As we admire the stately oaks and broad magnolias that populate the University’s campus, it’s easy to ignore the history that’s shrouded amid the well-regarded landmarks. LSU is known for a handful of distinct hotspots, with Tiger Stadium, Mike the Tiger’s habitat and the 5,000-year-old Indian Mounds marking some of the more distinguished relics.
These University landmarks are fairly typical, though. They constantly appear among shortlists enumerating LSU’s most illustrious offerings, and the throng of visitors who traverse campus each year lend awestruck eyes to their enchantment.
What these monuments alone don’t offer, however, is insight into the rich place each one has in the University’s overarching social history.
This issue of The Daily Reveille attempts to delve into that history. Our goal is to shed light on the often forgotten social impacts various campus movements and facilities have provided. Amid these vintage-style pages, you will find answers to what our campus looked and felt like throughout the days of yore.
How does Tigerland compare now to its setup in the counterculture-heavy 1960s? What really happened during the famous debacle that found Mike the Tiger strolling through campus? How have gender inequality, civil rights and fashion revolutions impacted campus culture?
These questions and more are answered within these pages, but they’re all explored with one particular value augmented above any other: what life at LSU was like for the students who endured these happenings.
Throughout the process of answering this question for today’s retrospective edition, reporters constantly wondered how students of today would handle similar instances, thus providing a clear portrait of this issue’s ultimate intent.
As students ourselves, The Daily Reveille’s editors constantly strive to focus the paper’s content on issues that impact students. Every day we ask ourselves what students are buzzing about the most. Here, we’re able to explore how students of yesteryear were impacted by the topics that Reveille editors of long ago would have dissected.
As you peruse today’s Reveille, ask yourself these critical questions.
 
What would students do today if Mike the Tiger escaped his habitat? Are there still contentious gender or race relations permeating the modern-day college campus? Is Louie’s still the best late-night eatery?
If today’s Reveille is viewed as a sociological portrait of rapidly changing trends and world views, I think you’ll find answers are more readily accessible than expected. For anything left unanswered, we encourage students to open their eyes to the rich societal history that surrounds us. You’ll probably learn more than you imagined. In the meantime, enjoy what The Reveille has done to answer such questions.
 
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Contact Matthew Jacobs at [email protected]