Aside from our shared city, Southern University and LSU have a lot in common as flagship institutions of statewide university systems with energetic bands, beloved football teams, preserved oak trees and big cat mascots. We also share a litany of infrastructure problems. Although, Southern has one particular problem that is, quite literally, earth-shattering.
For those who don’t know, Southern borders the Mississippi River on a tract of land known as “Scott’s Bluff.” The Bluff is known as a spot where people can picnic, fish or just enjoy the view.
Lesser known is the fact that the Mississippi River is slowly swallowing the Bluff as erosion gradually wears down the riverfront and an on-campus ravine, which drains storm water into the river. Not to be overdramatic, but the erosion is tantamount to an existential crisis.
The Baranco-Hill Student Health Center is just a few yards away from the edge of the ravine. Unless it receives funding for immediate repairs, the student health center will fall into it within the next two years.
Erosion has already cost Southern a bridge connecting the different areas of its campus and parts of a walkway over the ravine. Along with the student health center, the campus’ historic oaks, other buildings and utility systems are at risk.
A plan to mitigate and prevent further erosion would cost an estimated $20 million—as much as $32 million if you include repairs—but the Legislature only allocated $1.6 million to the project last year.
This session, the Legislature has more than $1 billion at its disposal, so addressing the immediate need of Southern should not be a budgetary issue. That being said, it shouldn’t be considered an issue even if the state didn’t have this year’s surplus. The repairs are not only necessary because of the short timeline, but also because of the need that the most threatened building warrants.
Broadly speaking, student health centers are critical to any university student on any campus. They provide readily accessible services from check-ups to STD testing and, considering the ongoing pandemic, crucial services like vaccinations. Beyond the student health center’s value to students, the risks—and costs—of damage or lost infrastructure are equally significant.
As the adage goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” If the Legislature doesn’t address Southern’s problems while it has the chance, the cost of repairing the consequences of its inaction will be even larger.
Just look at recent renovation and building costs on our campus. The Studio Arts Building renovation cost $18 million. Last year, the Legislature’s budget allocated nearly $15 million to the Huey P. Long Field House renovation and nearly $24 million to planning and carrying out renovations and an addition to the LSU Student Health Center.
Of course, this doesn’t even include the immeasurable costs of losing natural features, like Southern’s centuries-old oak trees, or those that arise from students not having access to a student health center while a new one is built.
Week after week, The Reveille has reported on the university’s array of infrastructure problems; however, LSU students must recognize that our campus is not alone in its need for properly-funded repairs and call for our fellow institution, just a drive down the freeway, to receive just as much attention as ours does.
Our legislators also need to realize that fact, and they need to act before the flagship institution of the nation’s only HBCU system loses even more of its campus to the forces of nature.
Drake Brignac is a 21-year-old political communication and political science senior from Baton Rouge.