Dear Sandra Eustis Bracket and President Botman;
Parking has been a huge issue, this year due to the added Hannaford Conference Facilities and the WishCamper Campus for Ollie Students. I have been a student at USM since 1999, as a non-traditional single mother who relies on commuting both to the university and to my children’s schools. As you know I pay a semester fee to access USM’s parking facilities. All semester I have been fuming at the fact that parking is again out of control, just like the years leading up to the construction of the parking garage. Until now, I have held back my opinions as I have so many other things, on a day to day basis, to worry about that taking the time to speak on my behalf and my fellow students behalf on these issues has been something I have not been able to address. However, my hand has been twisted too far this time, and I cannot stand quietly by while this discrimination towards students at USM takes place any longer.
First and foremost, the students of any college should always be the first priority of the University. However, there are blatant and not so obvious signs that this is not the case here at USM. For instance, Conference attendees have access and on some occasions free access to the parking garage, where their only destination is the building connected to the parking garage, the Hannaford Conference Center. To make matters worse, these individuals who have the time and money to find other resources to get to the conference do not, instead they take up students study time, travel time and family time, so we have to fight for a parking space somewhere near the campus. Its an insult to us the students, to be asked to park near Baxter Boulevard, to then wait for a shuttle, that if we are lucky, comes every fifteen minutes, to then make it to our classes, after walking from the Campus Center to our classrooms. As an added slap to the face, as the lucky students that do find parking in the garage, we have to parade by a mezzanine that 90 percent of the time is not being occupied, with a sign saying that “This Area is Reserved for Private Functions” and is roped off from us. Words cannot explain how irritating it is, when everyday we have to walk to our classes and be reminded that we are not even welcome in our own university.
There are two brand new facilities located on USM’s campus, but specifically not for the majority of USM’s student population to utilize. We cannot sit and study in the Hannaford building and from personal experiences I have received many ‘disgusted looks’ while entering the Wishcamper Center, which has plenty study areas fully equipped with comfortable couches, chairs accommodating laptops, and even equipped with a roaring fire place.
On the other hand, I see students waiting for computers in the computer lab, lugging laptops and backpacks full of books that no one should have to lug from Payson Smith Hall to the Library at the other end of campus just to find a place to sit and work. People crowding the couches in a hallway in Luther Bonney’s second floor. Professors cramped in shared offices in the toxic basement of Luther Bonney. I could go on, with my connections both through professors and employees at USM, with lists of injustices and ridiculous conditions within the University of Maine system, but then I’d have to apply for a Thesis to be added to my degree.
As for the request, to park near Baxter Boulevard to make things more convenient for the corporate influences that are clearly calling the shots at this public institute, I am going to have to refuse to accept that I should play second class citizen to a fully catered conference that just happens to be scheduled on the last two days before finals at USM. This blows my mind away, and is a complete and udder violation of our rights as financial backers of the University of Southern Maine.
Tabatha Woodside
Senior
English Literature Major
Class of 2009