After more than six months of waiting, East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Melvin “Kip” Holden fulfilled his promise to Student Government when he met with President Clay Tufts to organize plans and form a future relationship between the two offices.
In his January State of the City address, Holden promoted an initiative to have regular meetings with student government presidents from various universities to learn the viewpoints of young leaders. This initiative, which had seemingly been ignored, became a reality in late May.
Tufts said he realized it was going to take effort from both offices to get a formal meeting in place and decided at the end of May to reach out further through SG State Capitol Adviser Brad Guin.
“The mayor was very cordial with setting up a time for he and I to meet,” Tufts said. “And from what we discussed, I feel that this is going to be a successful venture between the students and the city.”
The meeting between Holden and Tufts addressed several important issues regarding public safety in critical areas such as Tigerland and college apartments, campus development projects focusing on lighting, and a project to better connect Baton Rouge to the campus.
Tufts expressed concern for the safety of students in the Tigerland area, focusing on the increasing number of robberies.
The mayor agreed and proposed the addition of police units patrolling in the area.
Tufts said he and the mayor also discussed the addition of more standard lighting on and around campus to produce a safer environment and a more uniformed look.
“If you look at other campuses, most have the same design, look and type of lighting systems standard across their campus,” Tufts said, “One thing that the mayor and I discussed is the transition to LED standard lighting systems stretching a few miles off of campus.”
Holden and Tufts agree the standard lighting of campus will create a more inviting atmosphere to the campus and signal to visitors from the interstate that they are approaching the University.
Tufts said the proposed light fixtures would be especially beneficial to the dark areas created by the oak trees and behind the UREC and Sorority Row, which is where a large portion of robberies on campus occur.
In the meeting, Holden also brought up the “Sister City Project.” The project is focused on creating a closer relationship between the Baton Rouge and the University.
Holden believes a closer relationship among University departments and the city could reap multiple benefits.
Tufts said the project is still in the preliminary stages, but he and the mayor agree the project would encourage young job seekers to remain in Baton Rouge through a closer connection downtown and would be a way to showcase the school for recruitment purposes.
The details of the sister city project and advancement of other programs are set to be confronted further when Holden and Tufts meet at the end of July.