Besides Tiger Stadium, the University library is just as much a staple part of the LSU community.
With about 250 buildings throughout campus, the majority of the names on the buildings are controversial, simply for bearing the name of controversial people.
The Reveille received about 100 submissions for our “Who do you think the LSU Library should be named after?” audience engagement project from people from El Salvador to Oklahoma to right in Baton Rouge.
Popular submission names ranged from Pinkie Gordon Lane, Addison Rae, Joe Burrow, Troy H. Middleton, Alton Sterling and LSU Library.
Here are The Reveille Editorial Board’s top 15 favorite responses:
Taylor Schaefer from Abbeville, LA
Édouard Glissant Library
“I took French 4003 this past semester and learned about glissant. He made many strides in educating non white people about slavery, the negritude movement, and how we are all connected. He drew parallels into the south with the West Indies and how both areas were exploited into cropping/agriculture. Also, he was a professor at LSU and in charge of the French department from 1988-1994 I believe.”
LaKesha Davidson-Vallian from Alexandria, LA
Ollie H. Burns Library
“First Black to graduate from the LSU School of Library and Information Sciences (1957)”
Dena Vial from New Orleans, LA
Cassandra Chandler Library
“She is probably the most notable female alumna. You can’t tell me such a strong, inspirational woman who broke many glass ceilings all while becoming the FBI’s highest-ranking African-American female special agent doesn’t deserve her name up there. Scholar, patriot, champion of change— who else is more deserving?”
Katherine Kelson from Alabama
Edwards-Helaire Library
“Clyde grew up in Baton Rouge and means so much to a lot of LSU students, faculty, alumni and fans.”
Emma Looney from Lake Charles, LA
Pinkie Gordon Lane Library
“Middleton was a white supremacist. By naming the library after a black woman whose legacy the school SHOULD have been lauding all along, one small measure of justice might be returned to the decades of black students forced to study in a crumbling library named after a man who didn’t acknowledge their humanity. Symbolic victories are NEVER enough, but it’s a start. Honestly, it’s insane this question is even being asked. Lane is the ONLY acceptable choice. Any other decision erases the work of the student activists who pushed for the library name change in the first place.”
Randa L. Morgan from Baton Rouge, LA
LSU Library
“I don’t think anyone’s name should be attached to the library. Just leave it as LSU Library. If we ever get a new building, name it then. People are complex and as our society progresses, we are going to always have issues with past historical figures. Just name it what it is, LSU Library and call it a day.“
Adam Wilson from Baton Rouge, LA
William Conti Library
“Bill Conti is an Academy Award-winning composer who recently donated his vast musical library to LSU, and I believe that honoring this generous LSU alumnus by naming our library after him is well in order.”
Jacob Warner from Baton Rouge, LA
Del Dugas Library
‘She was the first African-American woman to graduate from LSU”
Adam Wilson from Baton Rouge, LA
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback Memorial Library
“PBS Pinchback was a Union officer in the 1st Louisiana Native Guard, an all-black regiment crucial to the siege of Port Hudson in the American Civil War. In 1871 he became the first African-American to serve as governor of a US state (LA) and contributed significantly to the founding of Southern University. What better way to honor our history than by honoring this American hero?”
Madison Leblanc from Lafayette, LA
Toppleton Library
“It isn’t a person’s name. It is simply superior to middleton”
Chance McLane from Bossier City, LA
Alton Sterling Memorial Library
“I think in the current political and social climate it would be appropriate to pay homage to Alton Sterling. This renaming of the library will serve as a proud monument to the life of Alton Sterling, a reminder to racial injustices in the United States, and a symbol of LSU’s support to all minorities.”
Candice S., St. Martinville LA
Ernest N. “Dutch” Morial
“via the LSU Law Website: ‘In 1954, he became the first African American to receive a law degree from LSU Law.’”
Jennifer Downs, an LSU Alum
Ruby Bridges
“Louisiana education would not look the way it does today without the bravery of this six year old. We should honor what she did for our state.”
Katherine Smith from Shreveport, LA
Addison Rae
“if anyone goes to lsu because addison went to lsu I hope they’d also visit the library. at least once.”
Cole Leachman from Mandeville, LA
Britney J. Spears Library
“Because Britney Spears was born and raised in Louisiana and is the most special person on planet earth basically and deserves to have her name on LSU’s campus.”
