Regarding "New shuttle plan addresses grad student concerns," (Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008)
Your article referenced an idea about parking that I raised in a recent Graduate Student Government Assembly meeting. To avoid confusion or consternation, I would like briefly to put this idea back into its broader context.
In brief, my proposal was this: Graduate student commuters should be able to park in the same lots and structures as the staff in their departments, and this parking should not be allocated by staff/student status but rather on a first-come, first-serve basis. This is not necessarily to suggest graduate students should be given the same parking perks as faculty or University administrators, or that this should necessarily be extended to graduate students living in University residences.
As the University expands the size of the graduate program without planning for additional housing capacity in the 10-year Campus Plan, the needs of graduate student commuters will necessarily become a more pressing issue in coming years. Yes, more parking is needed, but so too is greater thought about the ways in which this parking is allocated to members of the Princeton community who are paid for researching, teaching and engaging in the intellectual life of the University - regardless of whether they are called graduate students or staff.
I hope this can be the beginning of a larger discussion about the role of graduate students in the Princeton University community. This is a question that speaks to a broad range of issues we will need to address in the coming months and years, including not only parking but also transportation, housing, medical and dental insurance, and academic support, among others. We should start talking about these matters as a campus now to ensure that consideration of both graduate student contributions and needs are incorporated into the University's long-term planning.
Kevin Collins GS, GSG academic affairs co-chair
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