The Reveille 4-15-24

ASK AWAY

Whether it’s relationships, school or anything else,

ASK A MOM

Every Monday, Dale Edwards becomes a mom for all

On Monday mornings, Dale Edwards wakes up at 6, has a cup of coffee and plays games on her phone: Wordle, Words with Friends, Quordle. Afterward, she reads and prays.

Then she says goodbye to her dog Vivie, short for joie de vivre.

“I play with my dog because she’s going to be alone all day, so I try and wear her out a little,” Edwards said. “She’s a joy in my life. That’s what joie de vivre means, joy in life.”

When Edwards leaves home Monday mornings, she heads to LSU’s Free Speech Alley, where she sets out her chair and props up her sign: “Ask a Mom.”

Here, she listens to the woes of students and offers them counsel.

Edwards’ set-up is a simple one. Almost everything in her Ask a Mom outfit was purchased for her by family and friends. Her son bought her the red folding chair she uses each time she comes to Free Speech Alley. It’s equipped with a rain cover in case the sky opens up while she’s out there. A friend made Edwards her Ask a Mom sign.

An Ask a Mom T-shirt, which her daughter made, completes the ensemble.

“I wouldn’t say I give better advice than everybody’s mom. I would say I have 50 years of wisdom,” Edwards said. “It’s available to any student who wants to sit down and ask.”

Edwards said her purpose is to act as a second opinion and use her experiences in life to help guide students. For more serious challenges she refers students to the LSU Student Health Center to hopefully get treated professionally by a therapist.

“I’ve been in counseling for years, so I have a lot of wisdom for people who really have deep troubles,” Edwards said. Although Edwards is no longer in counseling, she uses her past experiences to help students with their problems now.

Mathematics sophomore Hailey Garcia is one such student.

“We talked about a variety of things: children, education, mental health. She seems to be very sweet,” Garcia said. “She implied she believed certain things about me being queer, but she held her tongue, and she seemed very sweet.”

Edwards often gives advice to students who are struggling in their relationships.

“My broadest counsel on relationships is to slow down — you [students] move too fast,” Edwards said. “That’s how you get hurt. Going too fast and giving too much and giving too soon. Vulnerability is a gift that you give to someone. When you give your heart, you’re giving a gift. And you need to be able to trust that person. And you build trust over time. That doesn’t happen in two meetings or three meetings. It happens over time. And you have to give it time.”

Another problem students commonly have is figuring out what their major should be. Edwards advises students to “learn as much as you can in every field

that you can.” College is a time for young adults to decide what they want to pursue in life, Edwards said.

People often sit down to talk with her, and she’ll never see them again, Edwards said, so she keeps a journal where she writes down everyone’s names and problems. Edwards said this is how she remembers and prays for them.

Edwards said she also uses the journal as motivation for tabling in Free Speech Alley, since some students passing by don’t take her seriously.

“My goal is to be available for students who have a need and don’t know where to go,” Edwards said. “And I put myself out here, and honestly I feel foolish sitting here with an Ask a Mom T-shirt on and an Ask a Mom sign. I would say every day at least 10 people laugh at me. I have to be strong in myself that what I’m doing is a good thing.”

Edwards is also a big fan of LSU sports. She gets excited about the LSU women’s basketball team and the human side of each player.

“I have a son who is all about sports and nothing else. And I used to get up at 4 in the morning and read the sports page cover to cover so that I would know the stats so I could out-statistic him.”

Aside from tabling at Free Speech Alley, Edwards lives a modest life.

On Tuesdays, she teaches English as a second language to international students at her church.

“Our church has been doing it for 40 years,” Edwards said. “We teach English to any internationals that want to come. And we have a lot of wives of grad students come. The emphasis is on conversing well in public, making

sure you understand what’s going on in Walmart.”

Edwards teaches level three conversational English. The classes go from level one, for new learners, all the way up to level six, for those who are becoming proficient speakers. Edwards’ church also offers classes with instruction on how to gain U.S. citizenship.

On Saturdays, Edwards gets together with her college roommate, Adine, from the University of Georgia. They’ve been friends for about 50 years and enjoy watching movies together like “The Chosen” and “Thelma and Louise.”

It was on a visit that her friend decided to move to Baton Rouge.

“She came out to visit, she liked it and stayed,” Edwards said. “And she got married and stayed here, and we just stayed friends and raised our kids together.”

