Throughout my last two years at Penn State, one of the biggest issues to grace the cover of the Collegian is the unbelievable parking problem that exists on campus. Parking is such a burden on students that it makes the quality of life on campus difficult and therefore it is often a waste of student energy. With all the fantastic opportunities and array of courses that can consume a person's time, parking should not be an issue. The question is when you sign your student rights over to the Penn State program, do you also forfeit your rights as a client in the big business of university life?

There are thousands of parking spaces on campus, although there may not be enough for every student to park in front of his or her dorm, there are a surplus of spaces and lots to accommodate enough to make life easier. When Susie Student has to walk 40 minutes in the snow, solely so she can visit her local grocery store to pick up her Product 19 for breakfast, we have to examine the system and ask ourselves as students, are we receiving the highest quality service we can, for the tuition we pay. Now, parking is only a small detail in a more complex system, but it is highly reflective of the attitudes that are exhibited by this administration toward student comfort and the lack of attention paid toward the necessity to ease student life. I am not advocating that students revolt and reclaim the parking spaces in front of Pollock dormitories, but I am advocating a thorough examination of the reasons why students continuously feel like substandard participants in a community built by them for them.

Penn State is a fabulous university, but the minute details that assure a student that she will remain focused solely on her studies, are continuously overlooked and that is wrong. There is no reason in the world that a university as large as Penn State, with a budget that found the necessary funds to build the most beautiful basketball stadium in the country, can not find the funds to employ a 24-hour, on-campus health care facility. It just doesn't make sense. Penn State is a great place to go to school, but students must remember that they are here for the education for which they pay, and that education will be easier to obtain if we lesen the little problems that make life a hassle.