BATON ROUGE - Amid the recent safety concerns on LSU football game days, State Senate President Cameron Henry said Friday he has recommended that LSU move all fraternity tailgates from public
spaces to their on-campus houses.

Two gun-related incidents just off-campus during the last two home games have prompted the state government and LSU’s Board of Supervisors to put more security measures in place for the upcoming home games.

Now, Henry, a Republican from Metairie, is suggesting the removal of LSU Greek life from the LSU Parade Grounds on campus.

He said he made that suggestion over the last week or two to Scott Ballard, the chair of the LSU Board of Supervisors. Ballard and LSU communications officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.

After two incidents left two people injured and another arrested on attempted murder charges, community members and government leaders have raised concerns about safety, citing uncontrollable crowds and fights compromising the game day experience.

“It's going to affect whether LSU fans go to the game, No.1, and then, well, whether LSU fans want to send their kids to the school,” Henry said in an interview with the LSU Manship School News Service.

After Gov. Jeff Landry pushed for greater safety, officials from LSU and Baton Rouge law-enforcement agencies said on Oct. 16 that they would add security measures, including closer supervision of activities and drone surveillance. The changes were planned for Saturday’s game against Texas A&M.

While Henry hopes to see a shift from the Parade Grounds to the fraternity houses for the remaining games this season, he does not expect to see that until next season.

It is not clear if Henry’s suggestion was considered in the safety deliberations at LSU. Any move to restrict where the main fraternities tailgate could generate complaints from members and alumni.

“I think what the governor has done is the first step, and hopefully it will work,” Henry said. “If not, we'll just continue to take measures to clamp down to where campus is safe.”

LSU officials also said they were closing Unity Field, a popular tailgating spot among Black fraternities near the LSU Ag Center, for the remainder of the season.

“If that's where the problems occur, then it needs to be closed down, re-evaluated, and it can open back up when everybody wants to, when we have better control of it,” Henry said.

The Baton Rouge Advocate reported that both the shooting incidents had been traced to crowds connected to a student-led organization on Unity Field.

Henry said he had suggested to Ballard that LSU also move fraternity tailgates that have been held at the Parade Grounds near Memorial Tower, half a mile north of Unity Field, to their on-campus houses.

Most of the fraternities that tailgate on the Parade Grounds are predominantly white. Over the last two decades, LSU has shifted the location of the tailgates between the fraternity houses and the Parade Grounds. The fraternities have tailgated on the Parade Grounds since the 2021 season.

“I believe that is a safer place for students to congregate,” Henry said, referring to the fraternity houses.

Henry, who was in a fraternity himself as an undergrad at LSU, believes the changes will create a better degree of separation among the fraternities to lower tensions, he said.

“It also doesn't put three different fraternities that may dislike each other for whatever reason, forced to sit next to each other for three hours at a tailgate,” Henry said. “Time to go back to the houses. I think that’s the first step.”

Requests for comments from the student-run Interfraternity Council were not immediately returned.

Starting in 2005, the fraternities were required to move to the Parade Grounds due to new alcohol policies implemented by the university. They were then moved back to the houses after the hazing death of fraternity pledge Max Gruver in 2017. They stayed on Fraternity Row until 2021, when the events on the Parade Grounds were reinstated.