This is supposed to be a place where I’m coming, learning and bettering myself. And instead, students are getting hurt.”

Dominik Molotky said he was in a Cuban history class when he and the other students heard a gunshot right outside the classroom. He told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that a few seconds later the gunman entered the classroom and fired three to four more rounds while the stu-

breaks whenever they want. She also wants to make the expected arrival times of the buses more accurate.

Brown said improving the buses could improve the utility of the Park and Geaux system, where students pay $50 to park in lots off campus. They also want to add rentable electric scooters to campus, specifically in the Park and Geaux spots, she said.

Isa said he wanted to make a larger effort for SG to go out and see what the student body wants to see implemented.

“We want the students to voice their concerns,” Isa said. “We will be having weekly polls with, ‘What do you want? What events are you looking forward to? What are you most concerned

dents took cover.

“After that we broke out the window, and I climbed out of there. And then I booked it back to my apartment,” he said.

Claire Papoulias, a sophomore, told NBC’s “Today” show she was listening to a history lecture when she heard gunshots and dropped to the floor.

“At that moment,” she said, “I thought that I was going to die, I was so scared.”

She said she quietly called her mom while classmates opened a window and helped people to jump to safety. Once outside, she grabbed her backpack and phone.

“And I remember,” she said, “I just ran for my life.”

Sophomores Jake Doohan and Nicole Stark were walking off campus when they heard about the shooting and took shelter, barricading a door with a dresser.

With the blinds closed so “not a speck of light could get out,” Stark said she felt like they were watching the news, as though “it’s not actually happening to us.”

with? What do you want to see happen in the near future?’”

Isa said implementing public forums into SG’s operations is important to making sure they remain in touch with the interests of students. He said despite SG meetings being open to the public, he’s never seen many people from the public there. He said there needs to be more advertising for students to go to the meetings.

Brown said SG has been out of touch with the student body and hasn’t been properly serving as a liaison between students and staff.

SG elections will be held March 30-31.

The Reveille will be profiling all Student Government tickets ahead of the election.

The senselessness of it left Doohan stunned.

“It’s sad to think,” he said, “that things like this will happen just out of the blue to anybody or anywhere.”

John and Rona Szydzik, who both graduated from Michigan State University, left flowers on the campus Tuesday after spending the previous night hiding as ambulances wailed past their home.

As a high school teacher, Rona Szydzik has drilled for years to “run, hide, fight.” But she added: “To actually be in it, that’s very shocking.” For her husband, the flowers were a way to let the victims’ families know they cared, that they were praying.

“It really was tough,” he said, becoming emotional as he spoke.

Hollingsworth reported from Kansas City, Missouri. Associated Press writers Rick Callahan in Indianapolis; Ed White and Corey Williams in Detroit; Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Missouri; Trisha Ahmed in St. Paul, Minnesota; and Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.

CAMPAIGN, from page 3

MATTHEW DAE SMITH / Associated Press

First responders are on the scene at Michigan State University following shootings on campus in East Lansing, Mich., Feb. 13.

AL GOLDIS / Associated Press

People are seen inside the Broad Art Museum near Berkey Hall on the campus of Michigan State University as they shelter in place, late Feb. 13 in East Lansing, Mich.

MICHIGAN, from page 3

ENTERTAINMENT THIS WEEK IN BR

BY MADELON DAVIS @madelondavis

FEB.

THURSDAY AT 6 16th

Want

Mardi Gras Celebration

French House

The Honors College is hosting a Mardi Gras event. This will be open to all students, and it will have food, dancing and music. This event is located at the French House, LSU’s Honors College on Highland Road, in the Sternberg Salon. The event will be from 6 to 8 p.m.

FEB.

Spanish Town Parade Spanish Town Road

This is a parade that everyone in Baton Rouge looks forward to all year round. If you’re an LSU student who has never experienced Mardi Gras before, this is a great parade to go to. This parade will start on Spanish Town Road and end on River Road. The parade starts at noon.

Rev Rank: Can Paramore’s new album pick up where it left off?

