DeKALB – An NIU professor proposed the abolishment of parking fees for faculty and staff at the Faculty Senate meeting Wednesday in Altgeld Hall.
FACULTY MEMBER PROPOSES PARKING FEE ABOLISHMENT
Virginia Naples, professor of biological sciences, began the meeting expressing frustration with parking fees for NIU faculty during public comment, asking that they be ended for NIU faculty and staff.
“I am asking our illustrious administration to abolish parking fees for faculty and staff,” Naples said.
Faculty and staff parking permits are divided into three tiers, the annual cost being $143 for Tier 1, $145 for Tier 2 and $150 for Tier 3.
“I would like to know why we are being asked to pay this fee because it is not used to improve parking lots,” Naples said.
Naples argued the revenue raised by parking fees among faculty and staff is causing “an inordinate amount of grief” and should be allocated to improving parking spaces.
“It is not really very much money, with a $400 million-a-year-plus budget; The parking fees both from faculty and staff come to about $100,000 or less,” she said.
Naples said her motivation to bring attention to this was her attendance at American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, negotiations.
AFSCME is a trade union which represents public sector employees and has been active in the past in calling for wage increases for its members. AFSCME Local 1890 represents NIU workers.
“They asked for a fee-study committee to be put forward, and I don’t know the final answer, but so far they appear to have been stonewalled,” Naples said.
Furthermore, she claimed AFSCME would be more successful in their negotiations if they asked the “right” question.
“Why are we being asked to pay to park to come to work?” Naples said.
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN AND NIU
Vice President and Provost Laurie Elish-Piper addressed the implications of the federal government shutdown, which took effect on Wednesday, on NIU.
“Our director of federal relations in Washington D.C. is closely monitoring and sharing information with us,” Piper said. “In addition to that, we’ve been in communication with the governor’s office because we know that the impact of the federal government on the state budget also affects us.”
She assured the senate that NIU is tracking the impact of the shutdown on federal funding, like federal work-study programs and financial aid.
“We’re continuing to track those because those are also programs that could impact us, especially as the shutdown might extend,” Elish-Piper said.
The next Faculty Senate meeting will take place at 3 p.m. on Oct. 29 in Altgeld Hall.
