As the end of the spring semester approaches, the LSU Student Senate voted to support the implementation of sensory rooms around campus, encourage the reduction of the amount of grass lawns and to urge LSU to publish annual statistics on students who withdraw from courses or receive D’s or F’s.
If LSU needs the bill’s advice, the sensory rooms would be established near student foot traffic areas.
Written by College of Science Sen. Jack Appleton and University Center for Freshman Year Sen. Alyssa Nix, the bill urges LSU to recognize and continue its efforts to fund rooms for students with sensory processing issues.
“As it stands right now, LSU’s campus isn’t super friendly to people with sensory processing issues,” Appleton said.
On campus, LSU has one sensory room in the University Recreation Center that features a sparkle sensory bench, a bubble tube, frosted windows and a noise machine. With the passing of this bill, Appleton and Nix hope to help students with autism, ADHD and anxiety by getting formal recognition from LSU.
Another bill that passed urged LSU administrators to promote the use of alternative lawn styles to protect biodiversity on campus. After the recent dry spell in Louisiana, grass lawns have proved to be less sustainable and may cause more harm than good.
“Grass lawns are terrible in a lot of different ways,” said bill author College of Science Sen. Hannah Alm-Gibson. “They’re bad for the environment; they’re bad for pollination, for biodiversity; they promote monoculture; [and] they consume an excess amount of resources like water, fertilizer, pesticides”
Her bill requests that LSU administrators replace the campus’ traditional grass landscapes with more cost-efficient and sustainable lawn styles.
The Senate then turned its attention to a critical aspect of student support: The transparent reporting of academic performance metrics.
DFW rates are the combined percentage of students who receive a grade of D or F or withdraw from a course. These rates serve as a gauge of student success and academic performance within universities. At LSU, this statistic is only available to deans and certain faculty members.
A bill introduced by UCFY Sen. Jaylen West passed Wednesday urging LSU to formally publish its DFW rates to students. Doing so, West said, will help students “make our schedule with our best interest of heart.”
If implemented, the DFW rates will be published to the LSU Office of Data and Strategic Analytics website.
These three bills serve as recommendations to the university administration, urging action from LSU without mandating implementation.
The next Senate meeting will be on April 17.
