When feeling under the weather, the last thing most Ball State University students want to do is trek to the Amelia T. Wood Health Center.
Student Government Association realizes this and made efforts at Wednesday's meeting to increase the parking surrounding the Health Center.
Student Services chairperson Kayla Pickersgill said during her report she is working to implement the Cardinal Impact platform point and outlined her conversations with Parking Services office manager Nancy Wray. She said Wray appears sympathetic with students' needs.
As a result, Pickersgill said she is confident Wray will side with SGA and work on additional parking around the Health Center.
"It's really hard to get parking on campus, but I think it's really important we open up parking for the Health Center because students who are really sick and can't walk themselves are at a huge disadvantage," Pickersgill said. "It's very feasible, I think, to get three or four extra parking spaces."
Wray was not available for comment after SGA's meeting.
At-large senator Michelle Voss said the Health Center has a handful of student parking spots. That's improvement, she said, from zero available spots when she first started at Ball State. Voss said she appreciated the expansion, but she said that still is not adequate parking for unhealthy students.
"When you're sick, you don't want to be trudging through snow or elements," Voss said. "You're sick, you can't go to class and you shouldn't be walking around."
President Pro Tempore Nicole Akey said wait time at the Health Center is an average of 60 to 90 minutes, which makes accommodating every student difficult. As a result, she said SGA hopes to convince Wray and the Health Center to transform certain restricted spots to available parking.
Given the extended wait time, Akey said she considers SGA's request a reasonable one.
"There's going to be more than four students that want to park there at a time," Akey said. "Especially for people coming from off campus - they can't walk."
SGA Treasurer Nick Turner has also been involved in discussions to realize his slate's platform point. Cardinal Impact delegated each of its platform points to certain slate members and committees, and as a result Turner, Akey and Pickersgill have all focused their efforts on improving Health Center parking.
"It just had that extra push because it was part of (Cardinal Impact's) platform," Pickersgill said. "They have great goals, too. They have set this year up for success, and I'm really excited about that."
Turner said he also has been pleased with this term's steady improvement.
"It's been incredible just to see the rapid pace things have been going at. It's been great," Turner said. "Also, just seeing it all come together ... It's definitely been a better transition than I expected it to be."
SGA will meet for the final time this school year next at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday in Cardinal Hall at the L.A. Pittenger Student Center.
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