Edwards said she went to Southern University to get her master’s degree in elementary education and ended up getting involved with a home church.

Before retiring, Edwards worked as a kindergarten teacher, a vocational counselor, a stay at home mom and a junior high teacher — though today she said she prefers to teach adults.

Of course, Edwards finds herself with students outside of the classroom, too. On Mondays at Free Speech Alley she tries to provide advice through the eyes of a mother. Drawing from her past experiences, she helps students work through any problems that they come to her with.

Her advice is often simple, powerful and wide-ranging.

To all the students of LSU, she had this to say: “Be kind while you’re having fun.”

GREEK WEEK

LSU Greek life build homes to serve community

LSU’s Greek Week, a celebration of community, service and unity, was in full swing as fraternity and sorority members came together to build homes for families in need last week. Since 2005, LSU’s Greek Life has partnered with Habitat for Humanity, and this year marks the construction of the 35th and 36th homes.

Their efforts have resulted in homes for 42 adults and 65 children.

“We fundraise all year for this week to just be able to buy the materials for [the] houses,” said Amanda MacFadyen, a mass communication junior who serves as the event’s panhellenic co-director. The Greek community has raised over $40,000 this year alone, according to MacFadyen.

“Since we’ve had this partnership, 18,000 fraternity and sorority members have volunteered, donating over 74,000 hours of service,” said Ritchie Goebel, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Baton Rouge.

Volunteers from various chapters combined efforts to build two homes in just one week. These homes will be provided to families in need through the

The LSU Faculty Senate on Thursday elected new members to its executive committee and voted to protect academic freedom of speech.

Multiple faculty ran for a term on the 2024-2025 executive council, with political science professor Daniel Tirone winning the presidency, succeeding music professor Inessa Bazayev. Physics professor Parampreet Singh was elected vice president.

Member-at-large candidate veterinary medicine associate professor Michelle Osborn stepped into the role of secretary over the original nominee, renewable natural resources associate professor Kevin Ringleman, due to his announced departure from LSU.

Assistant professor Kyla Kazuschyk and chemistry professor Kenneth Lopata were elected as members-at-large, rounding out the 2024-2025 executive council roster.

The Senate then moved to consider Resolution 24-01, which was brought by mathematics professor Scott Baldridge in hopes of “supporting academ -

LSU SG: Sensory rooms, alternate lawns and student statistics

As the end of the spring semester approaches, the LSU Student Senate voted to support the implemention of sensory rooms around campus, encourage the reduction of the amount of grass lawns and to urge LSU to publish annual statistics on students who withdraw from courses or receive D’s or F’s.

If LSU needs the bill’s advice, he sensory rooms wold be established near student foot traffic areas.

Written by College of Science Sen. Jack Appleton and University Center for Freshman Year Sen. Alyssa Nix, the bill urges LSU to recognize and continue its efforts to fund rooms for students with sensory processing issues.

“As it stands right now, LSU’s campus isn’t super friendly to people with sensory processing issues,” Appleton said.

On campus, LSU has one sensory room in the University Recreation Center that features

a sparkle sensory bench, a bubble tube, frosted windows and a noise machine. With the passing of this bill, Appleton and Nix hope to help students with autism, ADHD and anxiety by getting formal recognition from LSU.

Another bill that passed urged LSU administrators to promote the use of alternative lawn styles to protect biodiversity on campus. After the recent dry spell in Louisiana, grass lawns have proved to be less sustainable and may cause more harm than good.

“Grass lawns are terrible in a lot of different ways,” said bill author College of Science Sen. Hannah Alm-Gibson. “They’re bad for the environment; they’re bad for pollination, for biodiversity; they promote monoculture; [and] they consume an excess amount of resources like water, fertilizer, pesticides”

Her bill requests that LSU administrators replace the cam-

SG, from page 3

pus’ traditional grass landscapes with more cost-efficient and sustainable lawn styles.

The Senate then turned its attention to a critical aspect of student support: The transparent reporting of academic performance metrics.

DFW rates are the combined percentage of students who receive a grade of D or F or withdraw from a course. These rates serve as a gauge of student success and academic performance within universities. At LSU, this statistic is only available to deans and certain faculty mem-

bers.

A bill introduced by UCFY Sen. Jaylen West passed Wednesday urging LSU to formally publish its DFW rates to students. Doing so, West said, will help students “make our schedule with our best interest of heart.”

