Oakland University’s Student Congress members discussed many campus parking concerns at their Monday meeting this week as well as a new student program board chair position students can apply for, a Constitution Day Forum and a possible study program for graduate students.

The new members that were approved at the meeting include the following: WaiMan Yim, Stephanie Love and Benjamin Eveslage for the multicultural affairs committee, Richard Spiegel for the student services committee, Rakeem Watkins-Barnett for the public relations committee, Maria Willett and Trang Le for the steering committee, and Ethan Grusecki for the research and review committee.

The next OUSC meeting will be held on Monday, Sept. 20 at 4 p.m.

Study program for grads

A student pitched an idea for a program to help students with disabilities study for tests such as the MCAT and the LSAT.

Student body president Brandon Gustafson and student services director Brett McIssac said that they plan to contact the Academic Skills Center to see if they can set up a program, which would involve bringing in people who have already taken these tests to help the students study.

Parking concern

McIssac received a statement of student concern about parking on campus. The issue involved P-16, which is next to O’Dowd Hall. P-16 has limited parking spaces with red lines to designate overnight parking for residents, but those spots are being taken by other people.

The residents are forced to park in the standard yellow spaces and are then ticketed for leaving the cars overnight. The tickets are $20 each, and the small halls director reported seeing 29 people receive tickets on the night of Sept. 9 alone.

McIssac said that he wrote a letter to OUPD chief Sam Lucido, asking OUPD to either make the entire lot available for overnight parking, or to put up signs that indicate that any student parking in the yellow space between 2 and 6 a.m. will receive a ticket. McIssac also asked if the people who were ticketed already could have their tickets voided due to lack of proper signage and information.

New SPB chair

Student program board chair Jonathan Jenkins resigned his position on Monday. Student body vice president Amy Ring said that someone from within the executive board of SPB will be hired to replace Jenkins until the end of the semester. Students will be able to apply for the position for the winter semester.

Constitution Day forum

A Constitution Day forum will take place on Friday, Sept. 17 at 11 a.m. in the Fireside Lounge. The event is sponsored by OUSC and the history and sociology departments.

The event will feature guest speakers from both departments and discussions about constitutional rights. Topics will include the clash between individual rights and national security in border crossings, and whether a person in a public space has an expectation of privacy. The event will be open to all students, and free food will be provided.