The Student’s Association submitted a proposal to administration that would implement transportation at Smith-Adams for students living off campus.
Junior political science major and SA vice-president Abraham Enriquez said the proposal is to help two main types of people living off campus.
“The first group is obviously people without cars,” Enriquez said, “as they have the most trouble. They’re walking a mile a day to and from school, and if there’s bad weather or something else happening, they have to deal with it. We want to make it a little easier on them.”
Allyson Payne, sophomore accounting and finance major from Waller, spent last semester at Smith-Adams without a car. However, she’s not sure she agrees with the proposal.
“It’s only like a 15 minute walk,” Payne said. “It’s shorter and faster if you get a bike. It makes it easier on the administration and people get more exercise, so I don’t really think we need a transportation system.”
Enriquez also made a point to include another group of people – the students who have cars at Smith-Adams and can’t find parking.
“I don’t know if people have seen, but we have a little bit of a parking problem on campus,” Enriquez said. “We hope to clear up some parking by having people from Smith-Adams that drive their cars have another way to campus, thereby clearing up space for other students who live further off-campus.”
Kalie Dame, sophomore animal science major from Olney, lives at Smith-Adams and has a car. However, she notices the parking problems nearly every day as she tries to find a spot.
“I leave 20-30 minutes early from the dorm before my 8:00, and I can’t find a spot,” Dame said. “And if I walk I would have to leave at the same time.”
Dame also says that she stops and picks people up walking to campus on a regular basis.
“When I drive to school, I always see people walking to campus much earlier than their class starts,” Dame said. “I offer and give rides, but it would be a lot easier if we all just had a way to get to and from campus. I completely support the idea.”
Enriquez wanted to make one thing clear. Although the proposal passed, it is not guaranteed to go through the administration.
“We did this because of the studies we’ve done and because of the voices of our constituents at Smith-Adams,” Enrique said. “Now we just have to wait for the administration to do what they think is right.”
