After Saturday’s runoff election, Louisiana now has a host of new public officials in office tasked with making important decisions around the state. With the last few months being about nothing but politics, campus leaders have continued to change student life.
Student Government has been busy passing resolutions and legislation that range from campus safety and sexual assault to voting and University policy.
The semester started off with student body president Clay Tufts and LSU Athletics making changes to the student gate at football games. The changes eliminated the bottleneck effect and Tufts told The Daily Reveille in August he had received positive feedback from students.
“They’ve been running really well,” Tufts said. “We haven’t had a major issue.”
The first few weeks of school were busy for SG, and one of its first orders of business was student safety.
The Senate and LSUPD were in the opening stages of talks to install a license plate recognition system on the gates around campus.
The system will take a picture of every vehicle’s license entering and exiting campus, then send the information to a national database. If the plate has been used in a crime, it will be flagged and law enforcement will be notified.
Some students weren’t in favor of this resolution.
Makaila Santiago, biological engineering sophomore, told The Daily Reveille in September she would feel uneasy about the system because the database would have all of her information.
“I’d feel a little creeped out,” Santiago said. “LSU needs to focus on keeping kids in school.”
Students also voiced their concerns about SG’s spending early in the semester.
SG passed legislation to spend $10,000 on a new logo in hopes of making SG more identifiable on campus, Tufts told The Daily Reveille. The aim is to have an image students can recognize around campus.
Psychology sophomore Alex Gregory told The Daily Reveille in September the money could be better spent.
“That’s just a waste of money,” he said. “If they’re the voice of the students, then the students should decide on what to spend the money on.”
SG passed a resolution to open up talks with the Student Health Center about their medical excuse policy in the opening weeks of October.
Senator Kat Latham, sponsor of the bill, told The Daily Reveille in October the Health Center’s current policy is not accommodating to students’ needs.
“They’re just going to give you a printout that says your name and what time you were supposed to be there, not if you were there or anything like that,” Latham said.
D’Ann Morris, executive director of the Student Health Center, told The Daily Reveille a student’s absence from class is an academic matter, not a medical matter.
Toward the end of the month, SG passed a resolution to prohibit coursework during times of University closure, which students stood behind.
Computer science sophomore Terrell Love told The Daily Reveille in October the resolution is a good idea.
“Breaks are supposed to be the students’ time off,” Love said. “If you have to do homework over the break, you’re not really having a real break.”
To close out the semester, SG passed a resolution to make it easier for students to vote in Louisiana elections. The resolution is to open up talks with the Tiger Card Office in order to add a signature to the card, thus making it a valid form of identification to use at the polls.
Senator Jacques Petit, the bill’s sponsor, told The Daily Reveille in November he wants every University student to be a part of the Democratic process.
“I don’t really think, honestly, it’s going to affect that many people,” Petit said. “At the same time, I want as many people to be able to vote as possible.”