BFC balks on plan

Members of the Bloomington Faculty Council spoke out against elements of a sweeping transportation reform proposal presented by the council's parking study committee during Tuesday's BFC meeting.\nLaw Professor Fred Cate, who delivered the proposal on behalf of the committee despite the absence of Chairman Clint Oster, said committee members anticipated negative responses from other members of the BFC.\n"I think the committee's plan was received about the way we expected," Cate said. "Everybody has something they don't like about it."\nThe proposal consisted of five recommendations for University consideration, which included a new transportation fee and the limitation of A and C parking permits to full-time faculty and staff.\nIU-Bloomington Interim Chancellor Ken Gros Louis promised to stand firm against the limitation, which would most directly affect graduate students serving as associate instructors.\n"Over the years, the academic deans have spoken out in favor of AIs," he said. "We don't want to treat them like second-class citizens."\nCouncil members, seated in a circular quorum, waited until the presentation of BFC agenda item number seven -- the "discussion of parking study committee report and recommendations." Some attendees snapped to attention in their chairs while others rapped their pencils in nervous anticipation of a hot-topic debate. When Cate finished his address, attendees voiced their concerns.\nChemistry Professor Romualdo De Souza said the A and C permit restriction could deter graduate students from coming to IU.\n"Frankly, I find the second recommendation very short-sighted," he said. "It devalues our AIs, and when you hinder the ability to attract grad students, you are devaluing faculty." \nGraduate student Melissa Adams said the A and C proposal would have been a significant setback for graduate students. \n"AIs provide an invaluable service," she said. "Parking is one of the few benefits we have, and we're very concerned that could be under consideration"\nAccording to the parking study committee's report, IU sells 2.6 A parking permits for every A spot available on campus and 1.7 C permits for each C spot available. The proposed restriction would alleviate those disparities, dropping the ratio to 2.3:1 and 1.3:1, respectively.\nSome members questioned the significance of such a move, but Cate stood firm.\n"It's almost 1,800 spots," he said. "I would not call that symbolic."\nCate added that the extra parking is paramount to the needs of University associates.\n"Sometimes people are racing for a space in a lot," he said. "You know, you see a spot open three rows over and five cars come from all different directions, and this is an issue of great concern."\nAfter faculty responses, Gros Louis, seated at the head of the conference room, explained an administrator's stance on the parking issue.\nThe new transportation fee would be unlikely, he said, if IU enacts another 4 percent tuition cap. And while he has asked parking officials to serve warnings to all violators of restricted parking spaces, he said he is in favor of a new parking garage.\n"It's just a question of finding the right place along Atwater, where either the houses are IU-owned or the neighbors don't really care," he said.\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.