Baton Rouge, LA – On October 23, a broad coalition of student organizations held a rally and march to conclude a week of action against MAGA and sexual assault at LSU. Students protested the LSU administration’s handling of the rape case involving Damien Shanklin, the football player accused of raping Kendall Francis. They also protested the gutting of the school’s cultural centers and demanded reinstatement of the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Office.

The student coalition included Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Feminists in Action, Tiger Prison Project, Injustice Reformed, Tigers Against Sexual Assault, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Their week of action included tabling by the various organizations, a sit-in, and concluded with the march.

The march began in Free Speech Alley on LSU’s campus, where students gathered. Along with the students, journalists arrived, including local news station WBRZ and LSU’s student-led newspaper, The Reveille. Campus police also showed up.

Gabriela DeJean, president of LSU SDS, reiterated the demands of the student coalition to the press. “Today we’re here demanding justice. We think that there’s a pervasive rape culture at LSU that has yet to be addressed at all. We’re out here today to make our demands clear and to make sure LSU addresses that.”

SDS member Gabriela Juarez stated, “Sexual assault on this campus is common to an extent that I don’t even think it’s fair to say that it’s not allowed. It is allowed. It’s, at best, regulated.”

The shutting-down of the cultural centers weighs heavily on the students as well, depriving them of safe spaces. “We played board games and talked about our days. There were mentorship programs. They did a food recovery network, so people could get meals there,” N’khia Zachery, president of Injustice Reformed, stated on the importance of the African American Cultural Center.

Students then marched to the Athletic Administration Building, where outside they demanded the expulsion of Damien Shanklin, and justice for Kendall Francis and other survivors. Students shouted chants such as “LSU, you can’t hide! Protecting rapists is a crime!”

What began as only LSU SDS making these demands has formed into a growing student coalition, and its actions have only just begun.

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