Problems with parking, shuttle buses to be evaluated by committee
Student Government is in the process of assembling the house of delegates following the dismissal of an organizational challenge asking them to do just that. Student Body President Chase Mizzell announced that SG was “in the process of developing” the body.
Mizzell has received a marketing plan from Secretary of Student Organizational Outreach Brandon White and SG is working on securing a space for the body’s first meeting. The body allows for one representative from each of USC’s more than 400 student organizations, though the actual number of groups represented is to be seen.
“We’re working on getting the proper information out there in hope they will join us for this meeting,” Mizzell said.
Legislation passed
The student senate passed a resolution expressing “the need for CLEP testing at the University of South Carolina.” CLEP testing would give incoming first–year students an opportunity to get credit for subjects they may be proficient in, but did not take an AP exam or college–level class in, according to Senate Academics Committee Chair Erik Singleton.
Some senators expressed concern that the testing could undermine USC’s academic reputation.
“I don’t want to dilute our degrees,” said Senate Student Services Committee Chair Jonathan Holt. “I don’t know if any peer-aspirant schools offer this testing.”
Sen. Andrew Kovtun, who was added as a sponsor of the bill, said the university has always accepted CLEP credit and the addition of the testing would not affect the value of a degree from USC.
The resolution was passed “with acclimation.”
A resolution commending Sorority Council on their award from the National Panhellenic Conference was also passed. Two representatives from Sorority Council accepted a copy of the resolution at Wednesday’s meeting.
Transportation updates
While overnight parking has been banned in the Coliseum parking lots since 2008, USC’s Division of Law Enforcement and Safety has begun enforcing the policy more strictly and ticketing cars in the lots after 2 a.m., according to Senate Safety and Transportation Chair Kirkland Gray.
“Everyone who has been parked there in the past week has definitely gotten the message, but that message needs to get out,” Gray said.
The Safety and Transportation Committee will also be analyzing usage data for SG’s campus shuttle and airport shuttle, which runs at the beginning of university breaks. Gray said he has received the most complaints about the red shuttle. That line is the only one that serves the Greek Village and is used heavily during sorority and fraternity house meal times.
Gray and his committee have also been working with Parking Services on the issue of surface lot parking availability. This year, 1,222 surface lot parking permits have been sold to students for $80. Throughout campus, there are 1,219 surface lot spaces, the majority of which are near Bates House and The Roost, Gray said.
Lot spots in the Coliseum lots are often the most highly sought–after by commuter students, and the lots regularly fill during peak class times. Gray proposed limiting the number of surface lot permits sold to students and noted that surface lot parking will further decline when the university begins construction on a new residence hall at the location of the Coliseum lots.
Holt said the surface lot permits were sold for much less than parking garage permits because a spot is not always ensured.
“You get what you pay for,” Holt said. “We don’t go to school at Wal–Mart.”