Despite criticisms of its allegedly restricted and worthless powers, LSU’s Student Government had a direct hand in halting the then-looming 82 percent budget cut to Louisiana higher education last spring.
In this campus’ darkest hours, SG members stepped up on behalf of the LSU community to fight for higher education. Without SG executive staffers and senators advocacy, mobilizing hundreds of students to march the State Capitol would have been impossible, and the fate of students’ academic futures unknown.
Under current SG President Andrew Mahtook’s administration, student voices echoed throughout the committee rooms of the statehouse last spring and will surely do so again when mid-year budget cuts come along.
And when they do, Mahtook and his team will be ready.
In June, the SG executive office released a controversial report card on state legislators’ support for higher education, grading them based on their votes during the session. The administration plans to continue holding lawmakers accountable in the upcoming special and general sessions.
It is a rarity that a student leader gains considerable attention outside the perimeters of a campus, but Mahtook became a well-known name to Capitol politicians in the spring.
In the coming month, state politicians running their re-election campaigns will make claims of their supposed support for higher education, and SG will hold them to their word.
The report card released this summer proves Mahtook’s administration won’t shy away from criticism, even as a string of legislators attacked the student leader and his chief advisor, Zack Faircloth.
According to Faircloth, the executive branch will begin an application process for a new subset of SG — the Student Advocacy Commission. The commission will be charged with following political campaigns, working with legislators and creating the legislative report card. Myles Sonnier, the SG State Capitol Advisor, will lead the commission.
Students need to involve themselves in this year’s legislative session, and the Student Advocacy Commission is the perfect place to start.
This commission will become the de facto student voice at the Capitol, and following the influx of a new governor and legislators, we can’t afford to remain silent.
Mahtook and Faircloth have essentially created a student-run higher education lobbying firm, and I’m all for it.
We have a stake in the long-term funding of this university, especially in the face of gubernatorial candidates like former LSU Board of Supervisors member Scott Angelle — who placed Louisiana higher education as his number seven priority during a September debate.
Last year, we were unprepared for the budget threats left on LSU’s doorstep, but this time we’ll be ready — and thanks to students like Mahtook and Faircloth.
Justin DiCharia is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Slidell, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @JDiCharia.