Monday, September 19, 2022
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Volume 112 Issue 5
Arboretum donations take a hit as university imposes paid parking
Special needs group loses space KIRSTEN MAGLUNOG Staff Writer
ANNISA CHARLES / DAILY TITAN
Guests adjust to the $4 hourly expense that began this August.
Donations take a hit as visitors pay new lot usage fees SINCLAIR ANDRUSKA Editor
The Fullerton Arboretum no longer has free parking for visitors during the week, adding further costs to already lofty campus parking fees and resulting in guest complaints.
ParkMobile, Cal State Fullerton’s mobile payment app for campus parking, spread to the Fullerton Arboretum parking lot at the start of this semester, charging four dollars an hour. (Parking remains free on weekends and Fridays after 5 p.m.) The arboretum is not responsible for the new cost as enforcement falls under CSUF Parking and Transportation services. The arboretum also does not receive the parking fees that guests pay. Instead, the money from ParkMobile goes into an account that
funds maintenance on other parking lots and structures on campus, which includes the arboretum parking lot, said Elissa Thomas, the field operations and transportation demand manager for CSUF Parking and Transportation. Nika Chavez, a third-year art major and arboretum employee, said the addition of paid parking has also hurt the number of donations they receive. “It went from like, maybe I collect like 100 plus dollars a day, or something like that. Like sometimes
they’re bad days, sometimes they’re good days. But now it’s just like sometimes we just barely get like $30 or nothing,” Chavez said. Membership fees help support the arboretum and can range anywhere from $59 to $1,000 dollars. On Tuesdays, which are days that only members and CSUF students can enter, members do not receive free parking, said Jewel Rogers, a fourth-year computer and game animation major and SEE PARKING
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Pollak Library lacks power outlets Charging ports are in demand for student devices KIRSTEN MAGLUNOG Staff Writer
KIRSTEN MAGLUNOG / DAILY TITAN
CSUF student Bryan Marquez sits on the floor to charge his phone.
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After struggling to find available power outlets in the Pollak Library, students often resort to sitting on the floor or next to walls to power their devices. However, there are other options available besides power outlets installed in the library walls or tables, said Rommel Hidalgo, the associate vice president of Information Technology. “So what we’re doing is three types of things we recommend: it’s the round tables for charging, it’s the docking stations on the tables, and then the power banks,” Hidalgo said. And, the Division of Information Technology plans to install 20 more charging stations in busy areas of the library to expand charging
availability, he said. As Cal State Fullerton’s primary study area, students use the space and resources like power outlets to work on assignments, access course materials or relax in between classes. “I have classes from 8:30 in the morning to 4 p.m. so my phone tends to die or my laptop tends to die so I just find an outlet and charge it,” said Bryan Marquez, a student at CSUF. On each floor of the library, students can use charging stations to plug in their devices. These stations provide charging wires and wireless charging surfaces for students to use, Hidalgo. The Division of Information Technology plans to install 20 more charging stations in busy areas of the library to expand charging availability, Hidalgo said. “It’s very hard to find available outlets. Like I try to find some outlets near tables or chairs but sometimes they aren’t available,” Marquez said. “I couldn’t find an available outlet so I’m just here on the floor.” Hidalgo also said the docking stations on the first, second and fourth floors of the north wing allow SEE ELECTRIC 3
Cal State Fullerton shut down a designated room for disabled students in the Pollak Library when the university transitioned to virtual instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The room has remained closed since then, said to Abled Advocators members. Abled Advocators is an organization that supports students with disabilites. They provide resources to their students and works to disband stereotypes about disabilities. Students in Abled Advocators and Disability Support Services had a designated room in the first floor of the North Wing of the library called the Computer Lab, said to Director of Disability Support Services Lori Palmerton. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, CSUF moved to virtual instruction, temporarily closing down on-campus resources, including the Computer Lab. When students returned to campus in the fall 2021 semester, the lab remained closed. DSS decided to close down the lab after Information Technology installed retractable tables and assistive software to all computers in the library. Because students with disabilities were given equal access to assistive resources throughout the library, using a separate room for this software was no longer necessary, Palmerton said. The room was given back to the library as a result of this closure. The lab included computers with essential software such as Jaws, Kurzweil and Dragon NS, all of which were used to assist disabled students, Palmerton said. It was also a “place of community for other people with disabilities to meet each other and form friendships and community with other students,” said Abled Advocators President Kaelyn Rojas. Though CSUF expanded services to other areas of the library, students in Abled Advocators showed concern for how the Computer Lab’s closure may affect DSS students. “The goal is to create accessibility everywhere, not just in a limited space which I totally agree with,” Rojas said. “But there’s no other designated space like how other communities on campus have their own designated space.” Currently, the library provides SEE SUPPORT 3
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