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FRIday Issue MARCH 2, 2012 FRESNO STATE
COLLEGIAN.CSUFRESNO.EDU
SERVING CAMPUS SINCE 1922
Parking permit price may increase to $102 The $34 raise per semester would fund Lot J renovations starting in the summer By Alexandra Norton The Collegian
Esteban Cortez/ The Collegian
The current parking permit fee is $68 for each semester. If Lot J is renovated over the summer, students could be paying $102 a semester.
Students may see a $34 parking permit increase to $102 a semester starting fall 2012. In 2009, Associated Students, Inc. passed a referendum that would allow for a parking pass increase after a parking garage was built. In memorandum addressed April 22, 2009, to President John Welty, Dr. Paul Oliaro proposed a parking fee increase from $68 to $136 to cover the cost of the new structure. However, the structure, which would have replaced Lot K and L near the North Gym and provide 900 additional spaces, was scrapped due to cost, and a new arrangement was made to expand Lot J near Craigs School of Business. The current plan is to pave ove r t h e w a t e r b a s i n s i n between Lot J to make more parking spaces. The construction would take place over the summer and the current parking permit fee of $68 would increase $34, bringing it to a total cost of $102 per semester. Senator Nicholas Yingst said that renovating Lot J in place of building a
parking structure would be more costefficient. “Cost and benefit of the parking structure is quite bad compared to simply expanding parking lots,” Yingst said in an email. “The parking structure would add about 900 parking spots while requiring a 100-percent fee increase, whereas the additional spots provided by expanding Lot J would only require only a 50-percent increase.” Yingst said at Wednesday’s Senate meeting there are 8,000 parking spots on campus and that with the new plan about 600 spots will be added. ASI President Selena Farnesi said the referendum passed back in 2009 agreeing to Oliaro’s proposed fee increase should no longer apply since the agreement was to increase after a structure was complete. “The issue is that originally the campus had students vote on a fee. And in that vote, students voted yes, but the document they voted on says, after a parking structure is built,” Farnesi said. “The campus is now saying ‘Well, you guys already voted yes, so we’re going to do this instead,’ and our argument is, ‘No we voted yes to enact a fee after See PARKING, Page 3
ASI receives warning from ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union told ASI the public has a right to record meetings By Alexandra Norton The Collegian A s s o c i a t e d S t u d e n t s, I n c. h a s received a cease and desist letter from the American Civil Liberties Union of Norther n Califor nia regarding President Selena Farnesi’s enforcement of cellphones during an open Senate meetings. After the Feb. 15 Senate meeting in which senators were seen using cellphones, Farnesi sent out an email to the ASI listserv addressing the issues that have come up in previous meetings. In her email, which was obtained by The Collegian, Farnesi cites the dress code, cell phone policy, speaking out of turn and the policy on recording meetings. Farnesi wrote: “Neither public meeting laws nor the First Amendment give anyone the right to record public meetings. Additionally, it is unlawful
to record anyone without their permission. If you would like a recording of the meeting you can access it from our live feed. No one should be recording the meetings independently, especially since no one has come to any member of the staff or executive team to ask permission to do so.” Farnesi said that only people within ASI received the email, which means somebody internally forwarded the email to the ACLU. Senator Jose Luis Nava said later that he forwarded the email to the ACLU. “It would have dragged on if the ACLU didn’t step in,” said Nava. “There was a possibility that the law would have been violated if the ACLU hadn’t stepped in.” Farnesi said the university’s attorney looked over the letter from the ACLU and found that her email was in compliance with procedures and that no statements in it were found to be See ASI, Page 3
“T
here was a possibility that the law would have been violated if the ACLU hadn’t stepped in.” — Jose Luis Nava, senator of clubs and organizations
James Ramirez / The Collegian
An email regarding the policy of recording meetings that Associated Students, Inc. President Selena Farnesi composed was forwarded to the ACLU by a member of the Senate. The ACLU asked ASI to stop enforcing it’s unlawful prohibition of recording meetings.