After a semester of fun on the Parade Ground, Facility Services has officially roped off the area, and students are curious as to why.

The Parade Ground has been the hot spot for students to hang out, play sports or study since the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester, but students enjoyed the area for the last time for a while on MLK Day. 

Student patrons were displeased to see they could no longer use this COVID-friendly space as an alternative to indoor areas such as the Student Union or UREC. 

“I do understand how frustrating it can be for people trying to play football or study with friends… it can be a big inconvenience for those who are trying to get outside,” said Kyrin Lewis, a Parade Ground patron.

Executive Director of Facility Services Tammy Millican explained the reasoning behind the closure. 

“The cleats are the problem…they tear up the ground so much, and it takes so much time for it to come back,” Millican said. 

Although some students were doubtful of LSU’s intentions, Millican reassured the only motivation for the closure is to keep the Parade Ground maintaining its beauty. 

“Of course there’s a cost for the material and labor to go out and [reseed] over and over again,” Millican said. “So these guys in landscape services do a lot of work to make sure that that area is as green and as healthy as possible, so that everybody can enjoy it.”

The Parade Ground has been reseeded twice over the last few months because of the extensive damage done by cleat-usage. Facility Services is currently working on reseeding the area so that students may continue to use the space for recreation.
The majority of the Parade Ground will be closed off until Facility Services see that the land has been rejuvenated, but once the area is fully open, cleat-usage will continue to be on the list of prohibited actions.

“Once [the landscapers] feel like the area is stable enough and can take activity on it they’ll let the ropes down,” Millican said.

This is a Tiger TV report; click here for the original coverage.