If implemented, the DFW rates will be published to the LSU Office of Data and Strategic Analytics website.

These three bills serve as recommendations to the university administration, urging action from LSU without mandating implementation.

The next Senate meeting will be on April 17.

GREEK

ership program, offering them a safe and stable place to live.

The volunteers were actively engaged at the site, physically constructing the homes from the ground up.

“Many people don’t expect to actually be handed a hammer and be told, ‘OK, you’re gonna build this wall,’” MacFadyen said.

“Since we started this, LSU Greeks have raised over $2 million to support these builds,” Goebel said.

Goebel’s first encounter with Habitat for Humanity was through a Greek build during his time at LSU. The experience later inspired him to continue his work with Habitat for Humanity.

“I think sometimes we like to talk about what we’re doing as far as building a home, but in the end, we’re helping people,” he said.

“I’m not sure there’s a bigger brand than LSU in our community,” Goebel said. Through initiatives like the partnership with Habitat for Humanity, LSU channels its influence in a positive direction, encouraging its students to make a meaningful impact in the lives of others.

“It’s like the philanthropy of Greek Life at LSU, just because it unifies all of us,” MacFadyen said. Unlike individual chapter philanthropies, Greek Week brings together the entire LSU community in Baton Rouge for a common cause.

“It’s a lot of fun, and what makes it fun is because not only do we have a full-time construction staff that helps. We have the volunteers there, but also, we also have the homeowners there on site. So we’re literally building a home for a person that’s on-site helping us build it themselves,” Goebel said.

Working alongside homeowners-to-be throughout the week allowed students to cultivate a spirit of service.

“Being able to foster that ability for students to come out and serve, we get to work all week with the homeowners who are going to be living in the houses. It’s just really eye-opening to hear their stories and how far they’ve come in their journey,” MacFadyen said.

Through Greek Week, LSU’s fraternity and sorority members are not just building homes; they are building hope and changing lives.

ic freedom and inquiry through institutional neutrality,” according to the bill.

“Institutional neutrality is the idea that upper level administration of the university should only speak out on social and political issues that pertain to the academic mission of the university,” Baldridge said, “or speak to defend the university’s culture of academic freedom and inquiry.”

Baldridge wants to include

this resolution in LSU policy 15: “Academic freedom protects freedom of speech, thought, and expression within the university setting to promote learning and knowledge.”

In his presentation, Baldridge expressed how he wants to protect the freedom of students and staff to speak on matters that they believe are important, even if the viewpoints could be deemed controversial.

This comes as LSU-Shreveport is attempting to fire Brian Salvatore, a tenured chemistry

professor, over a series of comments and social media posts critical of the LSUS Faculty Senate and administration.

“Academic freedom comprises three elements: freedom of inquiry and research; freedom of teaching within the university or college; and freedom of extra-mural utterance and action,” Baldridge said.

The meeting adjourned after a majority voted to pass the bill.

The next Senate meeting will be in the 2024-2025 academic year.

ENTERTAINMENT

Follow an LSU graduate’s journey to Hollywood screenwriting

LSU alumna and Baton Rouge native Niya Butler didn’t begin her academic journey expecting to be working in Hollywood’s high-paced film industry.

Starting out as a biology major, Butler had every intention of attending medical school and pursuing a career in neuroscience.

“After a semester of studying biology, I realized that this

wasn’t what I wanted, and I was unhappy,” Butler said. “I went through LSU’s list of majors countless times before deciding on film. Because, why not?’”

From there, she made the switch and began taking screenwriting courses to discover that she was deeply passionate about the process and subject matter.

“Mari Kornhauser was my first screenwriting professor,” Butler said. “It was in her class that I wrote the first act of my first script and realized that I loved the world that I had created.”

During this time, Butler was also searching for an internship and landed her first one with The National Film Festival, where she gave feedback on scripts submitted to the screenwriting competition. This experience confirmed that she was on the right track, so she kept going.

The second internship, with Warner Bros. Pictures, led to her involvement in the “Friends” reunion as support for the alternative production team.

“I got to speak with various producers about their experiences, and from there my goal seemed more feasible to me,” Butler said.

Things really started rolling for Butler when she became involved with Ryan Reynolds’

Maximum Effort Productions. The team nominated her to apply for the Academy Gold Rising program, an eight-week summer program for college seniors acquiring skills and connections to be successful in the film industry.

