LSU has removed a series called “Racism: Dismantling the System” from its website and YouTube.
The Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs, housed in the Manship School of Mass Communication, produced 20 episodes in the series from the fall of 2020 to the spring of 2023. They covered a variety of topics, such as racial health disparities, educational inequities, Black journalists and racism against Asian Americans.
Descriptions of the episodes are available in an archive, though the videos once on the website are not viewable.
The YouTube playlist hosting the episodes displayed a message Friday saying “20 unavailable videos are hidden,” suggesting the videos were made private. A timestamp indicates the playlist was last updated on Sept. 20, 2023.
Todd Woodward, LSU’s vice president of marketing and communications, said in an email to the Reveille Friday he was tracking down an answer as to why the series had been removed. “I know that colleges, departments etc. often purge old information,” he said.
The director of the Reilly Center did not immediately respond to an email sent Friday afternoon.
LSU has also removed its diversity statement from its website. Asked about the statement, Woodward said it “was from a past administration and had not been updated for many years.”
He pointed to a new statement on the website for the Division of Engagement, Civil Rights and Title IX — which dropped the word “inclusion” from its name for “engagement,” LSU President William F. Tate IV said in a campus email Friday.
This statement says the university “strive[s] to provide equal opportunities for students, faculty, and staff.” It doesn’t use the words “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” which were in the previous statement and have generally drawn criticism from conservative lawmakers in Louisiana and beyond.
A oak tree branch frames the view of the Journalism Building Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022, on Field House Drive.
