Column by Nick Phelps

Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone is doing well and starting to prepare for finals. They will be here in a heartbeat, so don’t fall behind.

I want to start things off by thanking Mr. Wildcat, Bill Keightley, for everything. A friend of mine is a manager for UK’s men’s basketball team, and I learned over the past couple years everything Mr. Keightley meant to the people who knew him. We should all try each and every day to live up to the standard he set. I wish his family and friends all the comfort in the world, and I know Mr. Wildcat is smiling down at us from above.

Last week’s event with Chelsea Clinton was fun. So great to see so many civically engaged students in the Cats Den. We hope that we can bring the candidates to campus before the presidential election. Another Student Government Association success, love it.

We will have one last bang with SGA sponsoring a forum with the candidates for the city council’s third district seat a week from today. They will be on campus at 5 p.m.; the room is still to be announced, so look for the Kernel’s preview article next week. This will be so important for UK students to show up, and we have got to voice our opinion!

As the transition continues with the SG President-elect Tyler Montell’s camp, I want to remind all students to fill out executive applications if you are interested in being a part of SGA next year. Tyler has started the right way by opening his arms to the campus, so don’t leave the man hanging. Come in the office and grab one.

I am excited about passing the torch, hopefully without any protesters, and I promise Tyler and his running mate Grant Mills will be set by the time I clean out the drawers. We hope to have one more president’s roundtable before the end of the year, during which Tyler and I will be there. It will be a great way to start the new school year.

SGA recently teamed up with the Violence Intervention and Prevention Center on a new campaign that simply uses recognizable names on campus and e-mails.

Each week, we are sending quotes from a campus leader that will help spread the word about our goal of a violence-free campus. This week’s quote is from Provost Kumble Subbaswamy, “Violence and abuse are completely antithetical to the very mission of the university.” Join us in this surge of energy as we make UK the safest college campus.

Well, with the state budget set to cut funding for higher education by 6 percent, I am sorry for all of you who are going to have to pay more for the same schooling next year. I will continue to fight for you with the Board of Trustees to reduce the rise in tuition as much as possible. I just wish the legislators could help us a little bit more. We did good work to get the cuts down from the proposed 15 percent, but we still need more help. Keep your eyes peeled.

The final board meeting will be at 1 p.m. April 22, two weeks from now. If tuition and fees are on the agenda, I hope you will make it a point to come visit. I will keep you posted.

Opening weekend at Keeneland was unreal! I am just glad the ATMs were not working.

Time to get to work, so put this paper down and start paying attention in class. Have a great couple of weeks, folks.