Ready to Copy- Issue 2
 
Resolution 0708-21: Aviation Student Parking Passes For at least the last 2 months, your Aviation Student Council’s research committee has been crunching numbers, ringing phones and knocking down doors to produce our first resolution for presentation to the WSA. The research committee, headed up by our own Andrew Ladd and the ad hoc subcommittee that worked on this issue spent long hours discussing need, policy, and most importantly: money. If you’ve been attending the weekly ASC meetings, you’ve likely heard more than an earful about this issue, voted to research and then voted to present, and given us your raw thoughts and opinions on why this would or wouldn’t work. Of course if you haven’t been coming to our meetings, you are probably not aware of what this resolution is even about. Resolution 0708-21 was drafted out of a need for fairness for COA students. Although the university subsidizes transportation to other branch campuses such as Parkview and HHS, there is no funding for COA students to get to required classes at the Aviation Education Center in Battle Creek from main campus in Kalamazoo; a seemingly unfair balance. Although there have been some very promising recent developments regarding the possibility of full-time university funded transportation, the ASC saw it fit to develop an interim solution until the complete implementation of the aforementioned service. Our solution was to develop a resolution to be presented to the WSA for 100% discount (read: FREE) parking pass for all COA students who have classes in Battle Creek. You may be thinking to yourself that the $300 dollars you would save by not paying for a parking pass is merely a drop in the proverbial bucket compared to the astronomical costs you’re paying in class (and maybe flight) fees, tuition, books, etc. But think of it this way, $300 could buy you some gas, cover part of your insurance or maintenance for your car. That would be $300 in your pocket to do whatever you pleased with. In all honesty, that money is likely to be reinvested in the university anyways. I’m elated to report that although the issue was hotly debated and criticized at Wednesday’s WSA meeting, the resolution passed 29-7 with no abstentions. There was heated discussions among some members of the senate, which actually prompted the speaker to tell one senator that he was being outwardly rude and purposely uncooperative and would therefore refuse to recognize any more of his motions. Ultimately, the resolution was amended so that instead of an upfront 100% discount, it will (for the time being) be a 100% rebate. What that means is that as a COA student, you will purchase a parking pass at the beginning of the semester, and then be rebated the cost in-full at the conclusion of the academic year. This may, however, change when the resolution goes to the administration. The friction amongst the senate seemed to be with the issue that this discount to aviation students seemed unnecessary. Many senators who opposed this resolution argued that as aviation students, we chose to come to WMU knowing the costs up front. While I can sort of understand part of this incredibly one sided argument, I find it hard to defend what it implies: that if you can’t afford a major or academic college, then there’s no way you should chose to go into that field. Second, we’ve continuously been told that the COA is working toward a solution to the transportation problem, which they no doubt are. But while in the interim, we need a solution that students can benefit from immediately. I was also very disappointed in many of the senators who chose to oppose this resolution. Another of their concerns was that students would sign up for a class at the AEC, receive a free parking pass, and then drop the class. It was as if they were implying that we as aviation students were out to scam the university. Fortunately, however, after all of the partisan politics the fact remains that we passed our first resolution as an RSO. The Herald had a fantastic write up on the issue on Wednesday. I am excited about the next step for this resolution. We will be discussing this issue with Dr. Dunn and most likely Lowell Rinker. I am confident that we can enlighten them on the issues and reasons as to why this is important to us as students in the COA. I promise to keep you updated on the happenings with this and all of the other goings on in the Aviation Student Council. Again, thanks to everyone who came to the meetings to give us feedback on this issue. If you haven’t been to our meetings yet, there’s no better time to get involved. We’d love to meet you and hear what you have to say. Stay Safe, Jonathon Ready to Copy- Issue 2
Monday, March 17, 2008