| October 2, 2019 | Gunner Young | campus editor |
|---|
After a slew of changes were announced in the TCC 2019 Bond Improvement Proposition, parking appears to have earned the most approval.
In November, Tarrant County residents will vote to determine whether or not TCC will receive $825 million in bonds to be used for “constructing, improving and renovating and equipping” buildings in the TCC district.
The campuses that will be changed the most are NW and SE, which are both set to undergo drastic alterations involving the demolition of buildings and increased parking space.
High school and NW student Erick Perez said that parking is what students will likely care about the most.
“Since it’s maybe going to have more parking I feel like it’s going to be better for college students,” Perez said.
SE Campus plans to demolish a building and add a parking lot in its place. Most students didn’t know about these changes, but supported them if they meant more parking.
“I didn’t know about it,” SE student Andrew Gattis said. “But more parking space is pretty good. I normally park way over in the corner.”
Faculty members are more aware of the pending changes than students due to the announcement email being sent only to faculty and staff.
SE assistant professor of chemistry Ashley Ayers knew of the change, and was more concerned about the renovations being done to the building rather than parking.
“My understanding is SE has so very few classrooms compared to the other campuses,” Ayers said. “We need more classrooms on this campus. And the area around SE Campus is growing a lot. Mansfield is growing a lot. So, I can see where that’s needed.”
A change taking place on SE Campus would help address hallway overcrowding and the difficulty in finding classrooms.
SE student Madison Medina hasn’t had any issues finding classes.
“As long as you pay attention during orientation you should be fine,” Medina said. “But a lot of people do not.”
On the other hand, NW Campus is planning to demolish a large majority of its buildings and reconfigure the campus in a more open and spread-out manner. Its current layout has its buildings clumped together and connected on the second floor.
The high school-type feel of this campus made it easy for NW student Allison MacKenzie to transition from Boswell High School to TCC in her first semester.
“I think having an open campus with a bunch of buildings is a lot different than high school and the transition is like, nerve-wracking and really scary for first time college students,” MacKenzie said.
She said the close nature of the buildings on NW made it convenient to get to and from classes.
However, the short period that students often have between classes was a point of concern for NW student Perez.
“It’s a 10-minute passing period between classes,” Perez said. “If it’s going to be more open, who knows, it might take a little bit more time to get to your classes.”
The timeframe for the project could extend into 2024, and two-year college students did not see themselves attending TCC by the time the project is set to be completed.
