The St. Petersburg campus of the University of South Florida is at a major crossroads. What does the future hold?
Do we want to continue to grow to 10,000 or even 15,000 students? Or are we satisfied at our current student population (which, depending on whose numbers you use to determine what a student is, is between 4,500 and 6,000)? If expansion is in the cards, do we want to attract freshmen, or do we want to attract upperclassman and students pursuing their master’s degrees? Will another residence hall be constructed? How long until the dorms in the University Revenue Building get turned into offices?
These are all questions that the folks in Bayboro Hall need to be asking, discussing and answering in the near future. We’re not going to have a new regional chancellor until July, and I’m sure that she’ll have her own vision for USFSP.
As the resident campus windbag I have my own thoughts on what this campus should do.
First, and most importantly, we must remain part of the University of South Florida System and not look to become an independent university within the State University System of Florida.
Second, anybody that had anything to do with the construction of the University Revenue Building should be the subject a legislative and gubernatorial investigation, and for good measure a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation. Those people should then be tried for possible grand theft. The increased fees, which were wrongfully used for construction and operation of the University Revenue Building, should be returned to the students that paid them.
Thirdly, the university should acquire, from the city of St. Petersburg, the rest of Second Street from Sixth Avenue South to Fifth Avenue South, and Sixth Avenue from First to Third Streets. This will allow students to move about campus in a way that does not resemble a human version of Frogger. At the very least construct a walkway over Sixth Avenue South from the second floor of the parking deck to the University Revenue Building.
Fourthly, there should be more parking on campus. This can be achieved by constructing a new parking deck, expanding the current one and by relaxing the rules when it comes to parking passes. After 4 p.m. anybody that has a USF parking decal should be able to park anywhere on campus without fear of getting an orange envelope.
If residential students continue to pay more for parking than commuter students, the red stickers should be assigned the second and third levels of the parking deck, with the fourth level serving as a mixed zone with the green stickers. How can Parking Services justify having the folks that spend the most time on campus make a 1.2-mile round trip from bottom to top back to the bottom? It is unjust. Also what is up with allowing green stickers to park in our parking zone while us red stickers cannot park in theirs?
Fifthly, there should be more options for meal plans at the University Revenue Building. An “unlimited” meal plan truly should be unlimited, not limited to three squares a day. There should be alternative plans for students who would only like 10 or five meals a week.
Sodexo should work to include the Tavern at Bayboro into its “sharkbites” program. (And by the way, what is up with that name? We are the Bulls, not the Bullsharks, no matter what certain people would like.) If “sharkbites” were allowed this year at the Tavern, I could’ve used them to purchase five and a half pitchers of Genesee Cream Ale, instead of not buying any frozen yogurt.
I also challenge anybody to have a burger at the University Revenue Building and then have one at the Tavern. I would wager than 11 out of 10 people would choose the Tav, which has bacon at all meals, in less than a heartbeat. If anybody said the URB had a better burger, then you are on some bad meth. (Point of clarification: all meth is bad.)
Sixthly, USF should combine all police departments. Fewer chiefs and a less duplicated bureaucracy would save money. This would also be beneficial because if an officer were needed on this campus, one would simply have to travel across the bay, instead of having a shorted staff on this side.
Seventhly, the Tavern at Bayboro should have more parking spots, or its non-student patrons shouldn’t be penalized for there being no parking. This would be a good faith gesture by the university.
Eighthly, the university should partner with more downtown businesses, including the Tavern at Bayboro, to provide students with more discounts so they do not have to eat the slop Sodexo likes to call food in the University Revenue Building.
Ninthly, the dorms in RHO should have laundry facilities on every floor, not just the odd ones. I remember a time when this was the case. Sure they may not have been as “green” as the current ones, but being a student I would rather pay fewer quarters to do laundry.
Tenthly, if another dormitory is constructed, it should have kitchens. Also, students living in dorms with kitchens should not have to purchase a meal plan. I can cook dinner at midnight in my dorm, when the University Revenue Building is closed.
These are some suggestions for the university to consider as my time here is coming to an end. No longer will they have a watchdog student from the Bush and Crist administrations to tell tales of how it used to be.
Students, do not take anything sitting down. If there is something that you do not like on this campus, change it; this is your university and administration is here to serve you not the other way around. Their six-figure salaries do not exist without you (and your money). The eternal struggle continues with another generation of students. Continue to pressure Bayboro to fund the University Revenue Building some other way, and demand your money back; us students got hornswoggled in that deal.
Go Bulls!
