By Brian Ruth
The Scene staff
Interim Forest Park President Roderick Nunn heard an earful at a special Student Government Association meeting Oct. 22 about Metro’s decision to stop selling discounted semester bus passes to students 24 and older.
A standing-room-only crowd of students, faculty and staff showed up at the meeting in the Campus Life conference room.
“Mass transit is core to the mission of STLCC,” said Campus Life administrative assistant Daphne Rivers. “We need to push that message.”
SGA Treasurer Tonia Whatley, a business administration major, proposed holding a community forum to address the issue.
In January, Metro instructed STLCC bookstores to start enforcing the age limit on purchases of semester bus passes. The pass is designed for students 18 to 23, but the bookstores have been selling it to students of all ages since 2008.
Metro’s recent action has been highly controversial at Forest Park. Semester bus passes cost $180, while regular bus passes cost $78 a month.
“There are over 1,000 students or more who take mass transit at this college,” said Bill Hartmann, philosophy department coordinator. “Get the chancellors and the vice chancellors on the bus to experience what it’s like.”
Hartmann is a former member of Greater St. Louis Transit Alliance, a coalition of 50 environmental, business, labor, religious and community groups and college students.
Nunn acknowledged that Metro’s action has disappointed many students. He said SGA and other student groups, department heads and support staff represented at the meeting have the resources to take up the issue.
“I’m not going to lecture you about what to do about the mass-transit situation,” he said. “The answers are in this room.”
Nunn suggested “tactful advocacy” as student leaders approach Metro and other groups outside of campus.
“Don’t just schedule a forum on your time,” he said. “This is community organizing, and when you’re a leader, you don’t always get to dictate the terms.”
SGA President Angela Johnson said SGA will host a “Metro Day” in the cafeteria shortly after the Thanksgiving break and another one in January during back-to-school festivities.
It’s unclear whether Metro officials will be invited.
“We haven’t really pinpointed what we are going to do besides a function to get students’ attention,” Johnson said.