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Thursday night, thousands of students, staff, faculty, and fans piled into Freedom Hall to watch the men’s basketball team beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 90-85.

That same night, approximately 60 people attended a very disorganized and horribly timed Student Government Association debate sponsored by the SGA supreme court.

For Justice Chris Brown and the supreme court to knowingly schedule the debate on the same night and time as a home basketball game against a ranked foe was a horrible judgment call. To ask students to choose between an Athletics event and an SGA event only further divides two of the most important bodies on campus.

The low turnout at the debate merely highlights the poor relationship between SGA and the student body. Students, honestly, just don’t care about SGA.

To students, SGA is essentially another Recognized Student Organization. As polls led by The Louisville Cardinal have shown, students are unaware of who is running and are unfamiliar with the issues the candidates support. Many don’t understand what a slate actually is.

It is imperative that students vote; to allow SGA elections to turn into a high school popularity contest and let officials coast into office on the coattails of their slate’s front-runners or to even run unopposed is unacceptable at best. SGAs on college campuses only have as much power as the students give them. If students do not care, SGA has no say.

In becoming more acquainted with the issues, students can, as presidential candidate Rudy Spencer said when referring to the administration, put SGA’s foot to the fire. This, in return, will do the same to the administrators and changes will begin to occur.

But by supporting candidates running on stagnant platforms and issues that have not been well researched, students will continue to allow SGA to stay cold.

In order for any change to occur, students and SGA must support each other. Students must hold SGA officials accountable for their actions by researching the issues and electing the person that is best suited for the position.

SGA officials must strive to include students in their doings as they are the voice of the students at U of L. SGA officials must support issues that can affect students, not those that students think they can control, such as food services and parking.

Simply put, without the general student body, student government doesn’t exist. Yet, without student government, an organized student voice will never be heard.

It’s our decision. It’s our voice.