By Billy S. Garland

As of Tuesday, March 2, Student Government Association elections are in full swing. The candidates have been campaigning to win the student vote in order to secure their spot in the 2010-2011 SGA administration. Students may notice the faces of Blake Christopher, John Doctor and Sana Abhari on fliers across campus. Here is one last look at the individuals vying for student support.
Blake Christopher has been working within SGA as a student advocate for some time now.  He worked closely with current president O.J. Oleka on the formulation of the Student 2020 Plan. He believes this experience separates him from the other candidates and makes him the best candidate to carry out the future goals for the university.
If elected, he insists that he will work to rally all Kentucky universities around important issues of higher education. He said he intends to present “a unified presence in Frankfort, Ky because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” 
Presidential candidate John Doctor also has experience serving the student body, by working as an Arts and Sciences senator. His SGA report shows that he believes in working as a liaison with students and the SGA, emphasizing the communication of students’ perspectives.
The availability and effectiveness of the communication between the student body and the SGA has been a hot-button issue since the election for the 2009-2010 school year. Oleka has repeatedly returned to the issue, seeing it as central to the mission of the student government.
“The main promise that our SGA wants to fulfill is communication,” said Oleka in an interview conducted shortly after the beginning of his administration. Since the beginning of the school year, the student administration has held multiple town hall meetings and introduced the Tell Your SGA program, with varied success.
“This Tell Your SGA program allows us to go into these meetings with the provost and say, ‘This is what students are saying right now,'” said Oleka. “This has been tremendous for coming up with solutions.”
Despite the attempts of the current administration, some, like presidential candidate Sana Abhari, feel that not enough has been done.
“The operative word in ‘student government’ is student,” said Abhari. “And students need an advocate who understands that, not a figurehead selling the ideas of others. A resident and commuter, a student abroad and on campus, an RSO president and typical student, a participant of student government and someone who’s observed its faults from the outside, I am the only candidate with the experience we need and the ideas to succeed.”
However, Abhari is quick to admit that she will be relying on her team to accomplish her goals.
“I look forward to continuing my fight to raise student issues as a candidate and then as the next student body president,” said Abhari. “But it takes a team to move mountains.”
Only Abhari and Christopher have publicly announced that they will be running on a slate, or in a team format, in this election. Christopher’s slate is operating under the moniker of The Louisville Legacy.
According to the mission statement of the team, the main focus of the slate will be to continue increasing communication with students and carrying out the initial stages of the student corollary to the 2020 Plan, which will also be included on the voting ballot.
“We believe student government exists to voice and implement the concerns of students,” said Christopher. “We believe that only through a sustained, long-term commitment can these goals be realized. We believe in our vision, passion and experience. We are The Louisville Legacy.”
Senior biology and Spanish major Aakriti Mehta is running on The Louisville Legacy ticket as a candidate for position of executive vice president. Junior finance major Leslie Conner is the Legacy candidate for academic vice president and junior finance major Amy Fussenegger is running for services vice president.
Abhari’s slate is known as Card Strong. The team is made up of executive vice president candidate Deep Aggarwal, academic vice president candidate Kurtis Frizzell and services vice president candidate John Weber.
Each of the candidates encourages students to vote on ULink from March 2-4.