“About a week after they nominated me, I got an email for the Oscars informing me that I was selected,” Butler said. “I’m grateful for that experience because I got to meet so many fantastic filmmakers.”

These experiences helped Butler decide that she was most suited for the production and writing aspects of filmmaking. She continued her studies while consistently writing scripts, gaining experience and experimenting with her craft. Her short film series, Not Alone, was selected to screen at the Lake Charles Film Festival in October 2023.

Now a year post-graduation, Butler has nestled into a life in Los Angeles, along with a position as a West Coast Page at

NBCUniversal. She spoke of how astounded she is at times at her own journey and offered some sound advice to LSU students who are considering pivoting like she did.

“Go for it, and be sure of yourself,” Butler said. “There will be times when you share your goals with people, and they will project their doubts onto you. Take important things like being able to sustain yourself into consideration, but let your heart lead you at the same time.”

LSU students create digital studio, highlight female creatives

When LSU students Claire Hill and Carianna Asberry joined forces to create a multi-media digital studio, the result was Complex Digital Studios.

Claire Hill, an international trade and finance senior, was doing photography for fun and when she crossed paths with Carianne Asberry, a first-year graduate student studying higher education administration programs. Asberry brought a passion for fashion and unique personal style to the table.

“We did a few photoshoots together just for fun, then decided that we wanted to go further with it,” Hill said. “She [Asberry] had the connections and sources, and I had the talent and work ethic, so we figured we could pull this off.”

From there, the duo started arranging shoots and inviting local talent to be a part of the studio’s magazine, Complex Magazine. This community-based approach has proven to be mutually beneficial, with the models they recruit getting chances to build their portfolio and Asberry and Hill getting content for their magazine.

“This whole thing was experimental in nature,” Asberry said. “Starting off, we may not have known what Complex Digital Studios would become. We threw out ideas and executed them until a vision came together.”

Describing themselves as “just kids taking photos,” Hill spoke of how they encourage participants to take on different roles in the process and experiment for themselves.

“I always tell the models, you aren’t just the model,” Hill said. “You’re the photographer, the stylist, the producer. Try things out and see where your talent shines through.”

Seeing participants’ faces light up when they’re handed a camera or invited to strike some poses in front of one reveals what happens when people are given the chance to be a part of creative efforts. Asberry and Hill hope to maintain this founding value of everyone having a place and a purpose.

“We’re making the space to where people don’t have to ask for permission to express themselves and try new things,” Asberry said.

Complex Digital Studios recently released the first issue of Complex Magazine that was centered around Women’s History Month, highlighting the insight and aspirations of various women creatives that participate in the collective’s projects.

This fusion of storytelling and photography was quite the success, and they have since began production for the magazine’s spring and summer 2024 release.

From here, Asberry and Hill hope to see continued growth in the number of people they reach,

“The community is what builds me up to be what I am,” Asberry

said. “I don’t know everything, but I do know that we can come together and exchange resources and support.”

SPRINGING INTO FOOTBALL

April 13 in Tiger Stadium.

FIRST LOOK

LSU defense struggles early, shows off young talent in Spring Game Should NCAA prop bets be legal? NCAA

LSU football had an offense good enough to win a championship in 2023. What held it back was a defense that ranked in the hundreds in almost every statistical category.

In response to that, head coach Brian Kelly cleaned house with the defensive coaching staff, replacing the defensive coordinator, cornerbacks coach, safeties coach and defensive line coach during the offseason.

It was unrealistic to expect a complete turnaround in one spring camp, and Saturday’s Spring Game showed there’s still plenty of room for improvement. There were impressive moments, but also plenty of the big plays given up that LSU fans were accustomed to seeing last season.

First team defense struggled against the first team offense

The beginning of the spring game looked similar to many games last season for the LSU defense. Fireworks came on the first possession for the offense when a coverage bust allowed Mississippi State transfer receiver Zavion Thomas to run free behind the defense for a 45-yard touchdown.

FOOTBALL

“We can’t let the ball over our head. We had some coverage mistakes. Those can’t continue to happen,” Kelly said after the game when addressing his concerns from the day.

That was a concerning theme for the LSU defense for much of the game as Garrett Nussmeier picked apart the secondary with

ease on long passes. He finished 7-for-7 with 187 yards and two touchdowns on the day.

