Faculty member questions new policy for purchasing decals
Dear Chief Norris:
Following your e-mail message, I meant to renew/purchase my gated-parking decal on the first day that was possible-namely, today.
There were quite a number of people in line before the first of the two K.R. Williams meetings and I was concerned I might not make it to the booth before the meeting was to start, so I decided to go in, attend the meeting, and get my decal afterwards.
However, when I made it to the booth before the 2 p.m meeting, I learned-much to my surprise!-that the gated parking which I have been using for several years now, Lot U, had been sold out. From what I gather, U-lot decals were sold, till available, to anybody requesting one.
Allow me to point out to you that there was no indication whatsoever in your e-mail message that the first-come-first-served policy would be applied in the decal-selling process, and I find it very odd that it was, thus possibly favoring people who were late for the 10 o’clock meeting, sneaked out early, or never attended it.
Also, I was wondering what the point was requesting people to have their gate keys with them if said keys played no part in one’s getting a decal in the lot one has previously used.
I think that we, the faculty and staff, would have deserved being told in full what the decal-selling process would go like, and I am looking forward to hearing from you whether it was I who misinterpreted your e-mail message or rules/procedures not outlined therein it were used in the process.
Ludovic M. Kovalik, Ph.D.Department of English & Foreign LanguagesWinston-Salem State University
Editor’s Note: Professor Kovalik gave his permission to print his letter in The News Argus.
Faculty member concurs with colleague’s opinion about new policy
Dear Chief Norris:
I must concur with the parking decal issue described by Dr. Kovalik. I arrived in line at 7:15 a.m. and when I provided my current gated pass for the parking lot A, which I have parked in for the past seven, I was told it was no longer available. Sound and reasonable parking policies can be a faculty and staff satisfier, but the process used this year has a number of issues that do not seem to promote faculty or staff retention.
Parking is a year-round issue and it seems that faculty and staff should be able to continue their parking arrangements throughout the year.
While issuing parking decals for students may need to follow the academic calendar, I do not understand why faculty and staff parking arrangements would not be done throughout the year as employees enter and leave the University.
It seems it would be much more efficient.
I’ve suggested in prior messages that we explore the use of an electronic system for managing the parking decal process. It is difficult to understand why faculty and staff would need to spend the time “standing in line” to complete the process.
Each of us are being asked to be more efficient and it seems this could produce a major time savings for our faculty, staff, and university.
I noticed a number of faculty and staff with limited mobility in the parking decal lines.
As a matter of fact a number of them would sit for a while and then retake their place in the line because it was difficult for them to stand for long periods of time. I’m guessing they felt the need to make sure they receive reasonable parking accommodations.
We need to make sure our faculty and staff with limited mobility receive reasonable parking accommodations, and they should not need to stand in line for them. Our opening meetings talked about shared governance and encouraged faculty and staff to work together to improve our University.
I’m not sure how this major change in the parking process occurred and would be very interested in learning if faculty and/or staff provided input.
I hope that a fair, equitable, consistent, and efficient process for faculty and staff parking will soon be developed.
Dennis Sherrod Professor, Division of NursingWinston-Salem State University
Editor’s Note: Professor Sherrod gave his permission to publish his letter in The News Argus.