Too little, too late is the name of the game once again for St. John Fisher students. In the past, we have seen student input ignored in the construction of the Campus Center. A student group was formed; however, upon completion of the Campus Center, one student who was involved in the planning told the Courier: “I feel like we were just heard and not listened to.”

There was minimal input from students in the original decision to split the undergraduate commencement ceremony last year. It was only after this decision was announced via e-mail and students complained in large numbers that accommodations were made to hold graduation off-campus at the Blue Cross Arena, allowing the class to graduate together.

The latest instance of disregard for student input concerns parking.

More than 100 resident students have been forced to move from Lot D to the Park & Ride lot for the remainder of the semester to make way for commuter students who can no longer park on the grass area located past A/B lots due to zoning regulations and winter weather conditions.

Dean of Students Rick DeJesus and Assistant Director of the Offi ce of Safety and Security Steve Potter were present at an “Emergency” SGA Assembly Meeting on Monday, Jan. 15 to answer student questions and to listen to student suggestions for alternatives regarding the matter, but for some questions they had no answers or insufficient ones. When asked who should be held accountable for the lack of planning that could have prevented this inconvenience, Potter said, “I don’t know.”

Now, the students are the ones who are left to deal with the repercussions of this lack of planning and accountability.

This is unacceptable and embarrassing.

Students were not asked for input in this decision prior to it being made. Student leadership, including the RSA and SGA presidents, were not asked for input beforehand. Instead, they were told about the changes that would be occurring about four hours before the rest of the student body was notified.

Administrators said that the parking decision had to be made in a last-minute fashion and that is why students were not asked to weigh in. Was it really a surprise that Rochester would experience snow and ice accumulation? Did they not foresee that there would be a parking problem when commuters were forced to park on the grass all of last semester?

Potter and DeJesus also spoke of plans for additional parking in the future, but will those spots be enough as the College continues to grow? The College added additional parking for this school year, but it was still obviously not enough.

And what do plans for the future do for the students of today?