University officials continue to cite anticipated clean-up efforts after Hurricane Rita as the reason for playing Monday’s game against the University of Tennessee while moving Monday’s classes to Thursday, Oct. 6 – the first day of fall break.
Some students and faculty have said they suspect school was cancelled to accommodate the increased traffic of football fans on campus.
“The real driving force behind the decision was Facility Services,” said Chancellor Sean O’Keefe. “If the game was the only factor in the decision to cancel class, we would have class. Period.”
O’Keefe said the decision to reschedule classes was made by the executive committee of the Faculty and Staff Senate, Student Government and Facility Services.
But SG President Michelle Gieg said the football game had to be considered in the decision to reschedule Monday’s classes.
“The game had to come into the decision,” Gieg said. “Logistically, it would be impossible for the normal amount of faculty and students to come to campus along with the thousands of people who come to the games. It would be horrible for students to go to class on a game day.”
Even though it is the third game on LSU’s schedule, Monday’s game against Tennessee was the first game played at home because the season opener against the University of North Texas was rescheduled for Oct. 29, following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.
The University moved its second game against Arizona State University to Tempe, Ariz., instead of playing it at home because LSU was serving as a special needs shelter for evacuees from New Orleans.
Though the Maddox Fieldhouse was still serving as a shelter for about 100 Katrina evacuees and the Department of Health and Hospitals warned LSU officials that as many as 400 evacuees from Rita could arrive after the storm, O’Keefe said it made sense to play the game at home anyway.
“This was a very different
situation,” O’Keefe said. “After Katrina, we had 800 beds in both the Fieldhouse and the PMAC with buses and helicopters arriving all the time. That’s not the case here.”
Michael Ruffner, vice chancellor of communications and media relations, said he thinks canceling class was the only option the University had.
“There were a lot of different parties involved, and they all decided that we needed time to clean up trees and in anticipation of power outages,” he said.
O’Keefe said there were power outages on campus Saturday because of a power surge in the Entergy power grid which collided with the University’s cogeneration plant grid.
He said power was restored later that same day.
Facility Services and Faculty Senate representatives could not be reached for comment.
Ruffner said the University does not regret canceling class because he said there was no other option.
“You don’t look back on situations like this,” he said. “We are just pleased that the damage wasn’t what we expected.”
O’Keefe will be holding a town hall-style meeting today from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Dodson Auditorium to answer questions pertaining to rescheduling classes and future scheduling plans.
Contact Jeff Jeffrey at [email protected]