The Saint Louis University community deserves more respect from the administration.
Students and faculty came back to school this year to find that parking rates had increased, despite the student body’s recommendation against it. Almost a month into the school year, many are still complaining about the parking prices, and they have likely all been dismissed with different excuses for the extra money they pay.
The general student body is not buying the various explanations they have been hearing. These excuses include the rise in gas prices, parking lot maintenance and safety expenses, and even inflation.
As it turns out, the spike in parking prices has little to do with the parking facilities, and it is mostly going toward paying off debts in other departments of the University.
While this is an unexpected explanation, in the end, it seems logical. After weeks of students and staff complaining, they may have even been disappointed that this is not nearly outrageous enough of an excuse to have been hidden for so long.
But the validity of the excuse does not acquit the fact that the administration failed to include input from the university community in their decision. Their decision against student and faculty recommendations may be valid, but the administration disregarded the importance of student involvement by not informing them of their reasons when they made the decision.
The administration’s lack of openness toward the university community is depreciative and shows intentional exclusion of students and faculty in the decision-making process.
It is worth mentioning that this uninformed student body included none other than the executive members of the Student Government Association, who vie to “involve students in a productive partnership of shared governance with the faculty, staff and administration of the University.”
The failure of the administration to provide information to SGA about their decision making shows no such “involvement” in creating “shared governance.”
We ask the university administration to be more respectful and inclusive of the community it serves. This includes transparency, openness and regard for the students’ and staff’s rights to have access to information that concerns them.
