By Jenna Tobbe —

SGA continued to monitor the fate of the Cultural Center as two protests erupted in the past week.

On Feb. 26, about a dozen protesters assembled outside President Greg Postel’s office. Last week more than 50 created a Facebook group with the goal of having a say in determining the future of the building.

At the Feb. 27 SGA Senate meeting, President Vishnu Tirumala and Vice President Sarah Love said they are collecting opinions on a possible new cultural identity center. They said there are no concrete plans regarding the existing cultural center, despite protests.

There is a refugee and immigrant rally in Frankfort scheduled for March 7. The Latin American and Hispanic Student Organization and Muslim Student Associations are helping plan this rally.

Students can register on the event’s Facebook page. Love said they want to fill a 50-person charter bus. While in Frankfort there will be meetings scheduled with legislators to talk about undocumented students.

Improving Nightly Escort Service

SGA Services Vice President Chris Bird spoke about the Louisville loop, or “LOUP” initiative. The LOUP is a renovation of the escort services around campus. Current escort practice uses one escort vehicle to cover any requests from dawn to dusk.

“In October, there were 1,000 ride requests for the whole month, and that’s just for one person driving one car,” Bird said.

The LOUP proposal uses 27 locations split over three routes on the Belknap campus to operate in a similar way to Lyft and Uber. The proposal is anticipated to be presented after spring break and Bird said it will be an exciting, safe and efficient way for students to get around campus.

Find Your Fit

The Director of Ideas to Action at the Delphi Center introduced the Find Your Fit program. Delphi Center Executive Director Patricia Payette said this general elective can be taken by any major. The program is part of the Quality Enhancement Plan.

This course can help students who are in transition, with undeclared majors or students who are rethinking majors, get onto a concrete path to make them more successful in college. Find Your Fit is offering two sections in fall 2018 through the School of Education.

“We are having a problem with retaining students between the second and third year when they hit a wall around their major choice,” said Payette.

This mindset can cause students to believe they will not succeed in college. This class will offer an aspect of academic inquiry as well as personal inquiry to help students get to know themselves, their study habits and their future goals better.

Bike Lock Exchange

If students have cable locks or other insufficient bike locks, they can come to the SGA office to trade it in for a free U-lock. ULPD said bike theft is the most common form of theft on campus, either because students use the wrong kind of lock or they lock the bikes incorrectly.

File photo / The Louisville Cardinal