A walking campaign is being held on this campus. A novel idea, right? I don’t think so.

Up to this week, the Student Senate has been promoting its walking campaign by word of mouth. This isn’t exactly the best method of promoting a campaign. I probably speak for a lot of people on this campus when I say I never heard any of this information by word of mouth. This week the senate will put up signs informing students and faculty on the benefits of walking to class.

I don’t need the Student Senate to inform me on the benefits of walking to class. I know I would get more exercise if I left my car at home and walked to class. I know its better for the environment to leave my car at home. I know all this, but I drive anyway.

A goal of the campaign is to help alleviate parking problems on campus.

What I want to know is: Is there really a parking problem? I really don’t think so. I did not have a car until this year, but from my experience so far, parking isn’t as horrible as people say it is, especially since students gained more parking spaces last week, when the S Lot was changed to being an all student lot.

Yeah, it sucks when I get stuck parking all the way out in the S Lot, but still, that lot is closer than my apartment. The University Police Department says the same thing every year about parking: There is plenty of space, people will just have to walk.

I would have to agree with him. You may not find a parking space right next to where all your classes are, but there are places to park.

Whether there is a parking problem or not, this campaign won’t solve it, as organizers have said. The campaign is supposed to help alleviate the problem, but I don’t even believe it will do that.

I do agree students living in Carman Hall should not be driving to class, but is that the bulk of the problem? Has research been done to determine how much of the parking lot congestion is from Carman Hall residents, or residents of any other residence hall, driving to class? I bet the problem lies with people driving from off-campus residences or out-of-town commuters. And if that’s the case, a walking campaign will not alleviate perceived parking problems.

So I just want to know what is being accomplished with this walking campaign. I’m not trying to bash the Student Senate for doing it, I’m just a concerned constituent asking how this helps the situation.

Even if a walking campaign would help the problem, you can’t encourage walking for a month and then just stop. It has to be ongoing, especially when it starts getting cold. I may decide to put away my keys and walk to class for now, but when I wake up one morning to sub-zero temperatures, I’m not going to walk to class.

If people do decide to take the initiative and walk to class, they should have the Panther Express to fall back on when it’s cold. Part of the reason walking is being promoted is to prevent overcrowding on the Panther Express when cold weather arrives. Holding this campaign to prevent overcrowding on the Panther Express this winter is a pointless and misguided effort.

Every student pays $10.90 per semester for the Panther Express. They should be able to use it. They can choose not to, as I do, but the option needs to be there. Instead of wasting time on a walking campaign, the Shuttle Bus Committee needs to leave the walking campaign to the other committees and work on accommodating a possible crowd of riders.

The Panther Express has been plagued with problems during the past few years. This would be the perfect opportunity to make the Panther Express something better, if the committee would spend more time working on the bus instead of telling people not to use it. Instead of using senate funds to print posters for a walking campaign, put some money into the Panther Express service.