Texas Tech to Better Texas Tech

Texas Tech to Better Texas Tech

         Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, is a popular choice among students from United States and other parts of the world. Although my fourteen months experience with the university has been a decent one, I have faced quite a few problems and challenges during my journey. Here, I have identified some major issues which the university needs to think over. 

         Transportation poses a popular problem that Texas Tech students face. The public transport in and around the campus is inadequate. The frequency of buses, both within and around the campus, needs to be increased. Students have to wait every now and then for buses and doing so they lose valuable time. For instance, I had a tough time throughout the summer when I had to wait in scorching heat for buses to go to my department and work. This resulted in rashes and red bumps on my skin. The busses running during morning hours are way too crowded and there is no place to sit. Standing in a moving bus is dangerous and can result in injuries when sudden brakes are applied. Safe Ride is a service provided through Student Service fees for taxi pickup anywhere in the Tech campus and delivery to one’s residence. A lot of students do not have a car and need to rely on this service. To be honest, this is a highly unreliable service and the administration needs to think about it. The service center network is always busy as there are thousands of people calling at the same time. A number of times I had to wait for hours and on some instances even walk back home.  

         Texas Tech University students also face problems with making new friends. A university is a new phase of one’s life and with a new chapter comes new faces. There are various student associations and organizations around the campus who can take the initiative of weekly open meetings and get-togethers. This will help a lot of students to socialize, make friends and share cultural knowledge. Generally international students find it difficult to interact with Americans because of cultural differences. Such social meetings will help them open up and share their feelings. The university should start a campaign along with the Lubbock community in which they assign two to three local families to each international student. These families can invite students for dinner and day trips. Being a part of an American family while studying at Texas Tech will not just help us in adjusting to living in Lubbock but know the American community better. It is due to the lack of friends that I often feel homesick and miss my close ones. Such events will make Texas Tech a more likeable place and the students will feel a lot more comfortable.

         A major problem that affects Texas Tech University is Campus Parking. For the seventh-straight year, Texas Tech University saw an increase in the enrollment of the number of students with a 2.1 percent growth from Fall 2014 to Fall 2015 but the parking space remains the same throughout. On weekdays, one has to be very lucky to find a parking space near C1 parking (beside Jones AT & T stadium) during afternoons. It is the closest parking lot to the College of Engineering. This makes it difficult to do our daily job when there is no legal space to park our cars. Distant parking are allotted to students which does not allow them to park closer to their classes. On Game Day and other special occasions the Parking Services need to make specific arrangements for people who have to go to their respective departments for work. Texas Tech University Transportation and Parking Services need to reconfigure their parking policies so that it assists the students, faculty and staffs. 

         Clearly, all the three issues discussed above need to be addressed if we want our university to be a better place. Firstly, transportation is a matter of grave concern, and we have seen how it can affect the safety and productivity of a student. Secondly, socialization is necessary for students to stay happy, and the Tech administration needs to take steps in helping students on this issue. Lastly, the Texas Tech University Transportation and Parking Services has to make serious changes in its campus parking policy in order to make life easy for the entire Tech community.

(Abhishek Kumar)