Accent, Sept. 21, 2009 Issue

Page 1

September 21, 2009

www.theAccent.org

Volume 19, Issue 1

RGC garage opens for Fall Semester Students, faculty find old parking issues solved as new ones arise Diana Leite Staff Writer

The new Rio Grande Parking Garage is up and running for the fall semester. There is a total of 543 new parking spaces with 346 open for students, 195 reserved for faculty and staff and two additional spots for the retail space that is yet to open. The garage was opened to students and faculty on Aug. 24, the first academic day of the fall semester of 2009. Pamela Collier, parking manager, is proud to announce the construction was under the $15 million budget While the new parking garage is helping with the notorious parking problem at Rio Grande. It does get full. Its busiest hours are between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. The large amount of students trying to find a spot are currently slowing down the traffic on 12th St. and causing competition for the scarce street parking. The safety officer’s have to check every one of the students’ identifications and parking permits, which takes a lot of time and may be the cause of the unusually long car line on 12th St. Safety Officer Gary Cronkhite, nevertheless, foresees the end of traffic complications. “Once the automatic gates are installed and people get used to the new garage, there won’t be long lines on 12th St. anymore,” said Cronkhite. The automatic gates will be activated by swiping a valid ACC ID for those who paid the parking permit fee. There have been some problems with students parking

Karissa Rodriguez • Staff Photographer

RIO GRANDE — Safety Officer Adam De Leon instructs drivers entering the parking garage on how to use their student or faculty ID’s to gain access to the parking garage. For the first few weeks of the semester safety officers directed students entering the parking garage before a gate arm could be installed. in faculty spots. “Soon we will be giving them warnings, and taking more drastic measures, depending on how many times an episode is repeated,” Cronkhite said. Collier agrees that there is a problem. “This current situation will be addressed soon in a meeting with campus management and administration members,”

Collier said. Nothing is confirmed, but the number of faculty and staff spaces may decrease in order to satisfy the demand for student parking spaces The columns on the sides of the entrance, protecting walls and the safety offices have all been hit by cars. Cronkhite said that the columns are too close to each other, making it difficult

Enrollment hits record high

for the cars to maneuver in the small space. ACC is aware of the problem. The parking garage was designed and built according to approved and tested standards. “Most of the students are not very experienced drivers. They should drive slower and more carefully to avoid scratching their painting jobs,” Collier said.

Michael Needham Staff Writer

ENROLLMENT INCREASE- Students and Austinites line up for food at the well attended Diez

y Seis celebration at Riverside Campus Sept. 16. Attendance at ACC increased significantly this semester.

Nearly 4,500 more students than last fall Trevor Goodchild Staff Writer

Austin Community College’s official enrollment tally for fall 2009 is 40,248 credit students, an increase of more than 12 percent compared with fall 2008, when ACC had 35,798 credit students according to the Public Information and College Marketing Department. The differences in enrollment this year compared to last year has been noticed by ACC’S faculty.

“What was very different was the terrific increase of students this year,” said Vice President of Student Success Systems and Support Services, Dr. Kathleen Christensen. “We began registration a good two months earlier than last year,” said Christensen. “We were reaching 100 percent of where we were last year, before classes started, so I would say it is a good thing we did begin registration

earlier, because we were able to accommodate the extra 13 percent of students that came in after that.” Another way ACC coped with added number of students was by increasing the number of faculty members employed to maintain a 21 to 1 ratio of student to faculty. “The biggest concern I have is, the large numbers that came ȩȩ enrollment continues on pg. 4

As the Rio Grande community adjusts to the new parking garage the kinks are being worked out. “The parking garage was built to solve some of the parking problems,” Collier said, “but we were aware before the construction that it could not solve it completely. Some students will still have to park on the streets, unfortunately.”

Board seat will be left vacant Rivera exits board for national post

Teodora Erbes • Staff Photographer

Stephanie Sides, an ACC student, drives 45 minutes twice a week for an afternoon class and says it’s a great relief to know there’s no need to drive to class earlier, in order to struggle for an expensive parking space on the street. “I have to pay less for my ACC parking permit than I had to pay for a parking space in my high school,” said Sides.

Veronica Rivera attended her final board meeting Tuesday Sept. 8, ending her five-year run on the Austin Community College District Board of Trustees. Now, Rivera is in Washington, D.C., starting her job as the education and policy attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). “I would just like to be remembered as one of the trustees that was very involved with serving the community college and hopefully I did it well,” Rivera said. Her teaching certificate significantly helped her as a board member, said Rivera. “It gave me empathy for faculty and staff as being the ones who are on the front lines in dealing with students, and helping them succeed,” said Rivera. Student activities provided some of Rivera’s

most rewarding experiences. “I always enjoyed going, not anyone knowing who I was, but just seeing how the students and staff interacted,” Rivera said. “It was great to see that our staff was doing a great job and that the students weren’t complaining, but thinking highly of the services that are involved.” At her new job Rivera will be working at the national level to prepare students for college and work. “We will be advocating for access to quality education,” Rivera said. According to a recent press release the Board has decided to leave Rivera’s seat vacant until May elections. The press release quotes Linda Young, Special Assistant to the President for External Affairs, praising the decision. “If the board had chosen to fill the position prior to the election, they would have had little time for an effective selection and appointment process,” Young said. The seat will be left open until the next regular Board of Trustees election in May 2010.

Photo Courtesy of Diana Cordell

In an e-mail interview Dr. Barbara Mink, Secretary of the Board of Trustees, expressed her appreciation for Rivera. “Ms. Rivera was a thoughtful and energetic member of the Board,” Mink wrote. “She was deeply concerned with student success and made many important contributions to the betterment of the college. I will miss my dear friend and colleague, and I know she will make many important positive contributions in her new role in Washington, DC.”


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