A lack of diversity at the Student Union’s Barbershop has sent the University on a search for new barbers.
Some students have expressed mixed opinions about the success of the Union Barbershop, and said it has a poor appeal to black students.
“When I asked about the Union [Barbershop], the consensus that I got was it’s not very diverse and not as personal,” said psychology junior Armand Link.
The Union Board is aware of this void in the Union Barbershop’s service and has discussed hiring a barber for minority students, according to Theodore B. Williams III, Union Board Chair Emeritus of 2011-2012.
Williams said he thinks of the Union as the “living room” of the campus and every student should feel comfortable using the Union’s services. But he also said different textures of hair require different methods of grooming.
“By hiring a barber skilled in the methods needed to groom minority students’ hair, the Union Board and the Student Union Administration will better accommodate the needs of every student,” Williams wrote in an email.
Union Director Jason Tolliver said meetings were held last year with barbers to discuss having them work in the Union, but none of those plans came to fruition.
“Most of them were established in their own places and so forth and had clienteles they liked at those places,” Tolliver said.
Hiring a new barber is a decision for Lawrence Cutrone, the barbershop’s manager, but budgeting makes hiring new barbers difficult, said Dave Besse, director of administration at the Union.
“Because of the budget situation, LSU is under sort of a hiring cap freeze and you can’t hire anybody without getting permission from the System’s office because LSU can only have a certain number of employees, and that goes down to barbers,” Besse said.
The Union Barbershop employs Cutrone and a female barber who has been absent on sick-leave for several months, Besse said. He said another female barber is temporarily filling in, but she and the barber on sick leave may leave soon.
Still, the barbershop’s clientele has always been diverse, Besse said.
“Lawrence has pretty good rapport with the African-American students who come in,” he said.
Even so, some students like Link said they had to go through obstacles to find a barber to groom their hair.
Link said he was in Middleton Library when Jamel Bowser, barber and owner of Dorm Room Kutz, LLC, was hanging up fliers for his barbershop. Link later contacted Bowser through his company’s Facebook account and arranged an appointment with him.
“What was cool about Jamel is that when you come in, he kind of talks you through his cut. He’ll ask you what you’re looking for and kind of personalize it to whatever it is that you need,” Link said.
Bowser said when one client was displeased with her haircut, he contacted her on Facebook and offered her a free haircut.
“For a while, she didn’t come, but one time she didn’t have any money and she came and I cut her hair and spent an hour and a half on her haircut to make sure it was perfect … and since that day she has been coming to me ever since,” he said.
Bowser said he plans to open a new shop in the spring semester where Tiger Cash is acceptable, and plans to serve the University community for years.
“This is a place where people can go and let go of their problems and build personal relationships,” Bowser said.
