As a former student and current staff member, I see more than one side of the parking issue.
As a student, I had all of my classes on main campus, but worked on West Campus, out past the bus barn on Agronomy Rd.
Quite frankly, for people in the same position that I was in, the new plan for parking sucks.
It puts you at the mercy of buses, which means also that you are at the mercy of the weather, since most of the bus stops are not covered in any way.
It made me angry to think that PTTS (they will never be TS to me) would limit me to one parking lot, when I needed access to so many.
I worked with my problem in the only way I could: I blocked all my classes together one after the other and came and parked my car at seven every morning so that I would get a spot. Then I worked every afternoon and managed to move my car from a lot near Zachry to a lot on Agronomy.
I did a lot of walking. It was not much fun.
But as a staff worker now I also see the issues that the faculty and staff raise. As a staff worker I work eight hours a day in one building and I can understand being miffed about having to fight for parking space.
Here in the Vet School every day is a fight pretty much, even in this yellow lot.
There are so many people to accomodate on this campus that there are no easy solutions to the parking issues raised.
However, the person who wrote the mail call should remember: Students attend the University, but they do not neccessarily run the University.
This University is primarily driven by research. I work in the Veterinary School and most of the money generated and earned is by grants given to various professors to conduct their research.
In fact, a lot of the payroll here for the undergraduate students is paid by that same grant money. So before the writer assumes that he is the most important person on campus, they should realize that their tuition does not fund everything, including the professors’ salaries.
Realize that this University is a place where people come to learn and that the privilege of learning here is just that: a priviledge.