An LSU Board of Supervisors member asked Friday whether the University could explore severing its relationship with Rouses Supermarkets over co-owner Donald Rouse Sr.’s attendance at a protest at the U.S. Capitol last week, according to The Advocate.
A photo of Rouse Sr. with a former Rouses personnel director, Steve Galtier, at the rally circulated widely last week after protesters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to derail the congressional vote certifying Joe Biden’s election as president. Rouse said last week he left the pro-Trump rally before it turned violent, and he condemned the violence.
Collis B. Temple Jr., a member of the Board of Supervisors at LSU and former basketball player at the University, said Friday that it’s time for LSU to re-explore that relationship.
“What Rouses says reflects on LSU,” Temple said. “What [Donald] Rouse posted on Facebook reflects on LSU.”
Temple brought up the issue at the meeting’s end, when he requested to deliver a personal statement that was not listed on the board’s agenda. He said that as LSU moves forward with diversity initiatives — including the board’s recent approval of an African American studies department and major — the incident involving Rouse needed to be addressed as well.
While Temple said he recognizes that Rouse had a First Amendment right to protest, he also said that actions have consequences. LSU, he said, needs to draw a line in the sand to make it clear that the University does not support “insurrection against the United States.”
“The public, which LSU serves, can view that relationship of being two entities of the same worldview,” he said. “Silence is generally consent, and we must move forward as it relates to inclusion and diversity in our social fabric.”
After Temple raised his concerns, LSU Board Chairman Robert Dampf responded that board members would “take that to heart and act accordingly.”