The defensive line struggled against the first team offensive line, but that wasn’t surprising given the numbers in the defensive front. Kelly said earlier in the week that they were still looking to add transfers on the defensive line and doubled down

on that Saturday.

“We’ve got to continue to evaluate and recruit at the defensive tackle position. That’s a must,” Kelly said. “I like what our edges are doing. We’re getting good pressure from the edge, but we’ve got to be really stout inside.”

Kylin Jackson stood out on the second team

While Nussmeier, Kyren Lacy and company largely had their way with the first team defense, the second team defense showed some positive signs. The most notable performer was Jackson, who impressed both in coverage and in the backfield.

Jackson, a freshman who redshirted last season looked comfortable at the safety positions with multiple pass breakups and a sack.

“I thought Kylin did a nice job in coverage. But again, his skill set is such that he’s going to do a really good job on the tight ends and we expect him to do that,” Kelly said. “I think what we need to see is his run fits and we’ll have to watch the film to see that.”

Jackson was a highly-touted four-star recruit out of Zach-

In the ever-changing world of collegiate athletics, the NCAA has recently taken steps to ensure the safety and well-being of its athletes.

At the forefront of these actions is NCAA President Charlie Baker, who wants to crack down on these pressing issues before they become a problem, one of them being player prop bets.

Prop bets are wagers that don’t correlate with the game’s final score but rather the individual stats of the players. Bettors can wager whether a player’s in-game numbers will go over or under a specific benchmark or if a player will record a particular statistic in the game. The first prop bet ever was the latter.

Prop bets have been a prevalent wager since its inception nearly four decades ago. In 1986, Las Vegas saw its first-ever prop bet. At 20-1 odds, bettors could wager for Chicago Bears’ defensive lineman William “The Refrigerator” Perry to score a touchdown in

First-team offense shines, second-team drags in LSU Spring Game

LSU football’s annual Spring Game was the public introduction of many new faces to LSU’s team, as well as a look at players like Garrett Nussmeier and Kyren Lacy, who’ll be replacing last year’s stars who are now off to the NFL.

All things told, many things about the team on the field Saturday were different from the team in the fall.

One thing that wasn’t, though, was the dominant performance of the offense, and, conversely, the struggles of the defense.

The offense vs. defense scrimmage came to a final score of 3434, courtesy of an inventive scoring format that rewarded the defense for its big plays.

That score, however, wasn’t indicative of the large gap between the first team offense and the first team defense.

Nussmeier, expected to take the reins from the departed Heisman winner and likely top-three NFL draft pick Jayden Daniels, was sharp from the start.

He carried over the momentum from his dominant performance in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Janu-

ary, finishing a perfect 7-for-7 on his throws for 187 yards and two touchdowns.

Granted, Nussmeier was the beneficiary of an LSU defense that busted open on several occasions while clearly still grasping a new system, but he took advantage of his opportunity. Six of those seven completions were for 10 or more yards, with gains of 42, 45 and 59.

Head coach Brian Kelly said the key to those big plays through the air was the dominance of the offensive line in the running game, providing balance that the team will need this year to maintain its explosive offense.

“It starts at the line of scrimmage,” Kelly said. “If you can’t win the line of scrimmage with this offense, you will not be explosive … that was a good first step.”

Taking out sack yardage, LSU had 110 yards on the ground with an average of 4.1 yards per carry.

Sophomore Kaleb Jackson led the way there with 59 yards and a touchdown.

“What I liked about Kaleb was patience today,” Kelly said. “He had been a guy that had a tendency to bounce out and bleed out to the sideline instead of just hitting the thing north and south.”

LSU’s starting receiving group was once again the three main returners: Lacy, Chris Hilton Jr. and Aaron Anderson. However, as has been the case all spring, transfers CJ Daniels and Zavion Thomas, along with many others, rotated in. Kelly stated earlier in the week that as many as seven receivers could be consistent contributors to the team, and that seemed to hold true in the Spring Game.

Lacy had a catch for 59 yards, Thomas had two for 52 yards and Daniels had two for 33 yards, showing off his physicality both at the point of the catch and after the catch. Kelly was particularly happy with the performance of his two transfer receivers.

“I think both those guys [Thomas and Daniels] came in maybe trying to do a little too much and have kind of settled in nicely and will be really solid players for us,” Kelly said.

The only snag for the Tigers offensively came when the first team offense departed from the field. That gave way to a second team offensive line unit that allowed seven sacks.

