A recent Muncie City Council meeting, in which three parking ordinances were passed, left one council member asking why a Ball State University liaison wasn't in attendance.
Councilman Chuck Leonard expressed his disappointment in the fact that Ball State officials did not take interest in the ordinances.
"Ball State is out there building bell towers in the middle of McKinley [Avenue]. What Ball State needs to be doing is building parking garages," he said.
Leonard was right, to some extent, about the council needing to hear Ball State opinions. However, the liaison should not have been a university official, it should have been students.
Many students living in the affected areas were powerless to oppose the new plan because they are home for Summer Break. However, one May 2004 graduate, who plans to stay in Muncie for graduate school, showed up. He was the only one.
This student tried in vain to change the council's vote by bringing a petition in opposition to the new restrictions that was signed by about 50 people.
However, the council is wrong if it thinks that of the thousands of residents in those areas only 50 people are opposed to the new changes.
There might not have been hundreds of students at the meeting even if it was held during the school year, but there sure would have been more than one person representing Ball State.
It's a fact that students go home for the summer. If the council wants Ball State students to respect its choices, then the council needs to make decisions when they're in the city.
Ball State does not have an official liaison to attend city council meetings -- and rightfully so. The true middleman between the university and the council is -- and should continue to be -- the student population.
So, in that sense, Ball State did have a representative at the meeting -- he came with 50 signatures.
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