At Monday’s Academic Senate meeting, University of Utah President Bernie Machen announced his support of the Associated Students of the University of Utah parking initiative.
“I think it’s a huge victory,” said Ben Lowe, ASUU president. “It’s a pretty big deal that it’s been accepted. When he forms a task force team, he not only sets up a task force team, but he becomes committed to that issue.”
ASUU’s parking initiative depended on the support of Machen from the beginning. ASUU put the plan together to ask Machen to set up a task force to look at the parking problem and find real solutions. A task force with the president’s backing and the support of the students has more political support than other parking-related groups have and can better come to real solutions.
“We can’t solve anything without the administration behind it,” Lowe said when ASUU began to solicit student signatures for their parking initiative two weeks ago.
Through their parking campaign, ASUU solicited more than 5,000 student signatures to give to Machen. According to Lowe, this helped Machen realize students were behind the parking initiative.
“A lot of students were excited that we were looking at realistic issues,” Lowe said.
Although Machen did not announce the formation of a task force until the Senate meeting, he has been planning to form this task force for awhile.
“Last week, he made the decision that it is a good idea, and he’s willing to take it on,” Lowe said.
According to Machen, the task force will be complete after the nomination of two more people.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Machen said. He plans to form the task force within the next few days.
Machen announced his support of the task force as the Senate adjourned. Over the sound of shuffling papers and moving senators, Machen told the Senate he was forming a task force to look for long range solutions to the parking problem.
Machen originally planned to discuss the parking task force earlier, but the Senate meeting included a discussion of the parking situation during the Olympics. Machen did not want to discuss the task force?which will look for long term solutions to the parking problem?after a discussion about the Olympic parking situation because he did not want any confusion between it and the goals of the parking task force.
“I decided almost at the last moment to discuss the scope and activity next month,” Machen said. “The issues of the task force are to deal with longer-range problems.”