By Vinny Porco

University of Louisville President Gerry Bradley addressed nearly a packed house in Floyd Theater before a regularly-scheduled SGA Senate meeting on Feb. 24.

Bradley’s appearance lasted just over thirty minutes; he discussed several key student issues. Additionally, he answered several questions from the audience, composed mainly of SGA members.

Here are a few key notes from the evening.

Housing

The content of President Bradley’s remarks began with the current state and future of U of L’s housing issues. He acknowledged that U of L housing is currently at 100% capacity, and that enrollment is expected to increase in the coming years.

Bradley told students about a number of property and development moves designed to accommodate higher enrollment that are either completed or in planning.

According to the president, U of L is considering plans to build a new dorm building on a recently-acquired property on Cardinal Boulevard. For many years, the property was home to a convenience store and has since been used as additional parking for blue and yellow permit holders.

He also suggested that the university may tear down older dorm buildings such as University Tower Apartments and replace them with more up-to-date buildings.

Bradley then made note of properties previously considered affiliated housing that were either purchased or will be master-leased by the university.

He first mentioned the Clubhouse, a property the university purchased in Oct. 2025. He assured attendees that even though the property has remained closed for renovations, it is projected to be ready for students in 2027.

With help from U of L Dean of Students Michael Mardis, President Bradley finally addressed one of the more contentious issues in housing: The Province.

“I absolutely recognize there were inconveniences for many of you who had contracts signed, and then we had to move it over to the university contract,” Bradley said. “Part of that was just because of the speed of negotiating.”

Beginning Fall 2026, U of L will master lease The Province. (Photo by Sara Montoya / The Louisville Cardinal)

During the later Q&A, SGA members and “Top 4” candidates Lily Gordon and Kamani Killings reengaged the issue.

Gordon asked why the university master leased affiliated properties while increasing their prices.

Bradley pointed out that the university is now responsible for The Province’s services, such as security, which will contribute to the price increase.

Mardis continued with the university’s goal in master-leasing The Province.

“When we have a property that becomes a master-lease property, then that’s only U of L students that are living at that property,” he said. “That allows us to increase our number of students that will live at The Province.”

Nearly 12% of The Province’s current residents are not U of L students.

He argued U of L’s master-leasing has worked in the past, pointing at examples like University Pointe, Cardinal Towne and Denny Crum Hall as situations with “a lot of success.”

Mardis also assured to Gordon and the rest of attendees that student representation was included in U of L’s request-for-proposal process for The Province. SGA Services Vice President Grant Avis light-heartedly revealed himself to be one of two students consulted during the later senate meeting.

Finally, as reported by The Cardinal on Feb. 9, Mardis informed students that The Marshall will be an added option for students still interested in affiliated housing.

Killings’ question regarded recent graduates that still intended to live at The Province. She asked, “Was there any support given to our soon-to-be alumni when they’re being kicked from The Province or their leases are being terminated?”

“A student, if they had the lease through the rest of the year, they’ve got six, seven months to be able to find alternate housing options,” answered Mardis. “But if there’s a student that’s struggling and needs assistance, they can contact the dean of students or our housing team will be more than happy to help them.”

Addressing recent controversy

President Bradley briefly touched on recent campus controversies surrounding U of L’s Pan-African Studies department and Early Learning Center.

Back-and-forth email statements and a social media post between the Office of the President and Pan-African Studies faculty have raised concerns about the implications of the recent pause on the program’s graduate assistantships.

 

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To meeting attendees, Bradley echoed a Feb. 20 university-wide email aimed at “correcting misinformation” by further denying notions of department closure.

He explained that PAS doctoral program enrollment was paused along with that of another department within the College of Arts and Sciences due to low enrollment numbers.

“It’s not to say that we’re closing programs, but it’s caused them to really concentrate on really getting a bigger applicant pool to apply so we can see the program grow and sustain itself,” he said.

Moving on to the ELC, Bradley told attendees U of L was losing money on the program; the university decided to pause its relationship with the Family Scholar House because of this.

He noted that U of L would not be “closing” the daycare, but rather relinquishing management of it to the Family Scholar House.

Campus Safety

An audience member’s question about preventing sexual assault kicked off discussion of campus safety.

She asked, “What specific prevention and mitigation strategies are the university currently planning to implement to student from sexual assault, and what additional measures will be in place before next fall semester?”

Bradley responded first by loosely emphasizing university-wide awareness around who is entering campus buildings, but did not elaborate much further with specifics.

He then pivoted, assuring to students that the ULPD force of around 45 officers is appropriate for the size of the university. He added that ULPD recently acquired a new fleet of police cars, a measure that ensures every officer on duty will have access to a car.

According to Bradley, along with increased lighting, the university has also worked on installing more security cameras in the hallways and entrances of buildings, paying close attention to “dead spots” on campus.

Finally, Bradley circled back to the issue of sexual assault.

“We want no offenses to occur,” he said. “But our incidents are quite low compared to other institutions and we clearly want to make it lower than what it is.”

He claimed safety is something he takes very seriously, saying, “two of my children lived on this campus.”

President Bradley’s address concluded with a round of applause from attendees just after 7:30 p.m., at which point he exited Floyd Theater. 

SGA held a routine senate meeting with Dean Mardis still in attendance.

Photo by Vinny Porco / The Louisville Cardinal