Under normal circumstances, the LSU Lakes are a hub of exercise and activity for thousands of University students.
During the brunt of Hurricane Isaac’s impact Wednesday afternoon, one freshman made them his personal playground.
Nathan Vercher perched himself atop the near-white caps in the University Lake in an inner tube around 3:20 p.m. Wednesday, even as tropical storm conditions toppled trees and flooded streets around him.
“I was just having some fun,” Vercher said. “It’s a storm, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a great time.”
The Castor, La. native may have been the only one in the water, but he wasn’t alone.
A cheering section of about two dozen people were gathered across West Lakeshore Drive at the AGR fraternity house to watch Vercher’s second foray of the day into the water.
Despite sustained winds of approximately 40 miles per hour and sheets of sideways rain howling through campus, Vercher said he wasn’t nervous.
“It really wasn’t that scary,” he said after getting out of the water. “I’m used to severe conditions outdoors anyway.”
Nicole Sergent, a petroleum engineering sophomore, was one of the onlookers and said the stunt was a necessary break from the storm’s serious business.
“It’s really not that bad yet,” she said. “It was pretty silly but funny for all of us. We have supplies, and we’re getting ready, but it was nice to take a break to come out and goof around.”
The students’ presence outside went against the University’s advisory Wednesday morning, which asked the LSU community to “shelter in place,” and remain indoors.
Vercher’s tubing time wasn’t the afternoon’s only shenanigans on West Lakeshore Drive. A group of approximately seven male students were gathered across from the Acacia fraternity house, some sans shirts.
The entire unit waved to passing vehicles as one of them pretended to be a matador while wielding an American flag in the whipping winds. 
____ Contact Chris Abshire at [email protected]