BY JAYDEN NGUYEN @jaydennguyen_

Paramore is back after a fiveyear hiatus with its sixth studio album “This Is Why.”

This album is a major departure from the band’s bright, poppy 2017 album “After Laughter.” Although the title track, “This Is Why,” opens the album with a sound reminiscent to the electronic pop style of the previous album, the rest of the album takes on a darker, more dismal tone.

In Paramore’s post before the album’s release, the group described “This Is Why” as the perfect album for anyone who experienced emotions like “complete and utter apathy” or “disassociation” during the band’s five-year break.

The album’s second track, “The News,” encapsulates this apathy.

“Rhetorical, deplorable (Turn off) / Historical, and all along, we called it normal,” sings lead vocalist Hayley Williams.

The track’s grungy instrumentals combined with Williams’ vocals feel like a callback to the band’s early sound. Track four, “C’est Comme Ça,” is also sure to provide nostalgia for those familiar with Paramore’s early discography – or anyone who heard “Misery Business” on TikTok.

“Big Man, Little Dignity” marks a shift in the album’s tone. The song opens slow and soft, then transitions into the band’s more traditional guitar-focused instrumentals.

Williams calls out men that face zero repercussions for their actions and shares her frustration in the song’s sharp, biting lyrics. Its lyricism contrasts the softer, more airy instrumentals and vocals of the song, making it a standout on the album.

The following song, “You First,” combines the aggression of the first four tracks with the softness the band expresses on “Big Man, Little Dignity.” Williams opens the track with her usual power vocals and aggression, then moves into a lighter and slower tone in each pre-chorus.

This exchange between a

highly energetic sound and a slower, calmer sound forms a kind of pattern throughout the song, weaving in and out until the last second.

Paramore returns to opening with an electronic sound for the album’s seventh track, ironically titled “Figure 8.”

This doesn’t last long – the band layers the initial electronic thrum with an intense and chaotic clash of drums and various types of guitar sounds. This is yet another song that feels very “old Paramore,” while still including electronic pop elements.

“Liar” is the song that stands apart from the rest of the album. Williams sings about her relationship with fellow band member Taylor York, and she takes on a gentler vocal tone in this song to express her feelings about lying to him and herself about her love for him.

Instrumentally, the band slows down completely for this ballad. It puts a pause to the intensity of the rest of the album, then picks back up again in the following track, “Crave.”

While “Crave” is not as “in your

face” as the previous songs on the album, Williams’ strong vocals on the chorus express yearning and nostalgia in her own passionate vocal style.

The final track, “Thick Skull,” is also a slower song. Paramore takes on a darker tone in this track, both in the sound and its lyrics.

“I am a magnet for broken pieces,” Williams sings in the opening of the song. “I am attracted to broken people.”

The song feels like a reflection of the band’s experience over the past 20 years. “This Is Why” is Paramore’s last album with its label, Atlantic Records, and this ending track feels like a bittersweet farewell to the band’s highs and lows throughout its career.

Overall, this album captures exactly what it feels like to live in today’s chaos – from wanting to just stay inside the house to feeling bad about your every emotion to being physically unable to look at or look away from the news.

As a longtime Paramore listener, the bits of nostalgia and combination of its pop and pop punk sound made it one of the

band’s strongest projects to date. From start to end, each track felt consistent and flowed well into each other.

It could’ve been slightly longer, especially after a five year wait, but ultimately, this is an album I’ll definitely have on repeat.

If you were looking for the soundtrack for being a modernday young adult, this is it.

Favorite songs: “Big Man, Little Dignity,” “You First,” “Figure 8,” “Liar,” “Crave” Least favorite: “Running Out Of Time”

COURTESY OF LSU REVEILLE

COURTESY OF HISTORY.COM

COURTESY OF PARAMORE.NET

LOUISIANA

SHOE UNIVERSITY

PhotosbyReaganCotten

LSU students show off their shoe style all around campus.

LSU psychology freshman Marianna Mickey’s shoes display LSU’s colors on Feb. 10, in front of Laville Hall.

LSU nursing freshman Deja Washington’s wears her shoes on Feb. 13 inside Laville Hall.

