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SGA Passes Bill for Students

SGA passed two bills Tuesday night that will affect both student parking and dining services.

SGA passed the “Parking Lot Maintenance Act of Fall 2013” in order to better distinguish parking areas from non-parking zones for students and faculty.

Senator Matthew Simpson proposed the bill in response to receiving a ticket a month ago for parking in a non-designated spot.

“Some students cannot distinguish a parking space from a no parking zone due to poor line paint in the parking lots,” Simpson said. “This would allow the campus police to be able to determine if a student is committing a parking violation more accurately.”

Simpson said Chief of Police Gay Shepherd expressed her concerns with ticketing students parked in poorly lined parking spots and would like to see clearer lines painted.  The bill passed with a majority vote to begin implementing the project.

“As long as we get the building grounds committee onboard, it should be done in a weekend,” Simpson said.

After brief discussion, SGA also passed the “Cafe Fast-Pass Act of 2013” regarding lengthy lines during high traffic hours in the cafeteria.

The bill aims to implement self-service scanning by students with their Eagle Cards.  Meal exchanges, credit cards, and cash transactions will remain under the current system.  Junior Senator Scott Hill proposed the bill.

“It’s always very difficult to get into the cafeteria during peak hours,” Hill said. “I think the problem with it is the cashier line. It would be a lot easier if people could scan themselves rather than having to wait on someone doing a food exchange transaction.”

Scott proposed that after sliding their cards, students would enter through a set of turnstiles, very similar to how one would gain access to the Fitness Center. This would aid in crowd control.

During the discussion, senior senator Elissa McLerran expressed her support of the bill and mentioned a similar system currently being used on UT-Knoxville’s campus, where her brother attended.

“They have fast pass lanes. He was an engineering student and he didn’t have much time to eat and so it worked out really well for him to be able to breeze through in there,” McLerran said.

Other senators questioned how the lanes would affect guests. Hill specified that guests would continue to use a separate line for entry.

After further discussion, the bill passed unanimously 35-0.

Implementation will take effect after further discussion between campus administration and student advocates of the bill.