Classes at North Central College find unique ways to take what students learn in the classroom and implement the information into work situations. One class in particular took what it has learned this term and is now applying it to the parking on North Central’s campus.
LEV 230.1 Conflict Resolution, taught by adjunct Professor Meghen Williams, has taken the opportunity to use the information it has learned in class and has developed a platform to propose ideas about parking on campus to the administration. The class calls it “NCC Lots of Change.”
“It started out as a mediated discussion about parking…so we started to turn it into an idea,” said senior Kevin Prchal. “So we began to work on solutions that are conclusive with the space we have.”
The class has been working together on NCC Lots of Change since about week six. NCC Lots of Change is looking at creative ways to not add additional parking on campus, but instead to work with the parking that the campus already has and find ways to improve it.
The class has been researching other universities and colleges, both private and public, to see how they handle parking on campus and figure out how that research can be applied to NCC. One school they have been researching closely is College of DuPage because of its similar parking situation.
During this time the class has created five different proposals they are looking to pitch to the administration about parking.
1. Prioritize parking on campus – Have a formula set up on who can park first.
2. Color code the lots – This is an idea that big colleges have done with parking so students cannot park wherever they wish to. Basically each lot will have a different colored parking sticker, so Kimmel may be green and Res/Rec may be blue.
3. Cap parking for the residence lots – This year over 100 extra stickers were sold compared to the parking spaces.
4. Gates – Students will have to pull up to the lot and swipe their student I.D. and the arm of the gate would come up to allow the student to pull into the lot.
5. Increase parking rates – Parking tickets would be raised from $20 to $50 to gain revenue for less parking passes sold and to deter parking in lots people are not supposed to. This would be just on campus lots and not the streets for the streets are handled by Naperville Police.
The class will propose these five ideas to the NCC administration on Thursday, June 4, 2015. The class would like for the administration to implement some of the ideas, but the biggest goal is to generate ideas with the administration on the parking issue.
“We understand it’s an issue, and we are open to solutions that are more creative and we are open to working with them [the administration],” said sophomore Joe Barsanti. “Really it’s an open forum.”
Junior Lola Stull also adds that this project is about working together with the administration. “We are concerned students who want to work with the school and come up with solutions for everyone,” Stull.
To help spread awareness of NCC Lots of Change, the class has been designing posters to be placed around campus, formed its own social media site and has been passing around a petition for students to sign.
“Rather than just doing a bunch of reading and taking an exam, it’s nice to have the ability to work on such a task and apply what we have been learning. It’s made this project and class more valuable,” said senior Kevin Prchal. “It empowers the students and it’s something the college can try to do more in the future.”
