Students saved Les Miles’ future as head coach of the football team, and now it’s time for him to help save our future as students in a soon-to-be crumbling university.
On a cold November night last fall, Miles nostalgically walked toward the student section in Tiger Stadium to sing the alma mater for what he probably thought would be the last time. Thousands of students chanted his name as tears rolled down their cheeks, saddened at the thought of losing the Mad Hatter.
As I joined in chanting, “we want Les,” I couldn’t fathom what the University would look like without him.
Now, not only can I picture what the University would look like without Miles, but I can also fathom the cathedral of college football completely empty throughout the entirety of the 2016 football season.
I can see Middleton Library completely empty and the Student Union in pitch black. I can see the faces of thousands, defeated and depressed at what the future might hold for them in a Louisiana without higher education.
This is the reality we face if the Louisiana State Legislature fails to find solutions to filling the $943 million budget shortfall.
Some may say, “There will always be LSU football.”
Wrong.
If this University can’t keep its doors open because of a lack of funding, the student athletes who welcome our rowdy, deafening roar on Saturday nights in Death Valley will have no school to play for.
Honestly though, the worst case scenario isn’t probable, and the legislature will provide enough funding for us to leave the lights on.
A realistic scenario, however, are cuts to the point that we can’t afford to run the tutoring center or layoffs of hundreds of untenured instructors around campus.
With no tutors and exponentially increased classes, academic success will struggle. Students who rely on tutors and teachers who can spend time helping them through difficult concepts may not be able to keep their grades up. If those happen to be student athletes, they may become ineligible to play.
The students who cried and screamed for Miles to keep his job in the fall need his help. We held up our end of the bargain, and now it’s your time to hold up yours.
Trust me, a national championship won’t be possible with half the student section full at next year’s rivalry matchup between Alabama because the students previously in those seats can’t afford tuition as a result of the state cutting our budget and the University forced to raise its fees.
A national championship in football is not possible if half our new all-star recruits are ineligible because the transition from high school to college academics didn’t go so smoothly without the help of a tutor.
Just like we believed a national championship may not be a possibility for LSU football without you, Les Miles, it’s time you believe a national championship won’t be possible without us.
Justin DiCharia is a mass communication senior from Slidell, Louisiana.