By Brian Ray

For senior nursing major Lindsay Luckett, who spends most of her time on the Health Sciences Campus, decisions made by the Student Government Association feel distant.
“It’s hard to relate to the things that they are doing on Belknap campus because I don’t spend any time there,” Luckett said.
According to Mike Dennis, SGA Executive Vice President, communication between SGA and students like Luckett continues to be a challenge at the University of Louisville.
“It’s hard to inform students sometimes,” Dennis said. “For example, this fall to get the word out about the mandatory meal plan [SGA] stood out at bus stops and at the ramp leading up to the SAC handing out flyers.”
Dennis said that, ultimately, SGA gave out about 6,000-7,000 flyers and, despite this, “later in the semester students acted shocked when they heard the meal plan was going to be final.”
According to SGA President Rudy Spencer, the meal plan controversy has revamped the communication aspect of SGA.
“One good thing to come out of this whole meal plan problem is that now people who formerly had no idea what we were doing are engaged with SGA on a day-to-day basis,” said Spencer.
Spencer said that the communication problem in SGA is something that is going to have to be fixed as a cumulative effort, including both senators and the top four executive officers.
Too often, he said, students only feel comfortable approaching the top four.
“People know who we are because the senate have told us to act in those roles of letting people know who we are,” Spencer said. “So if we have to put things on the track where the senate has to make more of those decisions, then that is what will happen.”
Speaker of the SGA senate Anna Ramsay said that improving communication with students is one thing that SGA is currently focusing on. She and three other senators are currently working on a communication plan that will be introduced at the upcoming SGA senate meeting tonight at 7 in Strickler 102. The plan includes a program called “SGA Minute,” which will be a video campaign seeking to address key issues. The program will premiere to the public on Jan. 20.
Ramsay said that the meal plan fiasco exposed some communication aspects of SGA that were deficient.
“I think it has been there, but when you have an issue [like the meal plan], you really see what needs to be improved,” Ramsay said.
Junior middle school education major Erik Sturgeon said that the meal plan could have used a little more input from students who would be directly affected by the decision.
“I think that they do represent the student body as a whole well, but I don’t believe they get the student body’s opinion well enough,” said Sturgeon.
One way students are informed about what SGA is doing for the week is through the weekly SGA e-mails sent to every student, according to Dani Smith, SGA services vice president.
For students like Luckett though, e-mail isn’t the best form of communication.
“They are long and redundant at times and with all my school work, they just seem like one extra thing to read that I don’t have time for,” Luckett said.
Smith said that, regardless of how it happens, students should take a larger role in communicating with SGA.
“It’s sad that we can’t even fill a bus full of students to go to Frankfort to represent the university,” Smith said, referencing the Rally for Higher Education that happens each February. “Especially when we are looking at more budget cuts for the university in the future.”
She encouraged students that have ideas or suggestions about creating smoother communications to e-mail her at [email protected].
Ramsay said the communication problem is definitely one thing that needs to be repaired on both the student and SGA ends. 
“I think it is a motivation thing,” Ramsay said. “How do you get students to be motivated or to be involved? If anyone has any ideas, I am open.”