LSU mass communication freshman Abigail Nolan sits on Feb. 13 in the 459 Dining Hall.

LSU kinesiology freshman Donnelle Roberts sits on Feb. 13 inside Cypress Hall.

LSU political science freshman Brendan Moody points his foot on Feb. 9 in Laville Hall.

LSU coastal & environmental science freshman Carson Wall smiles on Feb. 10 in front of Laville Hall.

LSU history junior Jay Tuger sits on Feb. 10 in the LSU Library.

LSU psychology freshman Taylor Hebert sits on Feb. 9 in Laville Hall.

LSU interior design junior Isabel Clague looks at her phone on Feb. 9 near Julian T. White Hall.

LSU political science freshman Breanna Sebring smiles on Feb. 9 in the Quad.

Help Wanted

UNLEASHED

The impact junior college baseball has on Division I prospects

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Men’s hoops falls against Georgia

BY HENRY HUBER @HenryHuber_

LSU had its best chance at ending its losing streak so far on Tuesday, stealing the lead from Georgia with just 11 seconds left in the game. But when it needed to make just one more stop to do so, the Bulldogs responded with a layup and Tyrell Ward’s lastsecond heave fell short.

In terms of postseason status, it wouldn’t have meant much if the Tigers had won this one. They have long since exhausted their chances at an NCAA Tournament bid (minus an improbable SEC tournament run) and a National Invitation Tournament bid was unlikely as well.

However, in terms of providing the team with momentum heading into next season and giving the fans something to be excited about, this was a heavy blow. Over the past five games, LSU has shown signs of promise and obtained small, moral victories that have indicated the team’s making improvements behind the scenes. But at the end of the day, its losing streak remains.

BY MACKAY SUIRE @macthetiger

For most young baseball players, the dream of one day playing for a Division I program is all-consuming.

They’ve probably thought about it since they were kids, daydreaming about the moment they’d finally see their name on a roster. They can so clearly picture themselves walking up to the plate at a huge college stadium, representing a team they

desperately wanted to play for.

Athletes work tirelessly for years, praying that a recruiter will be at a big game or that their successes will be so huge that a college coach will hear their name. They pray that they will be the one that makes it.

But many don’t.

For some, this means that their dream is over. For others, however, the dream is just beginning. Junior college programs become the next best option, and for a select few, choosing

to begin their college baseball career at a two-year program is the best decision that they can make.

With the recent rise and continued development of the transfer portal within the last few years, it has become extremely evident that these two-year programs are rich in development, turning athletes from ‘not good enoughs’ to star players on the NCAA team that they later choose to play for. However, these programs are still looked

down upon, despite its ever growing potential to develop phenomenal athletes.

Simply put, those bigger programs have the funds. Power Five schools, which include those in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and the Southeastern Conference, are just given more opportunity to pour resources into their program and aid its success. Though money doesn’t necessarily make

see UNLEASHED, page 10

It may have been as close as it’s been to ending it, but it’s still hard to overlook the mistakes the team made. The Tigers committed 19 turnovers on the day, which was a huge reason why they couldn’t get the job done.

Three of those 19 turnovers came in the final two minutes of the first half, a stretch they entered with a seven-point lead and left with a two-point lead heading into halftime. So instead of

see HEARTBREAK, page 10

LSU baseball: Previewing the Western Michigan series

BY COLE HERNANDEZ @Ct_hernandez

The 2023 opening weekend begins this Friday at Alex Box Stadium with a three-game series against Western Michigan and undoubtedly will be an unusual one.

This will be the first meeting between LSU and Western Michigan’s baseball programs in their respective histories. On top of that anomaly, the SEC has announced changes to multiple rules specifically for SEC conference games attempting to speed up the game.

Coming into the season as the No. 1 team in every preseason

poll, LSU is the clear favorite to win and most would be surprised if they didn’t sweep the series. However, Western Michigan has valuable experience in the bullpen and returned most of it’s solid hitters from last season.