The limited time to throw contributed in part to so-so performances by reserve quarterbacks

AJ Swann and redshirt freshman Rickie Collins, who split reps and are both battling to be the primary backup.

Neither completed better than 50% of their passes, with Swann, the transfer from Vanderbilt, looking particularly inaccurate. Collins showed off his speed running in and outside of the pocket, but was

also relatively unimpactful through the air.

Colin Hurley, the early enrollee freshman, provided a spark when he came in during the game’s final quarter. On just two drives, he managed to throw for 77 yards and a touchdown, including a deep bomb to Khai Prean for a 64-yard touchdown.

DEFENSE, from page 9

cording to Kelly.

“He’s a young player. And I think you guys know me by now that young players have to do things off the field in the classroom. They have to be on time. They’ve got to do all the right

BETS, from page 9

Super Bowl XX.

The first prop bet was a success: The Fridge fell into the end zone during the Bears’ 46-10 route of the New England Patriots, and prop betting never looked back.

With sports betting’s recent American takeover, more eyes and scrutiny have come on the industry’s evil and ugly sides. According to the American Gambling Association, U.S. bettors were expected to wager a record $2.72 billion through legal sports books on this year’s March Madness tournament.

All that money being wagered and a lot of it being lost can bring a lot of uncontrollable anger from bettors, who will go as far as to

things before we give them a bigger role on the field,” Kelly said. “He’s a good kid, and we like him, but all of those things have to come together if we’re gonna give him a bigger piece of the pie.”

The pass rush made an impact While LSU’s interior defensive line is far from a finished product,

tive happen because maybe they miss the free throw or they miss the over the under, all those types of things.”

The fear of student-athletes being more at risk than their pro counterparts is real. The NCAA surveyed the conclusion of 2023’s March Madness and found that 58% of 18-22-year-olds are gambling, the typical age range for college students.

“Basically tracks ugly, nasty stuff that’s being directed at people who are participating in their tournaments, and we’d use it the same way,” Baker said following the partnership’s announcement in January. “And it can shut it down or basically block it. And in some cases even track back to where it

there’s still plenty of talent on the edges. The Tigers returned players such as Bradyn Swinson, Sai’vion Jones and Dashawn McBryde from last season.

However, the biggest standout on the edge from the spring game was freshman Gabriel Reliford. He finished with two sacks and 3.5

Look no further than the NCAA’s big brother, the NBA, which is investigating activity surrounding Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter. Porter’s unders were the most hit prop bet on two occasions when he hit the bench early.

On Wednesday afternoon, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that Porter could be banned from the league permanently if the accusations are true, referring to it as a “cardinal sin.”

The NCAA doesn’t want any doubt about the integrity of its games.

“Sports betting issues are on the rise across the country with prop bets continuing to threaten the integrity and competition and leading to student athletes and professional

tackles for loss, having consistent success with the second team defense.

“We’re going to have to take Gabe and we’re going to have to get Gabe some reps against Will Campbell, we’re going to have to get him up against Emery [Jones] because he’s earned that now.

more states to take action, Louisiana became the next domino to fall.

On April 3, the Louisiana Gaming Control Board issued an order to ban all collegiate player prop bets starting on August 1 of this year.

While many states allow collegiate player prop bets on teams outside the state, Louisiana joins Maryland, Ohio and Vermont on the list of recent states to ban them

We’ve got to be able to see what he looks like against those guys,” Kelly said

The defense finished the game with seven sacks, albeit with rules not allowing them to tackle the quarterback. Harold Perkins, Kolaj Cobbins, Dylan Carpenter and Jackson all added sacks as well.

altogether. New Jersey, Kansas and Wyoming will all consider the ban at a May 9 meeting.

“It is the intention of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board to protect the integrity of sports betting as well as the safety and integrity of college athletes,” LGCB chairman Ronnie Johns said. “We feel that this order accomplishes that goal.”

JOURNEY STARTS WITH

OPINION

Feminists in Action event spreads awareness for sexual assault

TAYLOR’S TALKS

TAYLOR HAMILTON @taylorhami04

Feminists in Action will hold its annual “Take Back the Night” event on Tuesday, April 16. This event is a major source of courage and inspiration for survivors of sexual assault.

Roughly two years ago, I was dating someone who sexually assaulted me. Though the pain will never be the same as the day of, I still relive the experience all the time.

