LSU has joined a consortium of over 100 universities examining slavery and its legacy today.
The group, Universities Studying Slavery, was founded by the University of Virgina in 2016. It includes higher education institutions across the nation and in Canada, Colombia, Scotland, Ireland and England, according to its website.
“Member schools are all committed to research, acknowledgment, education, and atonement regarding institutional ties to the slave trade, to enslavement on campus or abroad, and to enduring racism in school history and practice,” the website reads.
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The collective has several purposes: to provide mentorship on educational projects related to slavery, educate students on the legacy of slavery, promote reconciliation practices by universities with histories intertwined with slavery and foster collaboration between universities.
The legacy of slavery can be found on LSU’s campus. Geography professor Andrew Sluyter found in 2021 that the Student Health Center is built atop a cemetery for enslaved plantation workers.
“Founded in antebellum times, funded in part through the sale of indigenous lands, and located on campuses built on former plantations and indigenous lands throughout Louisiana, Louisiana State University has a lengthy involvement with slavery and indigenous peoples,” an announcement welcoming LSU to the group reads.
But despite its relevance to LSU, the group said, “the university lacks a comprehensive, detailed study of that aspect of its past, the need for which recent events have made inescapable.” 
Faculty members at LSU have started working toward that study, the group notes, and joining the collective is a step closer to building that report.
Other universities in the Deep South engaged in the collaboration include Tougaloo College, the University of Mississippi, Southern University Law Center and Tulane University.