With the recent completion of the Bailey Library renovations, a lot of students have enjoyed the improved front entrance and the newly design T&B cafe. However, there has been some criticism from students that the university spent time and money improving the library while parking problems continue to affect many students. The general argument being made online is that the university spent a lot of money to only cosmetically improve one building on campus while devoting resources to the parking issues would benefit a wider range of students in a more noticeable way.
It has been discussed many times already how SRU’s parking issues are a complex problem, without one clear-cut solution. There have been groups of students recently who have brought up and supported the idea of building a parking garage for the university, to go along with other ideas like restricting freshman from owning parking passes, limiting the number of parking passes given out and only giving passes to true commuter students.
With each of these proposed solutions, it is unknown if they would actually solve the problems, what other ramifications each one could have and how much each one would cost. The Rocket staff thinks that to belittle or be upset about the recent library renovations, because of the parking issues, is short-sighted. There is more to campus and more problems on campus than just the parking. To insinuate that the library renovation would somehow have taken away from university officials’ ability to come up with a solution to other problems is nonsense.
With the rise in concern over parking among students this academic year there have been several instances where university officials have shown to be actively searching for a solution that will work.
Even besides looking just at the parking issues, the library renovations have been a welcomed addition. The new entrance leads to a less congested way to get into and out of the library, the new T&B space is also less congested and easier to move around in. The front lobby as a whole is more open and several offices within the library have been moved around to make more them more accessible to students.
The Rocket staff believes that one issue, even one that affects many students, should not make the other good things the university is doing invalid or less of an accomplishment.
