EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a four-part series profiling the Student Government candidates. The articles will be printed in order according to presidential candidate’s last name.
Baptiste “Bat” Brunner IV and Madeleine Davis hope to “Renew LSU” if elected Student Government president and vice president.
Neither Brunner, international trade and finance junior, nor Davis, English junior, has been involved in SG prior to the current election.
“Our biggest kind of hindrance is what are people going to think of our inexperience. We don’t think we’re inexperienced,” Davis said.
Brunner and Davis boasted their time served in the Greek community, where he was the chief justice and vice president of the LSU Interfraternity Council and she held multiple positions in her sorority.
“I believe because we’re inexperienced, we’re qualified,” Brunner said. “I’m not saying SG is corrupt, but we have our own ideas and beliefs.”
Brunner compared his experience to that of Ronald Reagan, who himself had minimal experience when he took office. “Just being an actor, he was one of the best presidents,” he said. “Sure, there’ll be some adjusting. … We look forward to that.”
Budget cuts are one of Renew LSU’s main focuses. To find solutions during the financial hardship, Brunner suggested consolidating the LSU System, though his specific ideas are, in fact, already in effect.
“We look to still find a way to consolidate a system and end these budget cuts,” he said. “Why not consolidate [LSU, the LSU AgCenter and the Paul M. Hebert Law Center] into one system? That way the money that goes into those three systems will stay here and not be distributed across the state. When we write our check to LSU, our tuition money will go to our education and not others’.”
LSU, the AgCenter and the Law Center already fall under the same umbrella of the LSU System. Students’ tuition dollars are not spread across the system, as Brunner suggested, though state appropriations are.
Davis said she plans to bring students into budgetary decisions through social media.
“As a public university and the flagship university, everyone should have an active voice in it,” Davis said. “Easier said than done, but I feel like taking those initial first steps by capitalizing on the social media … and whatever else you can use to get out to a huge group of people.”
Davis explained that she and Brunner chose “Renew LSU” as their slogan because the University needs to prioritize safety and sustaining the University.
“In order to get back on track, you have to take a step back and realign where your priorities lie currently and where they should lie,” she said.
Safety is one of those priorities, Brunner said. One of his friends was the victim of a hit-and-run on East Boyd Drive, and Brunner says he hopes to improve students’ safety.
“It’s not about taking care of students just on campus, but students everywhere,” he said.
Some initiatives Brunner and Davis hope to implement to improve safety include updating emergency call boxes, increasing the number of LSU Police Department officers patrolling at night, incorporating bikers’ lanes and adding a crosswalk between the Law Center Library and Parade Ground.
Brunner said he always knew he would attend the University. The Jesuit High School graduate’s father showed him the campus when Brunner was displaced to Baton Rouge during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
“It really inspired me to come here,” he said.
Brunner said he is running for SG president to help others. “I’ve had the motive to help other people, and I feel like I have the opportunity to do that through SG president,” Brunner said.
He picked running mate Davis because she helped him plan his campaign as the “unofficial” campaign manager. “When Bat asked me, I was caught off guard. … I was flattered,” Davis said.
 
_____ Contact Danielle Kelley at [email protected]