I constantly worry about running into him and what he’d say to me. Every once in a while, I have nightmares about him and the assault. And it’s all because he didn’t know the word no.

It doesn’t matter if you’re into one-night stands, long-term relationships or anything in between. Consent is extremely important for ensuring all parties are safe, heard and valued.

In the moment, I didn’t feel heard, safe or valued. I felt severely silenced. I felt like my voice didn’t matter, and he was just going to get what he wanted without asking me. Never in my life have I felt that belittled as a person.

It’s the same feeling as having someone steal something from you, and you have no say in the matter. You don’t feel like a person. You feel less than an inanimate object.

After my experience, I heard about FIA’s event last year and knew I needed to go. I had a gut

feeling that it would help me, and it did. I went with my current supportive and loving significant other, and it changed my life.

I remember sitting on the bricks in front of Memorial Tower and listening to stories from college students about their traumatic experiences. I can’t tell you how many tears I shed that night and how badly I wanted to get on stage and tell my story.

The entire night, my significant other held my hand as I cried. I knew I had their support as well as everyone else’s in attendance.

Everyone was so supportive

and nurturing toward everyone else. I’m not sure I’ve ever been to an event where that many people cried in solidarity toward friends and strangers. To say that it was anything less than magical would be a lie.

Not only does the event allow students and other participants to share their stories, but FIA members typically bring awareness to the horrifying statistics that surround sexual violence.

The following statistics are all from the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network:

“Every 68 seconds, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted.”

“54% of people that are sexually assaulted are between the ages of 18-34, including college students.”

“One in six American women have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime.”

“90% of adult rape victims are female.”

“Women ages 18-24 who are college students are 3 times more likely than women in general to experience sexual violence.”

“One in 33 American men have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime.”

Anyone who reads these statistics should be horrified. I can’t even go outside alone at night because I’m too scared of the millions of possibilities that could happen to me.

I wish I could live in a world where I didn’t have to obsessively turn around to see what’s going on behind me. Maybe, someday, I will. But unfortunately, that time has not come.

However, learning about both the statistics of sexual violence and the stories of survivors is so crucial to understanding this issue and advocating for it. No matter who you are, we need your help to raise awareness of this issue.

Attending FIA’s event isn’t the only way to help educate survivors and supporters. You can also listen to people’s experiences, become an ally and even learn “healthy, safe dating and intimate relationship skills” from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s page on sexual violence.

It simply takes an open mind, an open heart and listening ears to learn about the harsh realities of sexual violence. It can affect everyone.

It could happen to a family member, friend, significant other or even a stranger in your math class. No matter what the case may be, it can happen to anyone at any time. And the most crucial part is being there for that person during some of the worst moments in their life.

After my assault, I felt incredibly alone. I felt like I had no one to turn to because, at the time,

the person who betrayed me was the person I trusted most.

And that can be the worst part for survivors: The intimate partner they trusted the most is typically the person who took advantage of them. I can’t even explain to you how gut-wrenching it is to trust someone and have them destroy that trust by not respecting you or valuing you as a person. It’s a brutal experience that I wish upon no one.

After the speakers at the event finished telling their stories, there is a march around campus, which was equally as impactful on my continuous healing journey.

Everyone who attended the event had the opportunity to walk around campus shouting phrases like, “Shatter the silence, prevent sexual violence.” I’ve never been a part of something that made me feel seen and heard simply by screaming phrases at the top of my lungs with fellow survivors and supporters.

By the time we were done marching, I was at the front of the line with my partner beside me, and I couldn’t have been more proud of myself and everyone around me.

It takes so much courage to tell your story or even take it all in silence. No matter your chosen method, I want you to know that you aren’t alone. I may not know you, but I understand you and your story. I value you as a person. And you will never be just a piece of meat. You’re so much more than what happened to you.

And if you’re still struggling to tell yourself all of those things, please come to FIA’s event. I promise you that it’s a must-be-atevent. It doesn’t matter if you’re a survivor, supporter or anything else; I urge you to come to learn and advocate for a cause that impacts so many of us.

Take it from me — I’m still healing, but FIA’s event gives me hope, support, and comfort, which is all that I can ask for after my experience.

I’d also like to give a special shoutout to my friends and current significant other, who have given me so much love and support during these challenging times. Their love support is what makes healing possible. Thank you for everything.

Taylor Hamilton is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from Tallahassee, Florida.