Students may have a better chance of achieving recognition on the President’s Honor Roll or Dean’s List because of one new policy proposal from LSU Student Government.
President Jason Badeaux, SG director of Academic Affairs Faiz Alam and chair of the Academic Affairs Senate committee Erica Borne worked with Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Support Services Matt Lee to reduce the qualifying hours for the fall and spring President’s Honor Roll or Dean’s List awards from 15 hours to 12 hours, and reduce the summer’s qualification for the awards from 15 hours to nine hours.
The University recognizes full-time enrollment is 12 hours for fall and spring semesters, and only six hours during the summer term. During their final semesters, many high-achieving students may undertake internships, research projects or study abroad, which can limit the number of hours they take and, ultimately, bar them from the President’s Honor Roll or Dean’s List, according to the proposal.
“This is really the only metric not going off of a full-time student,” Badeaux said. “Almost everything else at the University is based off of being a full-time student, except for [President’s Honor Roll and Dean’s List.]”
Badeaux said Lee agreed and brought the matter to Senior Vice Provost for Human Resources and Academic Space Management Jane Cassidy, who also agreed. Lee and Cassidy worked to draft a policy proposal. The proposal is currently awaiting final approval from the Admissions, Standards & Honors Committee.
Changing this policy would put the University on par with 11 of 14 peer universities,  including Purdue University, Mississippi State University and the University of Arkansas.
SG has also launched an initiative to bring more water access to students within Tiger Stadium.
Initially, there were three water fountains located around the Tiger Stadium student section, Badeaux said. Badeaux was provided a map of the locations of all three water fountains to begin planning for the pilot program.
“[LSU Athletics] is also now providing cups at those water fountains so students can go and fill the cup with water [and then] go back into the stadium,” Badeaux said. “It’s all completely free.”
The LSU Athletics Department has also purchased two 125-gallon WaterMonster coolers, identical to the coolers involved in SG’s Hydration Station initiative. One of the coolers LSU Athletics funded will be located near gate seven, the student entrance, as well as on the ramp near section 222.
While the two coolers funded by the LSU Athletics Department are identical in model, they are separate from the four coolers SG funded as part of their Hydration Station pilot initiative earlier in the semester. Those four coolers can be found on the LSU Parade Ground during each home game, offering free water access to the entire LSU community.
“It happened over the last two and a half or three weeks,” Badeaux said. “Hopefully students liked it … and it’s something that [LSU Athletics] is going to keep doing moving forward.”