March 21, 2023 . Volume 80 . Issue 6
Shining Light on the Matter: A.W.S Petition For More Lights at Residential Apartments
What It Takes to Be SGA: S.U. SGA Members Give Insight
Deidrick Johnson
THE SOUTHERN DIGEST
The Association for Women Students, or A.W.S., erected a petition for the university to implement more light at the back of campus for the safety of the students.
Sandi Huggins
THE SOUTHERN DIGEST
Zion Ross, the A.W.S chief of staff, and Oliva Humphrey, the A.W.S president, both agreed that to resolve this issue on campus, Southern University should add more lighting on campus to brighten up student walkways at night. A.W.S wanted to enforce this concern due to the new arriving darkness from Daylight Savings, as it starts to get darker between 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. This means that students that enroll in night classes that run from 5 – until, have to walk back in pitch, black darkness from class. In order to get the ball rolling on this project, A.W.S. has started a petition that students can sign to help with trying to add more lighting to campus. Their goal for the petition is 200 signatures and currently has 100 signatures. If you wish to sign, members of A.W.S. are at Mayberry Dining Hall Mondays and Fridays, as well as Wednesdays at the
Scene from the campus apartments at night. Lack of light in the back of the campus outside of the Universities apartments is an ongoing safety/maintanence issue. (Taylor Haywood/ DIGEST)
Smith-Brown Memorial Union working diligently to get signatures for their petition. The petition has been out for little more than a week now, and the club hopes this petition can be the thing to open S.U.’s eyes to implement better lighting.
Humphrey states, “Me being the president of AWS, I want me and my staff to all leave on a note that will forever be left as our legacy.” She then goes on to comment, “I will do anything in my
The season for student elections is one of the most exciting seasons of the spring semester as eager and dutiful students send in their applications and get their campaigns in order, but the process can be overwhelming. The Student Government Association is the organization that controls most decisions made for the student body. The elected officials the student body votes for act as a voice for the people. But, what does it take to get into this organization? Olivia Humphrey, a junior majoring in mass communications from
See SHINING page 3
See SGA page 3
Feeling the Heat: Uncovering Southern University System Deferred Maintenance Sarah Griffths and Brittany J. Patterson
high. They gave me fluids. They gave me something for nausea, and I think it was like nighttime when I left.”
Karen L. Rogers-Blazio knows the Louisiana heat all too well — she felt nauseated, dizzy and weak in Higgins Hall this past February.
Blazio utilized the following day and the weekend to rest and returned to work the following Monday. She has continued to submit requests for the system to be fixed, but there has been no change.
THE SOUTHERN DIGEST
Since her 2019 start as an administrative assistant in the Department of Criminal Justice, she filed a series of maintenance requests all tied to heat in the building. In a form from January 31, she stated that there was no air on the fourth floor, according to documents obtained by The Southern Digest. The heat issues in Higgins Hall are part of a series of infrastructure issues at the university. According to Kenneth Dawson, Director of Facilities Planning, the university has more than $120M in deferred maintenance. Deferred maintenance is maintenance work that is postponed due to limitations in available resources, such as time, staffing or funds. “The definition of deferred maintenance states that the practice is used to postpone maintenance due to funding levels. As you indicated last year’s stated need is over $120,000,000,”
Dr. Albert Samuels, Chair of the Department of Political Science and History gave insight into the deferred maintenance concerns for Higher Education. He also verified that the State of Louisiana is responsible for supporting the school’s infrastructure.
Students leaving class from Higgins Hall. (Brittany J. Patterson/ DIGEST)
confirmed Dawson in an email to The Southern Digest.
we’re not going home, but going to the emergency room’.”
After filing the request on Jan. 31, Blazio had a medical emergency which ended with a visit to a hospital on Feb. 9th. “February 9 between about 12:00 and 12:15 I was feeling really bad. I informed my supervisor that I needed to leave. They let me leave, and my husband picked me up and saw how I was feeling. He said, ‘No
At the emergency room, she complained of multiple symptoms, leading to her receiving fluids and other medications. “Upon arriving at the emergency room at 1 or 2 pm, I complained about how my office was full of heat and stuff like that. I was feeling nauseated, dizzy, and weak. When I got there, my pressure was
“The University will state, this is in some ways an infrastructure issue actually related to aging infrastructure, so, their defense will be efficient. What they’re doing is putting out fires. That it is actually the fact that the infrastructure itself is old. State Louisiana is responsible for that,” Dr. Samuels clarified. The Board of Regents Division of Finance and Administration reviews the annual budget for the operating needs of public institutions before See HIGGINS page 3
THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY AND A&M COLLEGE, BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA