The University News A Student Voice of Saint Louis University Since 1921
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Vol. XC No. 20
Thursday, February 24, 2011
See who we chose for the 2011-2012 SGA Executive Board>> PAGE 5 Brush up on each SGA candidate and their platforms before voting >> VOTERS GUIDE
We Cast our votes: SGA ENDORSEMENTS
Vote poised for proposed fee
New ‘life’ set for old gym: Social center
News Editor
News Editor
Noah Berman / Photo Editor
Sophomore Stephen Koniak uses his SLU ID to enter the Loyola lot on Feb. 23. Around 8,000 SLU students and faculty utilize spaces in parking lots and garages maintained by Parking & Card Services. SLU’s current parking permit system has been in place since 2000.
SLU Parking lots: It’s a space and numbers game Current system tackles campus needs
By ERIKA MILLER Enterprise Editor
Over the years, many Saint Louis University parking lots became the casualties of campus expansion. John & Lucy Cook Hall, the lower level of the Simon Recreation Center, the Village Apartments and the SLUruba outdoor pools are just a few of the well-known campus spots that were once parking lots. As a result, like many universities located in a city environment, SLU is tight on parking. SLU’s office of Parking & Card Services (PCS) is charged with ensuring a little campus parking space goes a long way to serve the vehicular needs of the SLU community. In 2000, SLU’s parking system underwent major changes to cover the costs of PCS and to change how parking spaces are reserved. Beginning with the Laclede Garage in 1992, SLU opened four new parking garages. Though the garages increased the amount of parking space, the debt from these projects prompted a price increase of 65 percent in one year for all parking permits. “[It was] set down that we should be selfsufficient; the money we were bringing in should cover the expenses that we have and with building the four garages, that’s a very big expense,” director of PCS Ann Gioia said. A new preference system was also implemented to change the hierarchy of parking permits. Lots near academic buildings, which had been set aside for faculty and staff, were opened to anybody and became “premium”
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See “Parking” on Page 3
There are 5,475 parking spots in the three garages (Laclede, Olive and Hickory East and West on the med campus) Around 9,000 total spaces in the system They sell around 8,000 of the spaces 1,000 surplus spaces, about 500 on each campus (main and medical) The parking system is reviewed every 3 years
Accreditation team to assess SLU’s status Last review was 2002; institution prepares self-study for 2012 By ANDREA ROYALS Managing Editor
See “Space” on Page 3
and “reserved” lots. “It’s a first-come, firstserve basis based on what you want to pay; it’s a more fair system,” Gioia said. Part of the idea for the parking choice program came from students. When the lowerlevel of the Rec Center was still a parking garage, students studying the parking system for a psychology class said PCS should charge more for these in-demand spaces. “That kind of opened the door for the whole parking choice program where we had lots that were higher-priced,” Gioia said. Currently, SLU maintains around 9,000 parking spaces, with 5,475 spaces located in garages. Around 8,000 of the spaces are occupied, with a surplus of 500 spaces on each campus. Though the system has surplus spaces, Gioia said the administration and PCS would like to add additional parking west of Spring Street due to the high volume of residence halls on that part of campus. Current prices for parking permits range from $280 per year, for general evening parking, up to $1,410 per year for some of the reserved lots. A Parking & Transportation Advisory Committee reviews parking prices every three years and decides if a percentage increase in price should be implemented. Student Government Association, the Faculty Senate and the Staff Advisory Committee each contribute two members to the advisory
The current parking system went into place in 2000
Parking By The Numbers
There are plans in the works for the BaumanEberhardt Center. An underutilized building on Saint Louis University’s campus, the goal is to turn the old West Pine Gym into a new Center for Global Citizenship. “It’s pretty much vacant right now,” Student Government President, Courtney Anvender said. “The conversations that have been had between myself and student development have been looking at this blank space. Its not being used, but it’s a cool building in the heart of campus. So what can we do to kind of to give it some new life and make it part of the campus experience?” Plans for the Center for Global Citizenship aim to create a central location on campus for students who might not otherwise meet to congregate. The plan is to create a common area to facilitate this interaction, a space Anvender compared to the atrium in the John Cook School of Business. “It would be a good compliment to the Pius Library Renovation,” Anvender said. “It would be a multi-purpose space students can use— a place to bring students together in a kind of campus living room.” Anvender stated that a “campus living room” would be an excellent way to put SGA’s new oath of inclusion into practice. She feels that if students have a central location to meet and study, there will be greater interaction among the diverse student groups around campus. “What this would be would is a space that has an intention and a focus for a really inclusive atmosphere for all students,” Anvender said. “It will have some learning objectives that will be tied to what it takes to be a good global citizen. You have to have the academic side and the social side together and then have the space for these interactions to occur.” Other plans for the space include a renovation of the space to create an auditorium with a theatre style setting for events that might attract a larger audience than other spaces around campus might hold and the possibility of adding a new café. There have also been talks about creating a central location in BaumanEberhardt for the crosscultural groups and programs around campus. “We’re looking at the possibility of developing some of the space in BaumanEberhardt as a compliment to what we have in Des Peres Hall now,” Kent Porterfield, Vice President of Student Development, said. “We’re thinking of things like expanding the Cross Cultural Center and cross-cultural studies and programs.” While conversations between the Board of Trustees, the administration and SGA are in the works, the ideas for how to use the space are still in the preliminary stages. Porterfield said that those involved with the
