Texas State is slow to act on issues that are important to Bobcats. Why isn’t the university president promptly addressing the cries of her students? Texas State’s administration has a responsibility to answer us.
It’s safe to assume at least the majority of students at Texas State aren’t happy with the amount of mental health services our tuition pays for. Virtually everyone knows Texas State has issues with parking, some even going so far as to call for a ban on giving freshmen parking passes.
These are just two commonly expressed examples, but rest assured, there are other problems that Texas State can change. Take a peek into any edition of the University Star and one can find a myriad of things for the school leadership to fix.
Nearly a year after the momentous 2018 LBJ sit-ins, where an official Black Studies program was part of the demands made by the bold and passionate students protesting, on January 25, 2019, the proposal for an African-American Studies minor was accepted by the University Curriculum Committee.
It shouldn’t have taken a year for the university to be active in creating an African-American Studies minor, but moreover, it shouldn’t have taken the drama of alleged racism, an almost-impeachment of then-Student Body President Connor Clegg and a student-led sit-in spanning over 50 hours for the university administration to take students seriously.
Week after week, columnists pitch ideas to write out their frustration with the university’s parking shortage and counseling center services–or lack thereof. As opinion columnists for the University Star, we aren’t just screaming into the void for the sake of it.
It’s not only students who express discontentment with the administration’s inability to meet the needs of the students. Even lecturers have problems with finding campus parking despite their coveted red parking passes, which grant them access to Restricted Permit-only parking lots.
Counseling Center staff empathize with students who rely on the school for mental health support, acknowledging that what’s provided is lacking. Many students don’t have health insurance that covers mental health and therapy services or don’t have health insurance at all. Students pay for the Counseling Center each semester through the Student Service Fee, though this is capped at $90 each semester. Because of this, resources for the Counseling Center are lacking and simply aren’t enough.
The university needs to address students’ concerns way more than they do now. Denise Trauth and other administrators aren’t listening to us, and as columnists, we aren’t just screaming into the void for the sake of it; we are a microphone that sheds light onto various issues on campus.
As the President of Texas State University, it’s Trauth’s obligation to acknowledge the discontentment of the student body and respond to it. Either explain why something can’t change, or express action and goals to reform the broken parts of this system, but don’t turn a blind eye.
– Naomi Wick is a journalism senior