LSU is expected to start with its new ace Paul Skenes on the mound and test him out as one of their Friday night starters. Western Michigan will likely start its top returning arm from last season on Friday night, senior lefthanded pitcher Dane Armbrustmacher. Armbrustmacher started 14 games for the Broncos last season and threw 65.1 innings while striking out over 24% of the bat-

ters he faced.

Western Michigan also had its top three hitters from last season return. The top prospect on the team is first baseman Cade Sullivan, the best returning hitter by average is third baseman Gavin Doyle, and outfielder Dylan Nevar led the team in home runs as a redshirt freshman with 11.

There is reason for intrigue in this matchup. Everyone will be looking to see just how good the 2023 Tigers are and whether they will live up to the hype. If it turns out to be a lopsided sweep, it could be the start of a record book season for the Tigers. If LSU struggles or Western Michigan

steals a game on the road, the doubters will be screaming from the top of floats in New Orleans on Tuesday.

Either way, this will be the first test for the 2023 Tigers. The outcome could add fuel to their fire or be a huge wakeup call.

Although the new SEC rules will not be enforced this weekend because Western Michigan is not in the SEC, they will be enforced when LSU travels to BryanCollege Station to take on Texas A&M on March 17.

The new rules are as follows:

• Hitters have 30 seconds from the conclusion of the previous hitter’s play to start their at-

bat

• Coaches have 30 seconds to visit the pitcher when they exit the dugout

• Position players visiting the pitcher have 30 seconds from when they leave their field spot

• Relief pitchers have 2 minutes and 30 seconds to enter the game and complete their warmup

• Mandate conference games end after seven innings if one team is ahead by 10 or more runs. These changes to the rules are an effort to increase the amount of action fans see, shorten the length of games and increase the rate at which pitches are thrown, according to the SEC.

BASEBALL

FRANCIS DINH / The Reveille

LSU baseball redshirt sophomore outfielder/ first baseman Brayden Jobert swings at the ball April 23 during LSU’s 8-6 win over Missouri at Alex Box Stadium.

UNLEASHED, from page 9

all the magic happen, it still plays a huge role in the quality of that program.

“I’d say the biggest difference from a JUCO and a Power Five school is the access to money,” said University of New Orleans’ head baseball coach Blake Dean. “You have way more funding and access to helpers, student managers, etc. More times than not, the talent level across the board is a bit better at a Division I school as well.”

This isn’t to say, however, that raw talent isn’t hiding within the walls of these programs. Many athletes are just in need of more playtime, which is what Power Five schools aren’t always willing to give.

Take LSU’s Brayden Jobert, for example. Before beginning his career at LSU, Jobert spent a year at Delgado Community College, where he earned JUCO All-American honors. He grew into himself at Delgado Commu-

HEARTBREAK, from page 9 starting the second half with an adequate cushion, it began with the score all-but knotted up.

Still, despite giving up its lead and eventually trailing by as much as eight points in the second half, LSU entered the final

nity College and is now a crucial factor in the production of runs for the Tigers. In 2022, Jobert finished at No. 9 in the SEC for homeruns, with 18 total on the season.

“Coach Scheuermann at Delgado, he’s unbelievable,” Jobert explained. “The way he runs his program is very professional, and it’s very traditional. He really made me look at baseball in a different way, from the standpoint of you know, you just got to go out there and handle your business and everything else will come. But yeah, I’m very thankful for my time at Delgado.”

Junior colleges are run similarly to any other college baseball program, just on a stripped down level. Those programs don’t have the nicest equipment, the most help or even the best field to play on, but they do have the most opportunity for development. Athletes that were never given the chance to shine on a bigger stage now have nothing to hide behind, and nothing to

stretch of the game with a realistic chance to win. A 16-5 run helped by good shooting, strong defense and three missed free throws from the Bulldogs gave the Tigers a 63-62 lead with 11 seconds remaining in the game.

But almost as soon as the game turned in its favor, LSU’s

lose. That bare minimum given to junior colleges has created an atmosphere that oozes grit.

Anthony Herron, who currently plays for the University of New Orleans, actually started his college career at Missouri State University. When the pandemic hit the country in full force, he decided to transfer to John A. Logan College in Carterville, Illinois.

