Last week the University?s Transportation Advisory Committee talked openly about the need to raise parking fees ? by as much as $10 per month ? so the University will have the money necessary to deal with the burgeoning parking problem on campus. Projects already in the pipeline (and funded) are not expected to be adequate as the University continues to decrease the overall required number of parking spaces with new buildings and structures ? and while enrollment climbs.

A fee increase may be warranted, but only if the University can prove (and promises!) that the money will go directly into improved parking, and not into increased (or additional) salaries for highly paid administrators or for renovation of administrative offices (such as the extravagant, suite of offices-in-red the School of the Arts in Mendocino Hall).

But while the University ponders what it could do with a $10 per month fee hike (roughly $2 million dollars per year), it should also move ahead more quickly on plans for making alternative transportation better.

Sac State is probably one of the most bicycle-unfriendly campuses in the CSU system. Implementation of a proposed master plan for bicycles could ease parking woes immeasurably.

Increasing the number of shuttles ? and expanding their range around the campus ? could also help. The current shuttle system (when the shuttles are on time) provides a needed service. But the shuttles need to run more often, on more routes and run longer hours to be effective.

? The Faculty Senate Executive Committee made the right decision in approving a recommendation to the Academic Policy Committee that ASI no longer choose the students involved in the grade dispute process. The committee assured ASI President Jason Bryant and CSSA Chair Shaun Lumachi that ASI was not losing any power, only a responsibility that they cannot handle.

Some students are waiting over a semester to have grade appeals heard. In between whining about losing “power” and “student participation” in the process, ASI failed to realize that they were not fighting for students but only their own interests. It seems to me that they need to reread their bylaws that state that one of their purposes is to advance the welfare of CSUS students.

A streamlining of the grade appeals process is badly needed. Government Professor Bill Dillon?s recommendation that the department chair handle the panel appointment process is a good solution that faculty senate should approve. With this solution, grade appeals would occur in a timely fashion and student representation would not be affected.

? I personally would like to thank Facilities Management for all the assistance during the second sewer crisis. Especially from the Caltrans-esque guy who said, “the quickest way to get your butt in a sling is to talk to the Hornet.” And who can forget the other guy who said, “quick there?s the Hornet kids, lets throw rocks at them.”

Brendan D. Wonnacott is a Government and History Major. He can be contacted by email at [email protected].