Author: Kat Kirk
Tuesday, October 26th USGA held a student forum where UAB students were able to ask questions to a panel of UAB administrators.
The panel included John Jones, vice president of Student Affairs; Pam Benoit, provost and senior vice president of Academic Affairs; Brian Bowser, head of Dining; Andre Davis, director of Transportation; Christopher Jones, director of Student Multicultural and Diversity Programs; and Brian Johnson, director of Residence Life.
During the question-and-answer portion a question from students was about infestations of bugs and rodents in some of the residence halls. Johnson said that the best way to alleviate this issue is for students to clean up after themselves.
“I would encourage students to really clean their apartments also take out the trash and not leave trash in lobby areas” Johnson said. “You can help us by encouraging your peers to keep their space clean”
Johnson also says that the residence department is working on creating gender neutral housing and safe spaces in order to make the LGBTQ+ community feel safer on campus.
Many students submitted questions asking when dining hours will return to normal. Bowser said that the pandemic has made it difficult to get workers and to keep them which means restaurants can’t be open as late as they would want.
“The reality of our situation is we are just a little bit about 60% of the staff we would need in order to have everything back to our normal hours,” Bowser said.
Bowser said they are working on opening The Grid again, as well as some other options for students to get fresh produce using Dragon Cash and Blazer Bucks. Dining is also working on accommodating different types of eating lifestyles.
“It is our intention in Dining to be proactive not reactive. We want to anticipate your questions, your comments and your concerns ahead of time so that we know to take care of that as leaders of your hospitality on campus,” said Bowser.
There were many questions about the lack of student parking. Davis said that building another parking deck isn’t the answer.
“What we want to focus on in the future is transportation demand management” Davis said. “We need to find more sustainable ways to get you to and from and around campus. We will be doing that over the next few years. We want to promote transit TNCs. TNCs is a fancy word for Uber. We want to promote marketable transit in a safe way”.
The UAB transportation department is also working on implementing license plate recognition technology that would reduce the amount of people parking without a permit.
Davis also answered questions about the lack of bus routes, stating that the pandemic caused the updates on the transit system to be put on hold. UAB Transportation does plan on relaunching that project soon and plans on speaking with students to see how to best go forward with expansion of the bus routes.
Some students were asking if UAB could incorporate an additional or extended fall break. Benoit said that UAB is unable to add any more breaks into the school year due to accreditation laws. This would only be possible if UAB were to move up their start date. Due to summer nursing courses, they are worried nursing students won’t have enough time between the summer programs and the fall school year.
Jones, vice president of Student Affairs addressed the lack of tailgating spots. He said that he is working with UAB staff and the UAB athletic department to create more tailgate spots and a safer tailgating experience for UAB students.
“We want our students to have a phenomenal tailgating experience, I wasn’t aware that the number of tailgating spots were reduced,” Jones said. “We are working with Dr. Wallace to pull together a small group of UAB administration to not only enhance the tailgating experience but ensure that students are tailgating in a healthy and safe way.”
USGA says that they are planning another student forum next semester and encourage students to attend and ask questions.
USGA also holds a formal meeting every other Tuesday in which they invite students to attend make suggestions as well as hear announcements.
