Creason Lot parking spaces may increase in the future. 

Resolution 4-15-S, Resolution to Support the Creation of a New Parking Structure, passed in Tuesday’s Student Government Association meeting.

The resolution supports the implementation of a $30 student fee. 

This fee would fund the construction of a new parking structure on campus.  Currently, the parking structure is speculated to take place of Creason Lot. 

During Tuesday’s meeting, Howard Bailey, vice president of Student Affairs, spoke to SGA about his opinion on the possible parking structure, and answered inquiries on the logistics. 

Bailey said the parking structure could be built in 18 months, but the timeline is not certain. 

SGA suspended the bylaws in order to vote on the resolution sooner due to the upcoming deadline to get the resolution into the March Board of Regents meeting.

“We are in a situation where we would have to have it proved by the Board of Regents, and then immediately go to CPE, the Council of Postsecondary Education to get final approval,” Bailey said.

Chief of Staff Seth Church said he was concerned regional campus students would not be happy paying for a parking structure they wouldn’t use.  He said he spoke with Glasgow’s SGA president and she was displeased with the idea. 

“We both agree that we should wait on this, take our time, and work more with regional campuses, faculty and staff,” Church said.

Taylor said although a $30 student fee for a new parking structure wouldn’t have been her first choice, it was a decision that had to be made.

“We don’t want to have to put a fee on students for a parking structure that isn’t going to affect regional campus students and students who don’t park on campus,” Taylor said. “We’re sort of in a whole…We as students need to something about it and this seems to be the only way out and we have to do it quick.”

Another hot topic of the night was the displacement of the students from Pearce Ford Tower.

Church said he was disappointed with WKU’s handling of the situation.

“The administration forced hundreds of students out of PFT with no real support from the university and told them they either had to sleep in occupied rooms on campus with their friends, brave the hazardous weather conditions to go to a hotel or friends house, or sleep on the floor in the Downing Student Union,” Church said. 

“We should be striving to represent these students,” he said. “We must hold the administration accountable for these failures.”