“After Covid came about, I had the opportunity to go somewhere and rediscover myself and get back to what got me success from the beginning,” Herron said.

Rediscovering is exactly what he was able to do. Herron credits his time in Carterville as the reason for his success at UNO. The people he was surrounded by specifically had an impact on his personal development.

“The John. A Logan/Carterville community will forever be a place I remember, just because the people there were all grinders, and about progress across

hopes at ending its losing streak swiftly came to an end. Georgia guard Justin Hill drove right into the teeth of the Tiger defense and converted a tough, contested layup over KJ Williams, which ultimately became the game-winning shot for the Bulldogs. Williams still bounced back

the whole campus. I would say it was a factory,” Herron said.

That grind is indisputable, and it’s a desirable quality for baseball coaches to see in their players.

“Those guys, at some point, were told that they weren’t good enough to be at this level, to start, and so sometimes that fuels motivation, desire, competitiveness, to really get after it, and to really work. That’s a valuable quality in a person that you have.” LSU head coach Johnson said.

“Those are very humble beginnings. They don’t have all of this. It’s not what their life looks like. So I think there’s some humility that comes along with being at that level, and a work ethic. I mean, at a place like this [LSU], you’re gonna be able to attract talent, but it’s some of those other characteristics, when you talk about building a team, and building a program, that are really positive. So, there is an element of that that I really like re -

from a quiet, five-point performance against Texas A&M on Saturday, tallying 18 points on 54% shooting and nine rebounds on the day. Shawn Phillips, Jalen Reed and Justice Hill combined for 22 rebounds off the bench, as LSU came a rebound short from winning the battle on the boards

cruiting here.”

Despite the stigma surrounding the word “JUCO,” this experience could be exactly what an athlete needs on their journey to becoming a college baseball powerhouse. Because of these programs, athletes are finally able to prove that they were good enough after all. They’re allowed the opportunity to prove themselves, but humbled enough to know that there is always work to be done.

“I’m forever grateful for my coaches giving me that freedom and platform to showcase myself without the burden of making drastic changes,” Herron said of his time at John A. Logan College. “Some of my best in-game experiences and growth happened in junior college.”

This rings true for many college athletes. Their experience in a JUCO is just what they needed to become the baseball player they always knew they could be. They just may have needed that extra push.

by double digits. Its next chance to end its losing streak will be its best chance yet, as it faces off against South Carolina (9-17, 2-11 SEC) on Saturday at noon The Tigers now have five more chances to pick up a win before their regular season comes to an end.

Baton Rouge, nation at large lack empathy for the homeless

JEMIAH’S

JUSTIFICATIONS

JEMIAH CLEMONS @Miclemah

Signs discouraging panhandling have become a common sight in Baton Rouge and other parts of Louisiana. While there’s a safety aspect to this, the signs are inherently discriminatory and wrong.

By taking five minutes to really think about the words on the sign, anyone can see the moral errors behind it. Discouraging interactions with homeless people pushes the stigma that they’re dangerous or looking to cause harm.

The notion of only donating to homeless shelters is problematic. When people hear the word shelter, they assume the absolute worst. Shelters are often synonymous with drugs, violence and corruption, but this isn’t true for all of them. This again pushes another stigma on homeless people. The harsh re -

alities of shelters are even more alarming.

Solely donating to shelters is also quite ineffective. When encountering someone on the street, you’re not going to roll down the window and say, “Hey, I can’t give you anything, but I’ll donate to the shelter instead.” That may be helpful to people in shelters, but it doesn’t directly help the person on the street.

These signs are used to prevent confrontations between the homeless and motorists and to decrease the homeless population. It’s important to understand Baton Rouge’s homelessness reduction efforts in the context of other cities.

On an extreme scale, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez proposed moving the homeless population from the city to a small man-made island in July 2022. Moving people to an island with no chance of socioeconomic advancement is literally insane.

This idea is now on hold, according to a WSVN 7News, but

its unethical nature remains.

