Brown and White Vol. 130 no. 20

              The Brown and White Vol. 130 No. 20
Tuesday, April 26, 2016 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
After lead testing several water
samples from various campus
buildings, Lehigh has found all
levels are “below action level” set
forth by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, according to
an email from Barb Plohocki, the
Lehigh director of environmental
health and safety.
The agency set the action level
at 15 parts per billion. During ini-tial
tests, a small amount of tests
showed there were lead levels
above the recommended amount,
the email reads.
But in follow-up tests at the
same locations, lead findings
came back below the recommend-ed
level.
In the tests administered by
staff members in Environmental
Health and Safety and Facilities
Services, more than 60 samples
were taken from sinks and drink-ing
fountains in residential, aca-demic
and administrative build-ings
of varied ages on all three
campuses. The findings were ana-lyzed
by M.J. Raider Associates,
Inc., an independent laboratory.
Though the findings mean no
corrective efforts will need to be
made to any of the tested loca-tions,
Lehigh to continue testing
to comply with government and
safety guidelines. The email also
states the university is holding
evaluations of consultants spe-cializing
in this area so a compre-hensive
plan for across-campus
testing can be developed and held
to EPA guidelines. The price of student parking
permits will be raised by 1.5 per-cent
next year to $406. In the past
five years, the cost of a permit has
doubled, wrote Sharon Field, the
manager of Parking Services.
Field said in 2011, the price of a
parking permit was $200 and the
rate has increased $50 each year,
with permits costing $400 for the
2015-16 academic year.
Graduate Student Senate
has been working with Parking
Services to start conversations
about the costs of these permits.
This year, graduate students
pay $350 for a permit that allows
them to park in Saucon Village
and the student commuter lot on
the Mountaintop campus at all
times, as well as in unreserved
faculty and staff spots on the
lower campus on weeknights and
weekends. Students must choose
between access to the Brodhead
and Packer parking lots or the
Zoellner garage, however, and can
pay $400 for access to both lots,
according to graduate student
Matt Horner, ’14.
“I was paying $350 last year,
and I got to park in Saucon
Village, Mountaintop, Zoellner
and the Packard and Brodhead
lots,” Horner said. “This year I’m
paying the same amount, but I’ve
lost Zoellner.”
Although Horner said the $350
options were a good start to a solu-tion.
He believes the permit price
is still too high and that the $50
annual increases have nothing to
do with inflation.
“We met with Graduate Student
Life in December and periodical-ly
attend full Graduate Student
Senate meetings to discuss a wide
array of issues including transpor-tation
and parking services,” Field
wrote in an email. “Our discussion
included parking fees and what the
fees are being used for. We plan to
continue meeting with them in the
future to review planned invest-ments,
new services and fees.”
Many schools in the Lehigh
Valley charge less than Lehigh for
parking permits and vehicle regis-tration.
Both DeSales University
and Cedar Crest College allow
students to park for free, while
Muhlenberg College charges
$50 for vehicle registration and
Moravian College charges $300 for
its premium spaces. Lafayette’s
vehicle registration fee for an aca-demic
year is $400.
“Our fee is equal to that of
Lafayette’s,” Field wrote. “Both
schools have less parking spac-es/
lots to manage and maintain.
Moravian College has 330 student
and 446 faculty/staff parking spac-es;
Lafayette College has 660 stu-dent
and 842 faculty/staff parking
spaces; we maintain 1734 student
and 1932 faculty/staff parking
spaces.”
Field said the increase in park-
By REBECCA WILKIN
Assistant News Editor
Lehigh lead
content in
water ‘below
action level’
By JACQUELINE TENREIRO
Editor in Chief
Kelly McCoy/B&W Staff
Water at Lehigh was tested
after concerns arose about
lead levels around campus. The
results were reported to the
Lehigh community Friday via
email.
Grad students voice parking concerns
Rachel Zuckerman/B&W Staff
TOP: Wei Zhang, ’11G, walks to his car on Mountaintop Campus on April 18. Graduate students have
been talking with parking services over permit costs for about a year. BOTTOM LEFT: Graduate student
parking lots on Mountaintop Campus are full April 18. Students continue to fight for lower permit prices.
BOTTOM RIGHT: Graduate students leave Mountaintop’s student parking lot April 18.
Rising cost of parking permits poses problems
See PARKING Page 3