Awards, poetry and more: Black History Month at LSU

BY EMILY BRACHER @emily_bracher_

February celebrates Black History Month, and LSU organizations such as the Black Student Union, the LSU chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Society for African and African American Studies have a month full of plans.

“February is always the time where there’s an abundance of activities,” said political science and African American studies senior Angel Puder, who serves as the president of LSU’s NAACP. “There’s always a chance for you to experience what Black LSU is like and what goes on there. I think it’s just important to see what other people are like, same as whenever it’s Asian Pacific Islander Month, Hispanic Heritage Month.”

The NAACP will be collaborating with the Society for African and African Americans and the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated for their Poetry Night on Thursday, Feb. 9, at the Hill Memorial Library.

History graduate student Justin Martin is the president of the Society for African and African American studies. He said the po - etry night they have planned will showcase local Black poets and also reveal the Wyatt Houston Day Collection.

The Wyatt Houston Day Collection is a collection of notable pieces by Black poets that were recently obtained by LSU. It will include works from the 18th century through the 21st century and pieces from the Harlem Renaissance.

“I think that students are always looking for opportunities,” Martin said. “Especially every now and then you’ll have a movie or a book that’s a big breakthrough that people are thinking, ‘How can I understand more of these different Black traditions that exist and also just get to know communities that might be kind of different than what you’ve experienced prior to being here on campus?’”

To further celebrate Black History month, the Society for African and African American Studies is also starting up its book club again for the spring. Its first meeting will be on Friday, Feb. 3.

Puder said a major part of Black History Month is the Image Awards put on by LSU’s NAACP.

The NAACP Image awards honors students for their accom- plishments and also faculty members in the African and African American studies department. The award ceremony will take place on Feb. 23.

The Image Awards has a week full of events, starting on Monday, Feb. 13, with the Image Awards Table Sit in Free Speech Plaza from noon to 2 p.m., where students can come and learn more about the awards and get a look at the nominees.

On Tuesday, Feb. 14, the NAACP will also be hosting the African and African American studies student and faculty panel with the Society for African and African American studies in the Student Union from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. where they will share information about the depart- ment.

On Wednesday, Feb. 15, there will be an Art Night for the Harlem Renaissance Award recipient where people can go and see works from the era.

The Image Awards Ceremony will be hosted at the Barnes Ogden Art Gallery with a Harlem Renaissance theme. There, they will be awarding excellence in “Black activism, art, style, culture and representation at LSU,” Martin said.

Political science and international studies sophomore Lailah Williams is on the Black Student Union Political Outreach Committee and serves as social chair for the Society for African and African American studies and the director of program and initiative for Geaux Vote.

Williams was a recipient of an Image Award last year and said that it’s going to be “a great event to celebrate Black students who have been achieving and accomplishing, as well as Black faculty members.”

The Black Voters Expo will take place in February, where the Society for African and African American Studies, Geaux Vote

SCHEDULING, from page 3 for future semesters.

“I think they definitely need to learn how to utilize the room in [Cox Auditorium] because it has a lot of seats,” Messenger said. “I think I’ve only had one class there, so I think they need to utilize that more, especially when they have a lot of enrollees.”

Other students have had a difficult time processing some of their final required classes before graduating.

Screen arts production senior Caroline Paden said the scheduling system is “horrible and annoying.”

Paden said she has very limited course options available within her degree plan and she had to take course substitutions in order to graduate on time.

“I was supposed to be waitlisted, but I didn’t feel like dealing with it, so I had to do a course sub,” Paden said. “There were some classes that I wish I could’ve taken, but I couldn’t.”

Paden described the priority scheduling as a “luck of the draw” and said the system is unorganized, hard to read and understand.

“I was a transfer student, so the system was even more confusing for me,” Paden said. “My first-time scheduling I was not prepared at all, but I’ve learned you have to have an A through D plan or else you’ll spend the semester in classes you don’t need which won’t be enjoyable down the road.”

Biological sciences senior Madison James said her original plan completely changed after her classes filled up in seconds. James said she was waitlisted for a biology course that was required for graduation before luckily getting a spot one day before the class started.

“In my opinion, it’s the class sizes,” James said. “I understand that certain classrooms are allocated to certain courses which determines the class size, however it’s extremely frustrating when you have to take a class for your degree audit, yet it only has 30 or less spots.”

James believes LSU is accepting more students than they can provide for. She noted how the university “brags” about the size of the entering class but said results have shown “negative consequences” with students already enrolled.

Though seniors have priority, it “isn’t enough,” James said.

“There truly needs to be a better system in place for scheduling because we are still fighting for our lives trying to get into classes we need to graduate,” James said. “Whether there should be an alteration to the current system, a reduction in the entering class sizes or an increase in classrooms, something needs to be done.”

ADVOCATE, from page 3 a 17-year-old were charged with third-degree rape against Brooks, according to WBRZ. Two other men, Everett Lee, 27, and Casen Carver, 18, were charged with principle to third-degree rape, the news outlet reported.

Tate said that a second evil sustained the first: alcohol.

“Our students should be able to drink responsibly, to have fun, to simply be, without being hunted by predators, and enforcing the law is paramount to their pursuit of safe, fulfilling social lives.

“But evil people exist in this world, and they know that the purposefully cultivated environment at some bars allow predators to take advantage of our young people while their guards are down,” he wrote.

“That’s not blaming victims,” Tate continued. “That’s enabling criminals. And I won’t stand for it.”

He said “Tigerlands” exist across the country and that “we must intervene.”

CULTURE, from page 3 and the Black Student Union will collaborate to educate about the importance of voting, especially for the Black community, Williams said.

She said they will explain what

“Tigerland isn’t the only problem we face, and targeting underage drinking isn’t the only solution we will offer,” he wrote. “Prevention requires us to address them all.”

A guest column from Morgan Lamandre, the president and CEO Sexual Trauma Awareness and Response, criticized the attention to alcohol in the aftermath of the rape charges.

“After the horrific rape and death of LSU student Madison Brooks, community conversations almost entirely revolved around alcohol and underage drinking,” she wrote. “LSU has seen several student deaths related to alcohol poisoning and hazing, but blaming her death on alcohol is a disingenuous deflection tactic. Had Madison been given a ride home by anyone other than rapists, she likely would have been brought somewhere safe and still be alive today.”

She said that alcohol is never the cause of rape but a way that perpetrators facilitate rape.

“LSU should be held account- their vote means in the grand scheme of today’s political landscape and what their vote can do when they go to the polling stations. Student’s rights when voting will also be discussed.

“For Geaux Vote in particular, we have a meeting every other able for contributing to rape culture in Louisiana, but our community must also move beyond conversations focused on the university,” she wrote. “When we focus solely on LSU, we are allowing ourselves to be distracted from creating the social change needed to end sexual violence in Louisiana.”

She said LSU is simply a symptom of the problem that is Louisiana, which she says is one of the worst states in the country to be a woman.

Risk-reduction methods are ineffective and victim blaming, she said, “allow[ing] perpetrators to continue to victimize as they move to another target.”

Instead, she said, Louisiana should focus on primary prevention, which includes teaching children about their bodies, boundaries, consent and pregnancy.

“I urge our legislators to take bold and swift action to address sexual violence in Louisiana,” she said. “It will take political courage, but it must be done.”

Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in Hodges, so students are welcome to come, hear our plans for the rest of the semester and get involved in what we’re doing, because we have a lot coming up to get students registered for the 2023 elections here in Louisiana,” Williams said.