By Yash Arabati and Riley Maddox
Most students don’t wake up wondering what SGA did yesterday. That’s not apathy. People just have lives.
Between classes, jobs, relationships and the whole shabang that is campus life. Students shouldn’t have to be detectives to feel represented.
For context, we believe the politics of SGA and the student body have slowly detached from one another and have revealed a considerable gap that has widened in past years, as seen through dwindling participation in elections. The latest elections had around half of the participants compared to those of nearly ten years ago.
When important decisions are made, students are often ill-informed or are completely unaware of what’s going on. This distance has made it difficult for even the best ideas to gain traction.
Consequently, our student government’s relevance plummets, no matter how well-intentioned an idea is.
Every year, regardless of students’ attention, $1.35 million of student tuition goes to SGA funding. So it should be of the utmost importance that the student government serves the interests of the students.
That means prioritizing what students prioritize daily: saving money and finding opportunities to connect with RSOs or community partners to secure post-grad employment.
This can all be said and done, but to truly achieve this type of representation, it’s important to make all students feel seen without asking them to rearrange their lives.
This is exactly why we are running for Student Body President and Executive Vice President.
We want an SGA that understands that students have limited time and attention and treats that with respect. When student government becomes transparent and accessible, engagement becomes easier and trust begins to grow once more.
This starts, truly, with having fun. Fun plays a bigger role than we often admit but it doesn’t mean being unserious. It means having energy, being approachable and humanizing the institution of student government. SGA should feel like something a student can connect to rather than something that looms almighty above them.
Making SGA welcoming and positive will surely allow students to engage and ask questions, but more importantly, care.
Additionally, opening up to the U of L community by democratizing when the SGA Senate takes place reinforces the accessibility of student government. Inviting students into the process rather than the closed door decision-making we have seen in years prior signals a shift towards the voice of the student body, who will hopefully shape the outcomes of SGA rather than observing them afterwards.
We’ve seen how much stronger decisions become when students come together but when communication is clear and leadership is approachable, student government stops feeling distant and starts feeling shared.
SGA should reflect the people it serves as busy, thoughtful and lively. SGA belongs to the students. We are running to ensure it.
Photo Courtesy / Yash Arabati
