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There is something dreadfully wrong with the administration of the Georgia Tech parking office. If the inexcusably late permit renewal packets were not evidence enough of this problem, the nine hour wait on Monday for the right to submit a parking permit application should solidify this fact.
This is certainly not the first time Tech students have had to endure the mistakes of the parking office; but, we have never before experienced such blatant stupidity and disregard for customer service. The Georgia Tech parking office epitomizes the type of inefficient, money-hungry bureaucracies that have become all too common in the public sector today. Would a parking director in the private sector still be on the job after one year of such lackluster performance? We think not.
Poor planning, organization, and communication with their customers (the students) has made this year's parking office a case study in subpar administration. The parking office's summer meetings to revamp the parking situation as a whole and organize the parking registration process were too little too late. Quibbling over relatively insignificant issues like handicap violation price increases superceded discussions of issues such as managing lines on registration day.
But what more can we expect from an auxiliary service that makes budget concerns a priority over customer service? The requirement that all individual auxiliary services must break even on their budgets has turned the departments into money makers instead of student and staff services.
We are exhausted with the abuses of the parking office. Drastic steps need to be taken to prevent the absurd events of this year's parking fiasco from occurring in the future.
The Georgia Tech Office of Student Affairs fought long and hard for the recently acquired grant of $60,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for the purpose of studying and proposing solutions to the problem of binge drinking among the Georgia Tech student body. This binge drinking initiative, however, is severely flawed and predestined for failure for a variety of reasons.
The initiative is analogous to sticking a band-aid on a compound fracture; the goal is admirable and worthy of attention, but the solution path is hasty and ultimately worthless. Newly found freedom from parental supervision makes binge drinking an inherent problem on college campuses throughout the United States. The rebellion factor in binge drinking is only exacerbated by the fact that it is still illegal for adults under the age of 21 to buy or drink alcohol. Binge drinking is a societal wound that cannot be healed by spending more money.
No one is or ever has been willing to take the radical steps that are necessary to minimize the problem. The effectiveness of task forces to study binge drinking is not only questionable, but laughable. Dr. Lee Wilcox, Vice President for Student Affairs, says that the initiative will include the formation of a "coalition" to study binge drinking at Tech.
Finally, this binge drinking initiative will be successful only as a public relations program. Student Affairs offices at other institutions will be envious of Georgia Tech's clever anti-binge drinking programs. Parents will probably approve of Georgia Tech's proactive measures to prevent their children from drinking to get drunk. Internally, however, students will laugh. We know that grants and more programming won't help the problem of college binge drinking. Our society knows it, too.
The Technique staff would like to cordially welcome all incoming freshmen to Georgia Tech. A wise man once said that words of advice must only be spoken by those who are qualified to speak them. Well then, we on the Technique Editorial Board are only comfortable providing one tidbit of advice to you Tech newcomers: Get comfortable...you are going to be here for a long, long time.