Politics roll on amid other news. A group of UCA students has announced plans for a protest this afternoon at which they plan “to demand that state Sen. Gilbert Baker [Republican, Conway] publicly disclose his involvement in brokering luxury housing for his son at UCA.”
The release from Peter Grumbles says: “Many UCA students work to pay for housing and other necessities in additional to taking a full class load. These students are upset over the special favors and special housing given to the son of a prominent state senator.”
We reported some time ago that Baker’s son, a junior college transfer, managed to score single-family housing with a yard in UCA-owned property while most other students make do with decidedly less deluxe married-student housing. This was during the era of President Lu Hardin. Baker claims his son got the housing as part of a scholarship and received no special treatment.
Baker is an expensive re-election battle with Joe White, a Conway Democrat.