The Northern Light

The student government held its first general assembly meeting of the semester Friday, Sept. 1, after a two-week leave from the summer session.

At the first meeting of the general assembly, USUAA discussed recent developments - most notably, the closure of the northern parking lot outside the Administration and Humanities Building on Sept. 4. The closure is in preparation for the $87-million construction of the new Integrated Sciences Building approved last year.

According to a press release from University Advancement, closing the parking lot will save an estimated $1.5 million on the construction efforts by removing the need to build a separate lot for construction crews to store their heavy equipment.

Many assembly members, including Sen. John Roberson III, were troubled by the administration's response to the new parking procedures. The administration has increased the capacity and frequency of Seawolf Shuttle pick-ups and told students that unused spaces in the library parking lot would accommodate for the closure.

During the construction time, students will be given the option of parking within the designation of new visitor-parking posts, which allow students to buy temporary parking passes for their day classes. However, this system will not benefit students who have already purchased a parking pass. As a result of the expense for this new parking system, the price for the annual day permits has been hiked up by $50 from last year's $130 to $180 per year.

"Parking is, perhaps, the single most stressful daily event encountered by students," said Roberson in his proposed resolution in response to the lot closure.

Roberson thought the effect the project will have on student parking throughout campus from now until 2009 is not being handled well.

"Although the administration's figures indicate that the current parking lots are not at maximum capacity and will accommodate the additional 180 spaces lost to the closure, students are now paying an additional $50 for a parking system that is more inept."

USUAA President Anthony Rivas said that although the parking situation is unfortunate for students, it is a necessary evil.

Also on the USUAA agenda was the Welcome Back Wiener Festival, scheduled for Sept. 12. Though normally a topic such as this would be delegated to a committee, there is currently no specific committee to address it. The brainstorming session resulted in several wiener-related games, from wiener-eating contests to wiener carving and crafting. Most of an hour was eaten away by ideas for perfecting what the senators hope will become a school tradition and even a few concerns regarding the health risks involved in a festival so focused on what has been called "America's Favorite Food."

"Eating the wieners are good, but playing with the wieners are bad!" said Senator Tafilisaunoa "Tafi" Toleafoa, on concerns of horseplay and misuse of the activities by those attending the gullet-filling festival.

In the closing discussion, the assembly put to vote a new bill for their attendance policy. The bill would implement accountability and eventual dismissal of any member of the assembly who arrived late to the meetings after a predetermined amount of absences without a valid excuse. After a heated discussion, the bill was passed, and the meeting adjourned at 5:48 p.m., nearly one hour after the scheduled leave time on the agenda.

Article Tools