The University of Memphis Student Government Association (SGA) hosted their second town hall meeting on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at the University Center River Room. Although the audience was small, the meeting provided a valuable opportunity for students to directly engage with their student government, ask questions, and voice concerns regarding a variety of campus issues.
During the session, SGA representatives President Sam Warren and Vice President Christopher Bailey discussed key ongoing projects, upcoming events and listened carefully to concerns about housing, dining experiences and more.
SGA Vice President Chris Bailey opens the Q&A portion of the event by emphasizing the crucial role that student input plays in shaping university policies. “Bills are entirely student led, the bill is a way of SGA saying we fully support this and we want the university to support this as well,” Bailey told the audience. “We want to ensure that the decisions we make as a student government reflect your needs and concerns.”
This statement resonated strongly with students, who greatly appreciated the present opportunity to discuss their challenges and ideas with campus leaders.
A major topic of discussion was the persistent issue of housing issues and availability on campus. Several students raised concerns about the limited number of rooms and the weak maintenance of the living enclosures.
“I stay in Carpenter Complex and I’ve noticed that the plumbing system is always messed up,” said one student. “I had to travel back home just to shower because the water in the tub would never drain. It took weeks for someone to come and finally take a look at the problem.”
In response, SGA President Sam Warren assured the crowd that they are actively engaging with the university administration to find long term solutions. Warren also shared that discussions are ongoing about the possibility of expanding residence halls and adding new dormitories to help alleviate the pressure on housing issues. The SGA further promises to keep students informed on the progress of these efforts, assuring them that it is a top priority.
Another significant concern raised by students was the decrease in quality over the dining experience, which many felt was an extreme let down. “It was frustrating to spend so much money on a meal plan just for the food to be terrible,” said one grad student. More students even proposed the idea of adding a new restaurant to campus and/or extending dining hours. “The quality of the food is atrocious, you get what you pay for, it's understaffed, they run out of food and they sometimes close stations when they are not supposed to.” Warren also assures the previous collaboration with Steak n Shake was not a university decision to remove the restaurant and the chain was already rapidly declining.
The issue of study space was another common theme that emerged during the town hall. With midterms and finals approaching, many students voiced frustration over the scarcity of quiet, dedicated study areas on campus.
“It’s hard to focus when there are so few places to study and the ones that are available aren’t usually 24 hours,” said one student.
In response, both Warren and Bailey took note of the issue and assured students that they will further look into expanding study space options, including the possibility of increasing the hours of operation for the campus library.
The town hall wrapped up with follow up questions on how SGA can get more students to participate and what more they can do to ensure student success. Reminders were presented stating that these discussions will continue into the fall semester, with the next town hall happening in April. In the meantime, students were encouraged to continue submitting their feedback through resources such as suggestion boxes and meeting requests. The association strongly emphasizes that they will continue working closely with the university administration to ensure that the voices of students remain a central part of the conversation as the campus evolves.
