SAVE OUR HOUSING!

Right now, I live in the graduate housing on Nicholson Drive.  It is a perfect fit for someone like me who was just out of college and was going to need to adjust quickly.  I only had a 3 week turnaround from undergraduate graduation to entrance into graduate school.  I love my apartment.  It is an easy walk or bike ride from all of my classes and it is so affordable (they charge one flat rate for utilities and everything), particularly for a location right on campus and so close to everything.  It has this great vintage feel because it was built in the 1950’s.  Everything slides (the front door, the cabinets, the bathroom door), it has brick accents, and it is just the best place for someone like me, who has never had their own apartment and is rarely in their apartment because of graduate school life.

LSU has already begun the process of knocking down The Nicholson Apartments.  They replaced them with parking lots and many people were forced to move. The only ones that remain are the ones that I live in and in 2015 or 2016, they will be demolished. 

I want to schedule a protest/sit in where I get everyone from my building, including their children, to sit in the courtyard of the apartment complex.  We will invite people to sit with us, sign a petition, enjoy refreshments, and talk to us about why we are here.  We will make the residents and their stories real.  We all come from different walks of life.  Some of the residents are from different countries and brought their family all the way to Louisiana for an education and better life.  A lot of them have no car and need to be close to campus.  Our university needs to make education for graduates more efficient and, essentially, easy.  Uprooting some of these residents could prove detrimental to their education. 

We would not leave the courtyard.  We would sleep there, eat there, and show what can happen if graduate students aren’t given affordable housing close to campus.  They will just have nowhere to go.    

In this instance, I think that media would help us.  I would utilize social media, I would create a hastag, I would call The Advocate and the local news station, anything to make ourselves present.  I would take advantage of the fact that the residents of our complex are a diverse group and take a lot of pictures. 

I would know my protest was complete when I got enough signatures to present my petition to the correct officials and when I felt the graduate students had been adequately heard.  I can honestly say that my endgame may not even be that they keep the buildings up.  It may be too late for that; but, I want people to be more aware of what happens when they take these actions.