SGA to bring students to ULS Day at Capitol

The Student Government Association announced at its meeting yesterday that the organization is set to sponsor a van to transport students to the annual University of Louisiana System (ULS) Day at the Capitol on April 11, where participants can enjoy entertainment and meet with state legislators.

SGA President Tommy Thibodeaux said that ULS Day is a mix between wanting to see legislators and letting them know that students care about issues that affect them. Seeing students’ faces makes cutting funding to education harder for legislators to do.

“A lot of times when legislators are behind their desks and they say [they’re] going to cut TOPS by 80 percent, on paper it makes sense. When you actually see the lives of people who it matters to and see actual faces and hear stories and are able to connect with people, it makes that decision a little harder,” Thibodeaux said.

The Louisiana Board of Regents wanted to make ULS Day a full event on top of essentially being a protest, Thibodeaux said. It will feature food, drinks and student performers from the various UL System universities.

“That was a big concern that a lot of people had going forward from previous years, that we’re just yelling at a building on steps in the rain or in the cold,” Thibodeaux said. “We’re not getting anything done, so let’s make it a little less of a protest and a little more of an event. Get some people out there to sing, dance [and] do whatever for different universities.”

Thibodeaux said that the event will allow for students to partake in conversations with legislators.

“[It will] get some legislators out of their offices and pull them onto the lawn where it’s not so much of a confrontation but it’s more of a conversation,” Thibodeaux said.

In addition, Director of Student Rights and Grievances Peyton Chiasson discussed updates to the potential bike share program on campus. He said that members of the organization spoke to representatives from a start-up program that seems promising and easy to implement.

“The next step going forward is calling other schools who are currently using this program just to ensure how it’s working for them and see how they like it,” Chiasson said. “If we do get good reviews, I can definitely see this moving forward.”

SGA also passed motions to purchase an HP wireless printer for Nicholls’ Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) at a total of $109.94 and to purchase nine new benches for the quad to replace the current ones.