In the middle of the spectrum is Houston, Texas. The city did this by implementing what it called the housing first method. This idea was introduced in the ‘90s, according to Kronkite News. It required the recipients to fix their problems before receiving permanent housing. Houston city officials flipped this and provided people with permanent housing first and then gave people the opportunity to fix their problems. As a result, the city’s homeless population has decreased by 63% from 2011-2022, according to the New York Times.

In relation to Louisiana, the Baton Rouge Metro Council passed an ordinance that prohibits camping in a public area in August of 2022 according to The Advocate. Doing this will result in a $250 fine. How Baton Rouge officials expect homeless people to pay a fine is beyond me. It seems that Baton Rouge could learn a thing or two from Houston officials.

All of this chaos stems from the dehumanization of homeless people. The societal lack of empathy and perspective bleeds into legislation and causes serious harm. As a result, homeless

people are living in shackles of isolation.

Jemiah Clemons is an 19-yearold Kinesiology major from Miami, Florida.

Remote work and schooling options should become the norm

SERIOUSLY KIDDING

FRANK KIDD @FK446852315

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered the operations of workplaces and universities. The virus made working and learning remotely a necessary alternative. This period of remote work and education resulted in some improvements that should not be forgotten amidst the push for a return to normalcy.

Workers and students have more flexibility when they stay home. This makes balancing various obligations easier.

Remote operations reduce costs for students and workers by eliminating commuting expenses. Costs are also reduced for employers who’ve saved money on business travel. Eliminating commutes also reduces the negative impact that the most popular modes of transportation have on the environment. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions fell 4.6% in 2020 according to the International Monetary Fund, partially due to a decrease in transportation.

Advocates for a return to in-

EDITORIAL BOARD

Josh Archote Editor-in-Chief

Managing Editor Hannah Michel Hanks

Claire Sullivan News Editor Brandon Poulter Opinion Editor

person classes have already gotten their way, as nearly all university classes are in person. They made a point of the decrease in student performance; however, the degree of that discrepancy is difficult to measure, especially when only considering college students and excluding K-12 numbers. If the extent of the difference is minimal, it would be fairer for universities to offer more online or hybrid options for students who feel that they are capable of learning that way.

Promoters of a return to work, namely bosses, claim that a decrease in productivity is the reason. However, there is no solid evidence to support a marked change following the widespread implementation of telework. Given that no definitive conclusion has been reached, employees should be given the option to work remotely.

Another reason cited as a benefit of in-person work and learning is the social aspect. Deriders of remote operations point to the fact that humans are social creatures that benefit from the interactions that work and school provide.

This is true to an extent; however, it bears mentioning that the interactions in this sense are forced. Typically time spent work-

ing around a group of work or school colleagues isn’t as fulfilling as time spent around close friends. With the time saved from remote operations, people would have more time to spend with their friends. They could join clubs or community groups which has a built-in common interest that isn’t guaranteed when randomly meeting someone in an office or school. The motivations of some behind the push to return to in-

person are questionable. Many of the proponents of a return to work have something to gain financially or are being influenced by those that do. For instance, an article published by Jason Hughes the CEO of commercial real estate company Hughes Marino on the negatives of working from home. His business’ ability to profit was a reason noticeably missing from the list. His article on this issue is just as valuable as an article from Exx-

on about the downsides of saving the environment or an article from Xbox on the perils of exercise. The increase in the ability to work and learn remotely was a silver lining of the pandemic. The push to eliminate those options is an infringement on personal autonomy and should be rebuffed.

Editorial Policies and Procedures Quote of the Week

Deputy News Editor Gabby Jimenez

The Reveille (USPS 145-800) is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University. The Reveille is an independent entity of the Office of Student Media within the Manship School of Mass Communication. Signed opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, The Reveille or the university. Letters submitted for publication should be sent via e-mail to editor@lsu.edu or delivered to B-39 Hodges Hall. They must be 400 words or less. Letters must provide a contact phone number for verification purposes, which will not be printed. The Reveille reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for space consideration while preserving the original intent. The Reveille also reserves the right to reject any letter without notification of the author. Writers must include their full names and phone numbers. The Reveille’s editor in chief, hired every semester by the LSU Student Media Board, has final authority on all editorial decisions.

