Board members meet with students at Rio Grande

The Rio Grande Board forum was held on Oct. 21 in the Student Lounge.

Austin Community College's Board of Trustees member Allen Kaplan along with other college representatives were available to answer students' questions and hear their concerns.

Most of the conversation centered around improving the facilities at the Rio Grande campus, particularly the inadequate parking and lack of hot water in the bathrooms.

The Rio Grande parking garage, scheduled to be completed by January 2009, will provide more parking places but will not solve Rio Grande's parking problem.

Some faculty and staff bathrooms, particularly the facility in the campus manager's office, have hot water, but they are inaccessible to students.

"It's unsanitary not having hot water in bathrooms," said April Seaborne, a Student Life Assistant Campus Coordinator.

Other District-wide issues that were brought up included: improving Capital Metro bus service to ACC campuses, and expanding gym and physical education facilities.

Concerns over handicapped accessibility on certain campuses were also addressed.

"All campuses are ADA compliant," yet students and faculty often must take "circuitous routes" to get around campus, said Kaplan. He added that they "are legal, but not what I would consider accessible."

Kaplan closed the forum by saying, "You are blessed to be at the best community college in the country," adding that "we have the numbers to prove it. Student G.P.A.'s are on average 0.3 to 0.5 higher than other transfer students to UT and Texas State."