Editorial: Flagship failure

So imagine our surprise when Tate responded to Madison Brooks' death by issuing a statement in which he said the university would focus its attention toward cracking down on bars in the LSU area that serve alcohol to underage students. Never mind that 18-year-old Kaivon Washington and a 17-year-old juvenile were arrested on one count each of third-degree rape on the heels of Brooks' death. Two other men — Casen Carver, 18, and Everette Lee, 28 — face charges of principal to third-degree rape.

According to Baton Rouge police, Brooks, in an intoxicated state, left an off-campus bar, Reggie's, with the four men, presumably to be dropped off at her home. Somewhere along the way, according to police, Washington and the juvenile raped her in the back seat of an automobile. Carver and Lee were in the front seat and did nothing to stop it.

Thereafter, the four men dropped Brooks off in a subdivision. She later wandered onto Burbank Drive south of the LSU campus where she was hit by another automobile and killed. Brooks was a sophomore studying mass communication.

Meanwhile over the weekend, 12 individuals were shot at a bar hosting an LSU-Southern University themed party. Spokespersons for LSU and Southern were quick to note the universities did not sanction the event, but that seems irrelevant at this point.

According to Baton Rouge police, an individual opened fire at around 1:30 a.m. Sunday at Dior Bar & Lounge injuring the 12. Nine of the victims were treated for non-life-threatening gunshot wounds at local hospitals while three were listed in critical condition Sunday evening.

Baton Rouge police believe the incident was a “targeted attack,” but police refused to disclose who was targeted and why.

Let us recall that last fall an LSU student was shot and killed in her automobile at a railroad track on Government Street. To date, no one has been arrested for the gang-like execution of LSU senior Allison Rice. In fact, law enforcement agencies in Baton Rouge have not uttered a word about Rice's murder in months. It's as if her murder has merely become another statistic in a city and college campus where violent crime runs rampant and daily life is consumed by an out-of-control criminal element.

Space does not permit us to delineate every violent crime that has been committed on or near the LSU campus in the past two years. Suffice to say, there are many that have been made public and many the public never hears about.

In light of the violent crimes committed against LSU students, what has been the university's response? Until this week, it's been negligible, and this week, Tate's statement was insulting to the young women who attend LSU and women who work at the university. He blamed everyone for Madison Brooks' death except the criminals.

Then again, what else should we expect from the leadership at Louisiana's flagship university, the city of Baton Rouge and even the state of Louisiana?