Student Government passed emergency legislation Monday based on the student body’s opinion on upcoming parking policy changes to give to Nancy Nusbaum, interim director of transportation services.

The legislation reads that based on surveys of the student body, Student Government endorses the recommendation to change the Speck Street and Academy Street parking garages from all-zone to perimeter parking. Reducing the two-week “permit-free” parking period at the beginning of the fall semester to only one week, as well as implementing a lottery system for parking permit purchases, is also included in the legislation.

Nusbaum will present the information to President Denise Trauth during a meeting early next week.

“Texas State Student Government strives to promote student opinion and feedback on university policies and issues,” said Senator Anthony Galo, the author of the legislation.

The survey sample only consists of 225 students, but some feedback is better than none, Galo said.

“We did everything we could to survey as many people as possible,” Galo said. “We put the surveys out on social media, our website and handed them out during our classes.”

Senator Domonique Gray-Berroa said he did not believe student government should pass legislation that was based on such a small sample size.

“With the sample size being as small as it is, I believe that we cannot ignore that it isn’t representative of the student body,” Gray-Berroa said. “We shouldn’t totally base legislation off of information that is shaky. It should be based off of what our constituents want.”

The legislation was passed 20 to 5. Senator Austin Anderson said she believes Student Government did all it could to gather data within the allotted time.

“I feel that despite the circumstances, it is important that we give this feedback because we do understand the parking issues,” Anderson said. “Every member of the senate has been in the freshmen class here at some point, and we understand the struggles with parking on campus. Along with the data we collected, I feel that the recommendations we’re making are solid.”

This article was written by Anna Herod and sourced from https://star.txstate.edu/node/2420