Don't Bitch: Bus

Before I broke my knee, I tended to walk to school from my 54th and Kimbark Apartment.

Occasionally, when the weather was bad, I'd instead walk north to 53rd and Woodlawn to wait for the 172. Of the four or five times I tried this, almost without fail the bus was full of people coming from further up the route and I couldn't get on. I was obviously angry and was subsequently late to whatever I was trying to get to. Damn CTA and damn Transportation Office, I'd say to myself.

A lot of people are mad at the buses: from Shorelanders trying to get to and from campus to professional students who rely on the buses to get to the El to get downtown. But fortunately, unlike many other things at the University, there is someone listening.

The Transportation Office is standing by with a helpful comment form, an e-mail address which is checked daily, and a hotline for complaints ( 773-795-6108). This is a department which wants to hear from you and is willing to make service adjustments to fill needs. They just need to know where the holes in the system exist.

For me, this is a paradigm of what the University services should be like. It should be relatively flexible and need oriented. It should be receptive to student input and ready to respond. But it needs one final component and that's us: it needs us to use the structure they've built to handle our complaints.

So next time you miss a bus because its too crowded, don't just curse and walk/jog to class: BUS. Every time a driver is rude, don't just brush it off: CALL. And anytime the drunk van takes an hour and a half to pick you up: E-MAIL. Be as specific as possible: time, date, route, and driver if you can remember it all. Channel your anger into that complaint and the Transportation Office will use your advise to make a service which can better serve all students.

-Scott

PS - There are a lot of things wrong with the Transportation Office and there's a lot that needs to be fixed (see Drunk Van, 173, 171 at times, and I still have no idea whether I can get on the 172 at 11 AM on a Tuesday). But their model for communication, albeit under publicized and under used, is what we should strive for and what we would work for if elected.

Maroon Debate Coverage

Here's the coverage of the debate by the Maroon.

A lot of Matt quotes!

We're meeting with them this weekend to talk to both the News Editor (Justin Sink) and the Editorial Board. Should be a lot of fun.

Buttons, Posters, Oh My!

Here are the two final posters which we just made and are printing out in 001.

They'll be all over campus by Monday.






We've got more campaign gear if you want it. Stickers, buttons, maybe even some candy. Let us know if you'd like to wear it or give it out.

Clips from the debate

Enjoy.

Tuition Issues

Many people have been approaching me to talk about one of the ideas that we threw out there in our first campaign video--a tuition freeze. This idea was the product of several talks I have had with my dad about tuition, how I am going to pay for college, and his experience dealing with tuition at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois with my sister. Since then, I have had several talks with administrators and other students about the feasibility of this issue, and their serious concerns about it. It seems that this is not a policy that would be possible at all in the short term, but may not be out of the question in the very long-run.

First let me address this conceptually. Suppose we found the money to pay for such an initiative out of thin air, is this where that money could do the most good? After speaking about this a little more, it seems that improving financial aid packages would help students who need the help more, as opposed to a very small marginal benefit for all students.

To address this idea on the grounds of feasibility, there simply isn't the money to pay for such a proposal right now, but we can address the reason why there is no money for it, one of which is that the University has struggle in the past to make its endowment grow on a rate that compares with other peer institutions. Administrators have been actively working to change this with the Chicago Initiative and many new ideas out of the Development office. On a broader level, we need to ensure that students enjoy their time on this campus enough that they are excited about giving back to the university for the rest of their lives.

Thanks to all the people who raised these concerns, and if you still have issues, please comment on this post!

Campaign Meeting and Debate Prep!

Come to the debate: 6 PM, McCormick Tribune Lounge, Tonight!

Security

In light of the tragic events at Virginia Tech, I think it's really important that we talk seriously about security issues on campus. Right now 53rd-55th on Kimbark is not lit. There is no reason this needs to be the case. What security improvements would you like to see on campus?