By Chad Arias / Editor’s Assistant
null #comment 2 (null )
By Chad Arias / Editor’s Assistant
The only thing harder than passing classes at Riverside City College is finding parking to make it to them.
The ongoing construction of the new nursing building is disrupting traffic so bad that it is an obstacle course to make it to class on time.
Parking lots are closed and with a five-level parking structure that is completely full by 9 a.m., what is the student body to do?
The administration has turned its back on the problem and failed to offer any alternatives to the parking nightmare.
In this present economy the “average joe” is just looking to get his money’s worth. Twenty six dollars per unit and there’s no guarantee of making it to class on time. Forty three dollars for a parking permit and there’s no guarantee there will be parking.
Twenty thousand students attend Riverside City College and most buy parking permits with the intent that this will assure them a parking spot decently close to their destination.
Their intent is not being fulfilled, which raises the question: where is the money going?
Twenty thousand students paying $43 each for parking comes out to $860,000. That’s $860,000 and there’s still no solution to the parking crisis? What on earth are students paying for then?
Something smells fishy here, and it’s the smell of a money hungry administration. An administration that will gladly take your business but is less than willing to offer back service.
Since when did education stop being a right and start being a business?
RCC is turning into a corporate enterprise rather than a community serving college.
The administration would rather spend millions on a brand new building than spend thousands on better parking.
The new nursing building will only expand the nursing program by 200 students. Where is the logic in this? 200 students are added while 20,000 are forgotten about.
This disruption of parking is not going away any time soon. The project is scheduled to be completed by January of 2012. That means two more years of students stressing if they’re going to make it to school on time or not.
It is the administration’s job to provide parking for all enrolled students, who pay big bucks for books, classes and permits.
They deserve the right to have a parking place suitable for their busy schedules.
With part time jobs and ride situations not every student can make it to RCC forty minutes early just to find a place to park. That is an outrageous waste of time that could have been spent on studying or finishing assignments.
In the end, it’s the student’s grades that suffer. Being late and missing lectures means more failed classes. Failed classes means more time at RCC. More time means higher enrollment, and higher enrollment means more traffic.
The administration sees the same equation except in their minds higher enrollment equals more money.
The whole situation is one big disaster that keeps rolling round and round until students stand up and put a stop to it.
The student body should not allow its administration to keep on taking without giving back.
Money is obviously the only language the administration speaks and sees.
In order to get their attention, students have to hit them where it hurts: their pocketbooks. A boycott of parking permits would force the administration to start creating more space. With the loss of parking revenues maybe administration would open their eyes.
Imagine 20,000 students flooding residential and industrial areas all around RCC.
The public outcry would be so great that more parking lots would spring up over night.
The administration has no problem being deaf and blind to students pleas but how about the general public’s?
The more support students have behind them the more likely their demands will be met.
Alternative parking is not an unreasonable demand. It is a service that should be provided to enrolled students.
The administration will continue to take advantage of students so long as they are ignorant to the fact that the power of change is in their hands.
Viewpoints
Opinions
8 | September 23, 2010