By Jennifer Rosales
The Associated Students of Riverside City College President Angel Contreras discussed possible parking reform during the State of the Students forum held in the Charles A. Kane Building on Feb. 27.
According to Contreras, surveys conducted at the beginning of last semester determined that lack of parking was negatively impacting students.
“I’ve noticed that after a certain time there is a lot of staff parking open,” Contreras said. “But there (are) still a lot of students trying to find parking.”
The student president reported that the Student District Consultation Council, which is made up of the the district’s student trustee and the presidents of all three colleges, is working on a district-wide resolution that would allow students to park in staff parking at certain times. The times have not yet been determined.
Members of RCC’s Transitioning Minds Club raised concern over the college providing EBT but not accepting it as a form of payment.
“Since it is being promoted at school, why not accept it,” asked Rosana Gomez, president of Transitioning Minds. “Leaving campus can be a burden. Especially with the parking situation.”
Contreras said he would be willing to discuss the matter with the cafeteria director.
International students raised a concern about two-term registration, which allows students to register for two terms instead of its original one term enrollment. It was put into effect in Nov. 2018.
International students can be categorized as either full-time or part-time students. Their admission requirements are a high school diploma or equivalent and proof of English language proficiency. They also have to go through several steps for application, which includes completing the online application, sending copies of important documents to the international center and paying a non-refundable application fee.
As a result of two-term registration, international students have had a difficult time enrolling in classes they need. They end up taking classes not needed in order to fulfill the full-time unit requirement, which causes some of these students a longer stay at RCC.
Contreras said he would discuss the issue with administration and see if it is possible to go back to the original registration enrollment process or give international students the opportunity to have priority registration before any other groups on campus.
The final issue discussed at the forum was improving pedestrian safety in parking lots.
Contreras wants to see if larger pedestrian crossing and speed limit signs can be put into place for drivers to be more cautious.
