NEWS
At half past noon on March 23, students attending the first-ever Student Government Focus Group were treated to $130 worth of pizza while telling Student Government representatives how they would like SG to make FAU better.
They spent the first 15 minutes venting their frustration about lack of parking and getting parking tickets.
On April 6, outside the Social Science Building, 20 out of 43 students filling out surveys for the second Student Government Focus Group wrote that, if they could, they would improve parking or something related to parking.
It was the No. 1 thing participating students claimed they would improve.
Just as with the first focus group, Bastidas said that while there was nothing SG could do to create more parking, they would meet with administrators in June to discuss how to resolve the issue.
In addition, Bastidas said he would introduce legislation to the SG House of Representatives in June that, if passed, would change parking ticket policy. Instead of a fine, a first-time parking violator would receive a warning.
Twenty-four students attended the first focus group; 43 attended the second. Another $130 worth of Papa John’s pizza was provided — as well as Pepsi, Sierra Mist and Aquafina. SG House Speaker Boris Bastidas said there will be another focus group during stress week, between April 18and 21.
Although parking was one of the more popular complaints among participating students, there were other complaints voiced — like the difficulty of registering for classes online at MyFAU.
Below is a list of other complaints and suggestions made by students, and what SG plans on doing about them. Bastidas said that many of these will be addressed in June, after SG has spent its money for this fiscal year, which ends in June.
MYFAU CLASS REGISTRATION TOO SLOW: Twenty-four students said that it was “too difficult” for them to register for classes on MyFAU. Specifically, some said, the site is down or moves slowly when it comes time for them to register for classes. One student said they “went through hell trying to get in.”
Bastidas said that while SG could do nothing to directly change how the website operates, they would meet with Student Affairs in June to discuss how to solve the problem.
SMALLER CLASSES/MORE CLASSES: “We’re worried about classes being cut … [and] keeping what we have,” Bastidas said on the matter of number of classes available. He added that SG has no control over the size, and number, of classes available.
COST OF TUITION, FOOD, AND HOUSING TOO HIGH: Since FAU’s Board of Trustees (BOT) is responsible for the prices of these items, Bastidas said the House can do nothing to directly affect them. SG has one vote on the BOT in the form of the Student Body President.
Student Body President Ayden Maher said that he, along with university President Mary Jane Saunders, SG representatives and non-SG students, went to Tallahassee last month to persuade the legislature against cutting state funding to FAU. If funds to FAU were cut, Maher argues, then prices for food, tuition and dorms would rise.
Maher said that, at the capitol, he met with Gov. Rick Scott, chancellor of the State University System (and former FAU president) Frank Brogan, Chief Financial Officer Frank Atwater, and the state senate’s Education Policy Committee.
“There’s something everyone can do, and that’s advocate,” Maher said. He suggested students contact their state representative and ask them to vote against cutting FAU’s funding.
Maher hopes the legislature was persuaded to stop funds from being cut to FAU. “By May, we’ll know.”
MORE SOCIAL EVENTS: Boca Governor-elect Ryan Ebanks, who is partly responsible for putting together and promoting campus events, said that the “the main problem is awareness.”
While there are a lot of events, many students don’t know about them, Ebanks said. Student Body Vice President Evan Konecky added that, over the past two semesters, SG has been promoting events more with flyers posted around campus.
According to Konecky, FAU might switch its email server from MyFAU to Gmail. That way, Konecky said, if there is an upcoming event posted on FAU’s Gmail calendar, it would appear on all students’ Gmail calendars.
For now, though, Ebanks said he would use the next marketing director and Facebook to publicize events. The latter, he said, has been very effective.
MORE SUPPLEMENTAL INSTRUCTION (SI) LEADERS: According to FAU’s website, supplemental instruction is a weekly study session for hard classes. They are led by SI leaders. Bastidas said that, in June, he will propose a bill to add three more SI leaders.
RAISE TRI-RAIL AWARENESS: While parking was one of the biggest complaints, one student, who said they use Tri-Rail to get to school, thinks SG could treat the parking problem by advertising the public transit service. Bastidas said that the issue will be dealt with in the summer, after all elected SG members are inaugurated. He also mentioned that there should be announcements about the service sent to students via email.
FIX THE VIBE: In one student’s opinion, “[FAU] feels like a commuter school not a university [sic].” In response to this, Bastidas replied, “It’s not a vibe, it’s a reality.” He added, though, that he hopes the new football stadium and Innovation Village Apartments would help bring FAU closer to being a traditional university.
SAFER PARKING LOTS: One student said that, if they could, they would put up signs that say “Watch Your Speed” in order to improve safety in the parking lots. “I don’t think [SG] can do anything about it,” Bastidas said. In his opinion, campus police should be stricter about traffic safety violations. “I don’t know if putting signs up will do anything.”
STUDENT-RUN CREDIT UNION: One student said they would like to see FAU create its own credit union. Bastidas said that, during the summer, he would discuss it with administrators in a meeting that would also cover Greek housing.
MORE BATHROOMS: One student said they would improve FAU by adding more bathrooms. Bastidas said that he feels there are enough bathrooms on campus, and will not push for adding more.
SKATEBOARDING: If they could, one student wrote, they would improve “the skateboarding policy.” Bastidas said he didn’t know what the student meant, but opined that FAU ought to enforce the policy that bans skateboards and bikes in the Breezeway better. He claimed to regularly see people violating that policy.
