State senators go to bat for LSU student government candidates accused of frat food bribery

Clouds pass over Tiger Stadium on Monday, March 20, 2023, on LSU’s campus in Baton Rouge, La. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator)

Two Louisiana lawmakers intervened to get a pair of former student legislative aides placed back on the ballot for an LSU campus government election after they were removed for allegedly bribing fraternity members with food.

Alex Foret and Isabelle Tatman, who were both student workers in the Louisiana Senate, were disqualified last month as candidates for student body president and vice president, respectively. Their opponents, Lavar Henderson and Abry Layrisson, accused Foret of offering to buy dinner for fraternity members who would support his campaign, The Reveille student newspaper reported. 

The LSU Student Government Judicial Branch Election Court, the venue that handles such disputes, disqualified the Foret-Tatman ticket from the race Feb. 24. 

For their appeal, state Sens. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, and Gregory Miller, R-Norco, filed a  brief last weekend in support of the ousted candidates. The original ruling to remove Foret and Tatman was upheld last week, but LSU Dean of Students Fran’Cee Brown-McClure has intervened to place the ticket back on the ballot for the March 20-21 election.

Neither Seabaugh nor Miller have responded to multiple calls and text messages requesting comment. An email seeking comment from Foret and Tatman has also gone unanswered. 

Foret served as Miller’s aide last year, according to his LinkedIn page. Tatman’s LinkedIn profile also lists her as a former senate aide in 2024, though she does not name any senators for whom she worked. 

The senators’ involvement in college student government raises concerns for political analyst Robert Collins, a professor at Dillard University.  

“It’s not just inappropriate. Quite frankly, it’s bizarre,” Collins said. “It sounds like basically what they’re trying to do is intimidate the student judges that are on the panel, basically frighten them.” 

Foret and Tatman appealed to Brown-McClure, according to Student Government Judiciary Chief Justice Camille Cronin, who said she met with the dean Friday morning. Brown-McClure has the authority to override the student government judiciary only when the case involves a violation of university policies. 

Brown-McClure’s opinion went further, however. 

“University regulations are not the only concern,” the dean wrote. “In all matters involving a public institution, the United States and Louisiana constitutions must also be considered.” 

“To uphold the integrity of our student governance system, the University will be conducting a comprehensive review of the Student Government Election Code and Judicial Court procedures to ensure they align with State and Federal Law,” Brown-McClure added. 

“The message to silence the Court was clear,” Cronin said when contacted for comment on the university’s decision. 

Placing the Foret-Tatman ticket back on the ballot is unusual, according to several current and former LSU student senators interviewed for this report. 

Popularly elected student governments, considered to be public bodies under the law, play an important though often overlooked role in university governance. Their independence from university administration is key to their functioning, and these positions are often students’ first experiences with public service.

Cronin, a senior at LSU, said the removal of the two candidates was done by the book. The only variation from procedure was suspending the rules to allow Foret and Tatman to submit additional evidence in their defense, which the court was not obligated to do, she said. 

“Legally, this was very easy,” Cronin said in an interview with the Illuminator. “Emotionally, very difficult.”

Cronin said she received a phone call from LSU Deputy General Counsel Trey Jones before her court ruled on the Foret-Tatman ticket’s appeal. She said Jones raised concerns with how the Foret-Tatman appeal was being handled. Cronin said she told Jones she was following policies and procedures created long before her time on the court. 

“He was very forward in what he was saying, but it did feel … like it was made to make me feel like I’m doing something wrong,” Cronin said. “I think he was trying to look out for the university, which is his job.” 

LSU spokesman Todd Woodward declined to comment on Jones’ call to Cronin. 

In their brief, Seabaugh and Miller argued there was insufficient evidence that Foret engaged in bribery. The senators said the fraternity’s president made the offer to buy dinner for members without Foret’s knowledge.

“Denying citizens … the opportunity to exercise constitutionally protected political activity … should not be based on unsupported inferences with no basis in fact contained in the record,” Seabaugh and Miller wrote in the brief. 

Seabaugh and Miller, who are both attorneys, argued that because the election could impact the makeup of student government – and the LSU Board of Supervisors – the election court should carefully weigh the interests of student voters. The only non-political appointee on the LSU Board of Supervisors is its student member, which is selected from the student body presidents of schools in the LSU System. 

The Miller-Seabaugh brief is not the first time Louisiana elected officials have gotten involved in LSU student government elections. 

Former Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, endorsed the 2021 ticket of Mia LeJeune and Angelina Cantelli. The Reveille reported LeJeune had worked for the governor, and the governor’s son, Stephen Miller Edwards, was part of the LeJeune-Cantelli campaign team. 

The endorsement was criticized at the time as inappropriate and setting a “poor precedent.”  

Collins said Edwards’ endorsement, while allowed under student government rules, was inappropriate but not as unethical as the Miller-Seabaugh brief. 

“I really don’t think elected officials should be getting involved in student government politics at all,” Collins said. 

Dillard prohibits non-students from getting involved in student government matters, Collins added.