If we cannot park we cannot work - Fix the issue UMass!
John McCarthy, Provost
Hundreds of graduate students have been unable to secure parking permits this semester. GEO has fielded dozens of emails and calls as well as held many one-on-one meetings with graduate students attempting to make sense of this problem. We have collected hundreds of responses through our internal surveys and are receiving more each day. We have demanded that University administrators, with power, meet with GEO to discuss structural and comprehensive solutions to this issue. But they have refused to do so—for weeks.
Meanwhile, the crisis continues to worsen. We’ve heard reports from GEO members who have been inexplicably pushed down their waitlists or been dropped from their waitlists altogether. Others have reported that they have been simply told “there’s nothing we can do for you” and left to figure it out on their own. Others still are paying directly out-of-pocket to park in metered spaces or the parking garage—or even paying nearby homeowners so they can park directly on their lawns. GEO members have reported paying more than $50 a week for parking, which adds up to more than $200 a month in additional expenses for workers who are already struggling to keep up with the rising costs of living in the Pioneer Valley area.
No one should have to pay their bosses out of pocket to come to work. It is unacceptable for the University to require graduate student employees to return to campus, only to make them foot the bill for a parking shortage that the University is responsible for. The fact that many of these graduate students are brand new to UMass and this is their first impression—park illegally or don’t work and teach—is shameful.
Our demands are as follows.
We demand that the University cease collecting revenue from all pay-to-use parking spaces until the parking crisis is addressed in a systemic way.
We demand that graduate students be fully reimbursed for the cost of meters and the parking garage during the time they’ve had nowhere else to park.
We demand blanket leniency around ticketing and towing until viable parking options can be made available to our members.
We demand full transparency regarding waitlists and permit allocation so that graduate students are not left sitting in the dark about how they will get to work—or whether they can even afford it.
We demand a response from the University administration explaining why they have put so many of us in this inexcusable position, and what they are going to do to fix it.
Petition by
Sponsored by
To:
John McCarthy, Provost
From:
[Your Name]
Dear John McCarthy,
Hundreds of graduate students have been unable to secure parking permits this semester. GEO has fielded dozens of emails and calls as well as held many one-on-one meetings with graduate students attempting to make sense of this problem. We have collected hundreds of responses through our internal surveys and are receiving more each day. We have demanded that University administrators meet with GEO to discuss structural and comprehensive solutions to this issue. But they have refused to do so—for weeks.
Meanwhile, the crisis continues to worsen. We’ve heard reports from GEO members who have been inexplicably pushed down their waitlists or been dropped from their waitlists altogether. Others have reported that they have been simply told “there’s nothing we can do for you” and left to figure it out on their own. Others still are paying directly out-of-pocket to park in metered spaces or the parking garage—or even paying nearby homeowners so they can park directly on their lawns. These expenses add up: GEO members have reported paying more than $50 a week for parking, which adds up to more than $200 a month in additional expenses for workers who are already struggling to keep up with the rising costs of living in the Pioneer Valley area.
No one should have to pay their bosses out of pocket to come to work. It is unacceptable for the University to require graduate student employees to return to campus, only to make them foot the bill for a parking shortage that the University is responsible for. The fact that many of these graduate students are brand new to UMass and this is their first impression—park illegally or don’t work and teach—is shameful.
Our demands are as follows.
We demand that the University cease collecting revenue from all pay-to-use parking spaces until the parking crisis is addressed in a systemic way.
We demand that graduate students be fully reimbursed for the cost of meters and the parking garage during the time they’ve had nowhere else to park.
We demand blanket leniency around ticketing and towing until viable parking options can be made available to our members.
We demand full transparency regarding waitlists and permit allocation so that graduate students are not left sitting in the dark about how they will get to work—or whether they can even afford it.
We demand a response from the University administration explaining why they have put so many of us in this inexcusable position, and what they are going to do to fix it.