happen if they support it. “I’ve had some students say this is an awful idea, but others have told me this is a The Student Government great idea,” Anvender said. Association elections on Feb. “I say to both sides, vote that 28 will not only offer students way. This is their choice.” an opportunity to vote for next By voting “yes” on the refyear’s Senate, but it is also a erendum, students are agreechance for students to voice ing to pay the fee for both setheir opinions regarding the mesters of the academic year. Athletic Fee. Though every student will The proposed fee states be required to pay, not every that undergraduate students student will be able to attend would pay a mandatory $15 each home game. The fee will Athletic Fee only allot per semes1,000 seats ter. Gradufor every ate students game, so a would have method of the option I’ve had some stu- distribution to pay the will need fee. This will dents say this is an aw- to be finalprovide stu- ful idea, but others have ized. dents with “By the the oppor- told me this is a great end of this tunity to get idea. year, we one of 1,000 need to figfree tickets -Courtney Anvender ure out the to all home distribution games durdetails,” ing the Anvender men’s basketball season. said. Students currently pay $10 According to Anvender, if for admission to each home the fee passes more student game unless they purchase feedback will be gathered and season tickets that sell for the distribution plan will be $135. worked out. SGA has the power to imThe issue of too few seats pose a fee on students without has already been considered. their vote, such as the imple- Anvender said she and varimentation of the Wellness Fee ous administrators involved in in 2010. However, SGA Presi- the creation of this fee believe dent Courtney Anvender said 1,000 seats will be enough, that they felt that offering the but they are not eliminating vote to students would have the best outcome and would See “Athletic Fee” on Page 4 allow students to make the fee By SEAN WORLEY
By KRISTEN MIANO
A team from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA) will visit the University in April of 2012 to review the institution for continued accreditation. “Technically the accreditation is voluntary unless you want federal funds for anything,” Miriam Joseph, Pius XII Memorial Library librarian and steering committee chairwoman, said. Joseph, who began preparing for the visit nearly three years ago, said that unless the University wishes to receive money for research, financial aid, Pell Grants and loans from the federal government, the
institution as a whole must be evaluated by consultants from the HLC. The last visit from the HLC occurred in 2002, and since then the criteria for evaluation have changed. Joseph said the self-study report that the University submitted to the HLC nearly a decade ago was a descriptive narrative and lacked evidence of assessment. “Now HLC wants evidence,” Joseph said. “We have to respond to different criteria in a different way than how we did 10 years ago.” The criteria, which includes five distinct categories of institutional evaluation, will allow the University to examine the areas that it has improved upon since the last accreditation, as well as give
an opportunity to reflect on how the principles of the University’s mission statement are presently being met. The analysis of each criterion will examine the knowledge and experiences of the campus community, including professional schools and the Madrid campus, and how they relate to the mission of the University. Joseph said the process of self-study involves the entire institution, including education programs, support services and facilities of the University, its human, financial and physical resources and the structure of the administration, governance and planning. See “Accreditation” on Page 3
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Shah (Yuqing Xia) /Associate Photo Editor
A packed house celebrates at Chaifetz Arena during the annual Blue Out game against Charlotte Feb. 19.
Search for A&S Dean: Four candidates to visit By ERIKA MILLER Enterprise Editor
The search for the next dean of the College of Arts & Sciences kicked off Feb. 21 with a presentation from one of four candidates. A committee that included Saint Louis University staff members and one student narrowed down a pool of 90 nominees and reviewed nearly 40 applications before selecting four candidates for on-campus interviews. Candidates for the position include John Kiss, professor and chair of the Botany Department at Miami University in Ohio; Michael Barber, S.J., interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and dean of the College of Philosophy and Letters at Saint Louis University; James Payne, interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and professor of economics at Illinois State University; and Robert Pratt, chair of the History Department at the University of Georgia. During screening interviews, the committee used criteria drawn from recommendations made earlier in the process by department chairs, faculty, staff and students of the College. Each of the candidates will meet with several groups within the College and the University during their visits to campus, according to an email sent by the search committee Feb. 16. Open meetings with stu-
dents began Feb. 21 with Kiss, who met with a small group of students. Kiss answered student questions and spoke of his previous experience as a professor and a student mentor. He said a College of Arts & Sciences is the “basic knowledge part” of a university and said he would embrace the challenge to work with people from many different departments. Kiss attended undergraduate at Georgetown University and said coming to a Jesuit university would be like “coming back to my roots.” He also spoke of the importance of faculty mentors and said if he is selected dean, he would like to keep in touch with students directly in some capacity. Barber’s open forum with students will be held Thursday at 2 p.m. in Busch Student Center Room 254. Payne will meet with students on Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. in BSC 254, and Pratt will meet with students March 10 at 1 p.m. in Room 304 in the School of Law. Additional information on each of the candidates, including their previous positions and published works, was sent in an email to all students in the College. All graduate and undergraduate students in the College of Arts & Sciences are invited to attend the meetings, ask the candidates questions and provide an evaluation to the search committee.