Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include a statement from the university on blue lights and the SHIELD app.
As the fall semester kicks off and President William Tate begins his tenure at LSU, students and activists are still concerned about the university’s previous mishandling of sexual assault cases on campus.
Student organization Tigers Against Sexual Assault is hoping to lead the conversation in the wake of law firm Husch Blackwell’s investigation into the university’s Title IX practices designed to report incidents of sexual discrimination, harassment and assault.
“The student body felt betrayed by LSU administration, and it will genuinely take years to not feel that betrayal,” TASA co-president Angelina Cantelli said. “It’s almost like we’re on our own.”
Cantelli said TASA feels the university’s efforts to make campus safer are lackluster at best.
The university once had phones that connected users directly to LSUPD. These aptly nicknamed ‘blue light phones’ – for their blue hue when they were in use – were abandoned by the university after the call boxes were frequently misused by prank callers, Cantelli said.
The SHIELD app is the university’s “free tool designed to improve the safety and security of the LSU community,” according to LSUPD’s website.
TASA feels the app is a step backward from the “immediate intervention” its predecessor provided, Cantelli said.
“The SHIELD app isn’t super effective either,” she said. “I’m not sure if many students on campus use it and feel confident in it. A big thing would be a marketing campaign for the app; how to use it, why it’s effective. If that’s LSU’s response to blue light phones, make that loud and clear and give students confidence in the app rather than just saying it exists.”
“We appreciate feedback from the LSU community on safety measures and are always working to enhance our campus safety resources when and where we can,” Media Relations Director Ernie Ballard told the Reveille. “At this point, the university is utilizing the LSU SHIELD app, which provides quick and convenient access to the LSU Police Department through whichever method of communication the user prefers, along with any other safety features.”
“In the event of an emergency, we would want the person in harm’s way to stay moving and not be stationary at a call box location, which is why we encourage all students, faculty and staff to download and utilize the SHIELD app and have it easily accessible on their phones,” Ballard went on to explain. 
TASA was founded in the spring of 2020 to educate students and prevent sexual assault but shifted its focus to advocacy after the allegations in the Husch Blackwell report came to light in the fall of 2020.
“Eventually we’ll start addressing Title IX on an academic side more openly, but will the athletics department ever address it? No,” she said. “I don’t think they’ve proven that they truly care about it.”
Architecture sophomore Lilli Bourgeois feels the issue of sexual assault will just get “swept under the rug” as it did in previous semesters.
“One of my main concerns is that no true strides will be made to make campus safer,” Bourgeois said.
Bourgeois echoed TASA leadership’s sentiment. She said she finds it upsetting that “there are football players who are complaining that they have to take courses on how not to assault women.”
“I pay to go here to be educated and safe, not to pay for a locker room and boost egos,” she said. “How is it possible that most girls know someone or have been sexually assaulted or harassed, but men don’t know a man that has harassed or assaulted a woman?”
TASA leadership worries that gestures like boldly displaying teal lights on Tiger Stadium as a symbol of solidarity during Sexual Assault Awareness Month on social media is the extent the university is willing to go when it comes to addressing issues related to sexual assault and Title IX on campus.
“First off, that’s performative. Second off, how come none of the other events going on for Sexual Assault Awareness Month were ever posted on LSU’s Instagram,” Cantelli said. “The only thing that gets promotion is the football stadium but not the TASA or Women’s Center events that are actually beneficial.”
Even with good news in the form of $4 million from the state legislature towards lighting campus, TASA and students alike are tired of waiting for real change to come through the Tate administration and feel more action is necessary to reverse the “institutional betrayal,” according to Cantelli.
Despite the organization’s concerns, Cantelli and TASA members are hopeful that the future will bring change on this front as more people engage in these issues.
“We’re frustrated with our administration but we’re optimistic about the power of the student body,” Cantelli said.
In the face of these critiques, the university has made numerous changes over the past year to improve its image regarding Title IX.
Jane Cassidy, the university’s Interim Vice President for Civil Rights & Title IX, explained that the administration is making a long term commitment to changing the campus culture alongside its students.
“We recognize that prevention education is the key to changing the culture at LSU,” she said.
A President’s Student Task Force for the Prevention of Sexual Assault and Violence was established as part of this commitment. The committee consists of student leaders from TASA, Student Government, Athletics, Greek Life and the Black Women’s Empowerment Initiative, Cassidy said. Cantelli sits on the 11-member student committee.
Cassidy said the committee is planning a student-led fall campaign including workshops and peer-to-peer conversations “designed to increase awareness of issues related to sexual misconduct as well as education on reporting and support measures.”
“We hope these will be the first steps in creating a culture of respect for all members of the LSU community,” she said.