Faculty Senate Executive Committee holds spring elections

BY OLIVER BUTCHER @Olivia Butcher

The Faculty Senate on Tuesday held elections for the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, FSEC, which leads the Faculty Senate and negotiates with the administration.

Five positions on FSEC were up for election: president, vice president, secretary and two members-at-large.

The candidates for president, vice president and secretary all ran unopposed, securing the position by default the moment nominations concluded.

There were four candidates for the two members-at-large spots up for election, but the incumbents prevailed by a wide margin.

Here’s the breakdown of the election: President

Inessa Bazayev of the College of Music and Dramatic Arts will continue in her role as president of FSEC after running unopposed.

The election comes as Bazayev is coming off of her first year as president, in which she oversaw the Faculty Senate return to normalcy after the tumult of the previous year’s sessions where then-President Mandi Lopez of the School of Veterinary Medicine was called on to resign for failing to alert the Faculty Senate of the Board of Supervisors plan to abolish the Faculty Council, the body comprising all of LSU’s faculty.

Bazayev previously served as a member-at-large, where she openly opposed President Lopez.

“I will continue to better share governance and further strengthen faculty voices. We are always stronger together,” Bazayev said moments before her re-election was assured.

Vice President

Daniel Tirone of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences also ran unopposed and will continue serving in his role as vice president of the FSEC. Tirone was another major component of changing the previous leadership and is also finishing his first year

BAZAAR, from page 3

The bazaar’s rare and collectible section also drew considerable attention.

“There was a huge crowd of 20 dealers here picking as fast as they could,” said volunteer Luis Interiano of the first day. Interiano, who works as a reference librarian for the West Baton Rouge Library, wore a mesh pith helmet with a battery powered fan as he stood at the collectibles section, pointing out interesting titles and delving into the finer points of valuation.

Most notable among the rare books was a mint condition, multi-volume set of English writer Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley novels.

“As a librarian,” said Interiano, “I like people to use their books and read their books, but I was excited to see a set that had probably never been touched in 130 years because it was in such perfect shape.”

The volumes sold for $270, in all.

The priciest title at the book bazaar, however, was a signed copy of Jerry Tompkins’s, “DDays at Dayton: reflections on the Scopes trial”—which, at $200, hadn’t yet sold by the second day.

This year’s strangest title was likely an early edition of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”—which a historian snagged early on.

“I wasn’t sure if it would sell because some people might not want to be walking around with Hitler’s book, you know?” Interiano lifted the fan-hat from his head and wiped his brow. “Of course, we have Mein Kampf on the shelves at my library, and sometimes people say, ‘Why do you have this? It’s not a good book.’ My view, as a librarian, is that we have to teach the mistakes of the past.”

The bazaar has a way of drawing out surprising conversations. There is, after all, a wealth of source material to be found

BILL, from page 3 to Life and 10,000 Women Louisiana. among the tables.

The bill comes on the heels of a near-total abortion ban in Louisiana after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which has raised questions for lawmakers about supporting mothers.

The bill was amended to outline which pregnancy-related medical expenses could be recovered from the biological father by the biological mother.

On the last day, LSU senior Lacy Wendell managed to fill a whole box with titles—nearly every one of them in French. When she graduates in May, Wendell, who majored in the language, will be traveling abroad to work as an au pair in a French-speaking household.

“I don’t know what any of them are about,” she said, eyeing the books, “but I’ll find out once I start reading.” On one cover, a white horse ran across the title. Another glowed red in the Coliseum lights.

Arabi resident Joshua Anderson also came for the bazaar’s last day. And though by that time costs incurred for prenatal care, including hospital visits, pharmaceutical expenses and travel. Additional expenses incurred during the pregnancy, determined to be “reasonable and necessary” under a judge’s discretion, may also be eligible for reimbursement. the tens of thousands of books had dwindled to just a few, Anderson managed to fill a box too.

There was discussion about what counted as a reasonable medical expense.

“My wife and I are here because we love to read,” he said, smiling. His beard bobbled when he spoke, “It’s our first time here.”

Among the picks in his box, Anderson was most excited about a book called, “Answers to Distractions.”

“It’s co-written by an author who’s written another book we’ve read,” Anderson said, gesturing to his wife, who was searching intently at a table nearby. “It’s about ADD, and the reason I chose it is because I have ADD. Undiagnosed.” otherwise.”

Rep. Gregory A. Miller, R-Norco, asked if Lamaze classes fell under the bill. Catalanotto said those classes would ultimately be up to a judge.

Anderson scanned the rest of the titles in his box. A few history books. Two or three works of fiction. “All of the other ones seem interesting in their own ways,” he said, returning to the hunt.

At the end of the day, Half a dozen people shuffled between the last few tables in the coliseum. From the crackle of a megaphone, a volunteer alerted the hangers-on that the bazaar would be closing in twenty minutes.

Once again, the community had come back for their books, absorbed them, leaving only a handful of dusty reads, the skeletal remains of the banquet tables, and the piles of boxes in which the vast majority of the books, now gone, had been transported to the coliseum.

Over the next year, The Friends of the LSU Libraries will receive donations at their warehouse on River Road. The community will give books until it’s time for the next bazaar, where they’ll be absorbed once more, starting the cycle anew as so many cycles begin: with the spring.

For those who like to read, who enjoy the search, who want to be surprised: keep in mind the Book Bazaar. Whether you know it or not, something likely waits for you among the tables. Go and see.

The bill would accept actual medical expenses,”which include

Rachael Catalanotto, a St. Tammany Parish lawyer, said mothers could submit prenatal vitamins and other “[types] of expenses that mothers take on during the pregnancy that they would not have

Morgan Lamandre, the chief executive and president of Sexual Trauma Awareness and Response, raised concerns that the two-year period to recover the expenses was not enough.

Lamandre also argued the bill should extend to miscarriages and stillbirths because women still incur pregnancy costs in these scenarios.

ELECTIONS, from page 3

Secretary Parampreet Singh of the College of Science was the final candidate to run unopposed. He previously served as a memberat-large and was first elected after the end of Lopez’s presidency, similar to Bazayev and Tirone.

The previous secretary, Meredith Veldman from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, opted not to run and is instead taking a sabbatical.

Members-at-Large

Incumbents Kyla Kazuchyck of the College of Music and Dramatic Arts and Kevin Ringelman of the College of Agriculture faced a challenge from Scott Bal- dridge and James Madden, both from the College of Science. that would give mothers an avenue to recuperate some pregnancy-related medical expenses from the father of their child. as vice president.

Kazuchyck and Ringelman easily fended off the challengers with 28 votes each to Madden’s eight and Baldridge’s six.

Kazuchyck characterized her candidacy as one intent on working on infrastructure issues, while Ringelman, an associate professor in the School of Renewable

Natural Resources, advocated for LSU to make a greater effort to become more environmentally sustainable.

A third and final member-atlarge position will be elected in the fall, as it’s designated for incoming faculty senators only.

After the elections, the Faculty Senate proceeded with business as usual by considering amend- ments to their constitution, an endorsement for a prospective pay raise for instructors in the humanities and a presentation by IT services regarding oversight.

The meeting on Tuesday marked the final of the 2022-2023 academic year, and the Faculty Senate will likely meet again in late August.