Maroon

              The Maroon ESTABLISHED 1923 VOL. 74 NO. 4 Loyola University New Orleans FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1995 Administrators contemplate sacrificing quad for parking By JENNY JOHNSON Staff writer While answering questions about what the university plans to do about the parking problem, Vincent Knipfing looks out his window to the Peace Quad, knowing that if the president decides to pave the area to make a temporary parking lot, he could soon be looking onto rows of Fords, Hondas and Chevrolets. Once construction on the new library begins, 88 parking spaces — will be lost, creating a problem for faculty, staff and student commuters. According to Knipfing, vice president of Student Affairs, the administration is looking into various ways to solve the problem without cutting back on the number ol decals sold, and without raising the prices of the decals. Knipfing said he reviewed suggestions made by a parking "That walkway is exceedingly important to the culture of this community." — Julian Wasserman Professor of English committee headed by Robert Reed, director of Residential Life, and then compiled a list of possible solutions. All are rather short-term solutions, except for the construction of a new parking garage. Knipfing said that a new garage, which would be built where the old Physical Plant building used to be, would cost an estimated $2.6 million, and would take about 10 months to construct. It would add around 330 spaces to the current number of approximately 1,226 spaces, and it would be —■ constructed in a way that would leave open the option of adding more floors if necessary in the future. Both Knipfing and Ray Garofalo, director of Parking Services, said that the parking garage is a good idea and that it will help solve not only the present parking problem, but future problems as well, but finding the money to fund the project may be difficult. Many people are already objecting to the possibility of paving the Peace Quad. Earlier this month, at a Faculty senate meeting, Knipfing reported to the Senate that if half of the quad is paved during construction, there will still be a loss of 65 spaces. If the full quad is paved, the loss of spaces will be 42. During the Senate meeting and during an interview with The Maroon, Knipfing stressed that if the Rev. Bernard Knoth, S.J., university president, decides that the best solution is to pave the quad, it would be temporary — lasting about two years. To pave the quad fully will cost $70,000 to $80,000. To partially pave it will cost $27,500 to $33,000. By JOE DANBORN A proposed solution to the parking crunch caused by library construction is to pave the Peace Quad. Increased fee allows SGA to give $67,000 to organizations By NEAL FALGOUST Contributing writer On Sept. 12 the Student Government Association proposed $37,000 more in budget allocations to student organizations than last semester. Last semester only $30,000 was made available to organizations. However, in a referendum last Spring, students voted in favor of raising fees to $25 for full-time students and $12 for part-time students, which made more money available. This semester, $67,000 dollars will be used to fund Loyola student organizations. SGA will withhold $2,000 for appeals. "The reason we did that was because we were having to cut really meaningful projects, and students were needing more money than we could provide," said Katy Montgomery, SGA president and political science senior. The increase in funds has made it possible for nearly every organization to receive more money. The organization with the greatest increase in funding is the Student Bar Association, receiving $3,800 more than last semester's allotment of $1200. Montgomery said that the SBA's programs and community service planned for this semester justified the increase. "They had many legitimate, strong programs. This year they are much more community service oriented, and all their budget packets met the funding criteria," Montgomery said. The only organization to receive no funding is the American Trial Lawyers Association. Montgomery said that ATLA did not receive funding because they failed to apply for their charter renewal before the May 15 deadline. "They did request money, but because they had not re-chartered, their budget packet was declared null and void; therefore, we could not review thier request," Montgomery said. In general, most organizations receive about the same amount each semester. "Sometimes organizations will request more money in the fall than in the spring because they have a big event or convention. The organizations that do get the same amount every year are just consistent because of the students," Montgomery said. Center opens, still looking for funding By STEPHEN STUART News Editor After a two-year process of acquiring funding and renovating Room 103 of the Mercy Acdemy building, the Women's Studies Center opened quietly this Tuesday. "At the moment our main function is to get the center up and running," said Eric Gorham, co-chair of the Women's Studies Committee, which has overseen the formation of the center, which will remain open Monday through Friday from 12:30-3 p.m. One half of the center, the main room contains some of the former furniture from the recently-renovated president's dining room arranged around a glass-topped dining table. Other furnishings in the room include an assortment of lamps, end tables and wall hangings. A television, video equipment, and a vinyl projection screen have been installed. In contrast, the other side of the office holds the empty desks intended for the director and the administrative assistant, a file cabinet and a painting propped up against the wall. Completion of the center depends on funding approval in the university budget. Gorham estimates that the cost in the 1996-97 budget for the center will be around $90,000. Much of this money goes to the salary of the director and the computers, he said. No search for director will begin until funding is in place, said Mary Troy Johnston, co-chair of the Women's Studies Committee. Johnston, associate professor of political science, said that the director would have academic responsibilities in addition to the duties of running the center. By AMBER SHIELDS Mary Troy Johnston relaxes at the opening of the Women's center. 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