The Student Government Association’s (SGA) mission is to “serve as the voice of the students in conveying their opinions, ideas, wishes, and needs to the administration.”

Last Friday, SGA held their bi-annual event Lunch with the President where SGA senators and administration members joined President Nick Bruno to discuss some of the current issues at ULM along with some ideas to help improve the campus.

Senators worked throughout the semester to gather questions and concerns expressed by fellow students to make sure they were heard at the luncheon.

A wide variety of those concerns were brought up including parking, improvements to Banner, the addition of a pavilion at Bayou park, accreditation to the Physical Therapy program, reservation of dormitories for incoming international students and the addition of the facilities enhancement fee. 

Rightfully so, the addition of the “facilities enhancement fee” was one of the topics that grabbed the most attention.

President Bruno shared that reduced state budget is the primary reason for the bump in tuition. “The money raised through this fee will go towards enhancing the buildings and learning environment so the students can focus [on academics],” Bruno said.

Bruno also mentioned that the tuition adjustment is comparable to ones recently made by other universities in the UL system.

Another issue brought up was the struggle the incoming international students face in finding a place to stay.

Senator Shivam Kharga suggested that reserving a certain amount of rooms in the dormitories could help, as the rooms are already full by the time international students arrive in Monroe.

Tommy Walpole, executive director of Auxiliary Enterprises, said that the removal of housing holds for international students was done so the students could live off campus.

“We can definitely put some rooms aside for the international students moving foward,” Walpole said.

A lot of the issues discussed at past luncheons have already produced results.

Lighting improvements across campus, allowing the graduating seniors and their families access to the seventh floor of the library balcony during graduation to take pictures, addition of three energy-efficient water fountains that have bottle fillers to the activity center along with plans to add more to the other academic buildings and a brand-new dock on the bayou so students have more outside seating area are some of the changes that stand out.

“This is one of my favorite events and it really shows that the administration cares about the students,” Bryce Bordelon, SGA president said.

SGA will host their next Lunch with the President event during the spring semester.