Two UT seniors are forming an organization that will serve as the voice of commuter students at the University of Tampa.
In 2008, a group of students began the Spartan Commuter Organization, but were unsuccessful in getting the club off the ground. This year, Nicki Hurst and Jason Hepperly are taking the reigns with the goal of restarting the club and increasing its influence on campus to improve amenities and services available to commuter students.
The new organization is looking to gain members who are looking to share their ideas on making the campus more commuter-friendly.
“Technically, for the last two and a half years, commuters have not had a voice on campus,” Nicki Hurst, chair of the Spartan Commuter Organization, said. She and her co-chair, Hepperly, plan on changing that.
Parking on campus is one of the major issues that the Spartan Commuter Organization will be addressing. Hurst and Hepperly began brainstorming ideas for improving commuter parking on campus last year. An idea that they are working on is to reserve more space on the lower floors of West Parking Garage for commuter students and have freshmen and other students using that garage park their cars on its upper levels.
“The commuters are coming and going and rushing to class, but the freshmen don’t have to leave the garage as much,” Hurst said. “The way it is now, freshmen are parked on the second and third floors, but then you go up to the fifth floor and it’s all commuters.”
Hepperly added, “Since the freshmen are more likely to stay there, it makes more sense for them to leave space for commuters on the bottom levels.”
The two both said that they are looking to dramatically improve parking accommodations across campus by next fall.
Along with addressing parking issues on campus, Hurst and Hepperly plan on getting input from commuters and members of the Spartan Commuter Organization on ways to make campus life more accommodating for commuters.
Hepperly’s interest lies in revamping the Spartan Club so that it has expanded uses for commuters as well as students living on campus.
“I think overall it should be more open with TVs, another dining venue and couches,” he said.
Additionally Hurst wants to make it more widely known that there is a commuter lounge available for use.
The commuter lounge on the second floor of the Vaughn Center provides a place for commuters to relax and study. It has a fridge and microwave as well as places for commuters to store their lunches.
“We also have lockers for commuter students which really helps,” Hurst added. The commuter lounge is also open to students living in the Howard Johnson and the Sheraton Suites. Since they have to plan their days around what materials they bring with them to campus, they are considered commuter students by the Spartan Commuter Organization. For $5 a semester, they can use a locker to store books between classes.
“We hope to expand the commuter lounge and make it a place where people can feel at home and relax,” Hepperly said.
Hurst and Hepperly are also looking at finding a way to allow commuter students to use financial aid to pay for their meal plans. At this time, commuters are paying for meal plans out of pocket, but the Spartan Commuter Organization is looking to provide them with different options.
The two chairs of the organization hope that commuters bring any ideas or issues they have to their attention. “We have a voice for you guys. We’re a part of student government and provide the gateways to bring issues up,” Hurst said.
The Spartan Commuter Organization hopes to get the commuter population more involved on campus and to know more about what events are taking place throughout the week. As membership in the organization increases, Hurst and Hepperly hope the Spartan Commuters can put on a few campus-wide events each year.
The first interest meeting for the Spartan Commuter Organization will take place Sept. 28 in Commuter Lounge from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Any students with questions about the Spartan Commuter Organization can contact Nicki Hurst at nhurst@spartans.ut.edu.
Channing Hailey can be reached at channinghl1@gmail.com.