Physicist

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world.”

Albert Einstein

Frank Kidd is a 21-year-old mass communication major from Springfield, Virginia.

REAGAN COTTEN / The Reveille The sign sits in the intersection on Nov. 18 on College Drive in Baton Rouge, La.

GRAPHIC BY BLAINE SWANZY / The Reveille

In the Governor’s race, Republicans in charge, Democrats in disarray

HEADLINE NAVIGATOR BRANDON POULTER @brandopinione

The Louisiana Governor’s race is starting to heat up, and while there has been much attention on the Republican side of the aisle, with Attorney General Jeff Landry’s early announcement, it’s a bit too early to make any calls.

Not only has Landry already announced, but no one on the Democratic side has announced who has any serious firepower. It remains to be seen if anyone can take the helm and lead the way for the Democrats in this deeply red state.

Democrats have pushed transportation secretary Shawn Wilson to run for governor, according to reporting from WAFB, and with him now resigning from his current position, according to Gov. John Bel Edwards, it looks like he has fallen for the peer pressure. It remains to be seen if he will enter the race.

On the Democrat side, there is Daniel Cole, a minister and teacher from Alexandria, according to the Louisiana Radio Network.

For Republicans, this may seem like an absolute slam dunk. After all, Louisiana voted for Trump by

a margin of nearly 20 percentage points in 2016 and 2020, according to NBC news. There’s no doubt about it, Louisiana is a Trump state.

This leads to some strange dynamics. Whereas in many states, Trump’s antics tend to offend independents and moderate Democrats, in Louisiana, they are welcomed by this heavily Republican state. With such a large blue-collar population, many of whom were disaffected by the lack of profits from the energy sector over the past decade, according to nonprofit Environmental Working Group, this state is a firm set up for a bombastic nationalist Republican like Landry.

For a state so deeply Republican, culture war issues such as what books are in libraries, as Landry has been pursuing, according to WBRZ, are more likely than not to be a winning issue.

However, as the history of Louisiana’s governors indicates, how we vote in the national election doesn’t dictate how we vote in the governor’s race. The last time we voted over 50% for a democratic prospect in the national election was the 1996 election cycle, according to 270towin.com. Meanwhile, between then and now, we’ve had four governors, two Democrats and two Republicans.

Noticeably, our current gover-

nor, John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, is pro-life, and signed Louisiana’s 2022 bill banning abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest, according to NBC news.

This very factor throws a wrench into any Democrats’ platform moving forward since, according to polling data from the New York Times, 59% of Louisianans believe that abortion should be illegal in most cases.

For Democrats, the case looks bleak. Supporting any of the hardline anti-gun, anti-abortion or “woke” mantras of the national Democratic party is a losing strategy. The only way for a Democrat to win in this scenario is to lean on the old-school version of a southern Democrat, supporting bluecollar workers and the classically liberal version of freedom, not the authoritarian stance that the national Democratic party has taken.

For Republicans, the case looks fairly good, but it’s much too soon to guess. Landry seems like the obvious bet, particularly with both of our U.S. Senators dropping out of the race. However, there is a dark horse candidate in the mix that seems to be one to look out for: Republican state Sen. Sharon Hewitt, from Slidell, a former engineer and Shell executive, according to her website.

Despite the assumptions that

since Louisiana is a deeply red state and therefore sexist due to all the nasty Republicans, we have elected a woman before, and a Democrat at that, so that theory seems moot.

Hewitt seems to be the only character with any notable characteristics about her to differentiate herself amongst the crowd of Republicans. Being a woman, she checks the identity politics box

that many Democrats look for. She checks the blue-collar box with her Shell experience, and she’s a bonafide politician with years and years of experience within Louisiana’s system. Of all the characters to watch, Hewitt seems like the best dark horse.

Brandon Poulter is a 27-year-old political science and psychology major from Baton Rouge.

MEG KINNARD / Associated Press

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry gives remarks ahead of a keynote address from former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan’s Faith & Freedom BBQ fundraiser on Aug. 22 in Anderson, S.C.