By Johnathan Masters–

On Nov. 2, fulfilling a campaign promise made in March of this year, Puga Sangoi and many representatives of SGA gathered in front of the Red Barn for SGA Cares, an outreach event designed to give back to the students and to answer any concerns students had. There were five tables, with several SGA councils represented, and all of the Top 4 were in attendance. A flow of students going through the demonstration was constant during the two hour event. Papa John’s Pizza, bottled water and hot chocolate were served.

Mohamad Ndiaye, a communications major, who attended SGA Cares, said that the meal cards was the biggest issue he wanted to see fixed. “Thank God I don’t live on campus. They give them all this money that they don’t end up using, and it’s a waste,” said Ndiaye. He hadn’t heard if SGA was working on this issue, or not.

UofL student Zenia Coleman, a junior, also attended SGA Cares. Coleman said that the biggest issue for her was how rude the professors acted toward the students. “The professors have bad attitudes and are rude to you. The way that they talk to people, the way they treat people, they act like they own the place and can do whatever they want and they don’t realize the impact that they have on our lives.”

Coleman says that she wishes there was some oversight board for professors so that she could talk about her concerns, but isn’t optimistic about the professors’ attitudes changing. “If you can go to the President of the University and all of the Heads of the Departments, and they can’t do anything, there’s not much SGA can do,” Coleman stated.

In response to rising tuition concerns, Vice President Puja Sangoi says that “because of state regulations, tuition will always increase” and the best thing that SGA was doing to combat that was the Rally for Higher Education coming up on Feb. 7. Sangoi remarked how last year’s Rally for Higher Education had 15 to 20 folks, and SGA was working to change that representation for the University.

Last year’s Rally for Higher Education was sparsely populated, and Governor Beshear, after saying he was going to speak, snubbed the colleges and walked away. Max Morley, Senior Adviser for SGA, has been working on getting in touch with the legislators in Frankfort so that there will be speakers at the event.

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Photo: Shelby Stafford/The Louisville Cardinal