By Estevan Chavez
Kentucky universities staged a rally Feb. 16 calling to attention the need for an increase of government funding for higher education. Students arrived in great numbers from all major Kentucky universities, that is, except for the University of Louisville.
U of L could only muster two representatives, not including the Cardinal mascot and SGA President Ryan McKinley.
“On our campus we see a lot of activism; people want to get their message across. As far as something like this, [students] feel that there is going to be a lack of interest from the legislation,” McKinley explained.
The event was organized by the Board of Student Body Presidents, an organization made up of representatives from Kentucky universities.
The afternoon kicked off with chants of “Invest in us,” led by mascots from the universities. Rachel Watts, chair of the board, started with a welcome address and introduction of the representative in attendance.
“Higher education is an investment for the state’s future,” said Secretary of State Trey Grayson, addressing the crowd. Grayson charged his audience with the task of talking to their state representatives, saying it is students’ responsibility to do so.
State Treasurer Jonathan Miller spoke after Grayson on the recurring theme of “The time is now.” Miller also acknowledged the legislature’s unsatisfactory response to education funding issues.
A series of student speeches followed.
During the closing address of the rally, the crowd became increasingly frenzied. Unidentifiable chants conflicted with each other, building to an overwhelming noise. Watts then lead the crowd in cheering on the names of their respective schools. Each college appeared to have brought a mass of support.
However, when Watts came to the University of Louisville, there were but two voices out of about 250 students in the crowd cheering, the voices of Morgan Taliaferro and Patrick Smith. Both were representing the Students United for Peace and Justice, a U of L-based organization committed to the promotion of equality. Taliaferro and Smith were displeased with the lack of participation on behalf of U of L.
“The SGA did very little as far as getting students organized,” Smith said.
“There were no fliers and very little other information posted about the event,” Taliaferro agreed. The only advertisement the two could find was in The Cardinal.
“It looks bad for the university not to have at least 20 to 30 kids here. There are plenty of people angry at U of L for not having adequate funding and not having a voice,” Smith said.
Last year the SGA staged a well-attended rally for the same cause, but efforts did not make a difference, McKinley said.
“Whether or not we had a good contingency at the rally, we need to get people to call in or send e-mails to our legislators to remind them that this is an important issue to us.”
McKinley said he would like to see the SGA get more involved with state and local government throughout the year, not just for the U of L concerns, but for the sake of the community as a whole.
