In 2017, the University of South Carolina announced plans to build a parking deck adjacent to the University's Greek Village, for the express purpose of providing more parking for the greek community. They stated that from that point forward, students whose greek organizations had houses in the Greek Village would be assessed an incrementally increasing fee to pay for the development of the proposed parking garage. That fee increasing from $125 a semester, to $250 a semester, and finally to $375 a semester. It can be estimated that thus far, the Board has raised upwards of $7,000,000 for this project. Greek students were told construction would begin in 2019, and even though many students paying for this deck would never even get to utilize it, they continued to pay the fee imposed on them by the University. 

It was announced on September 15th, 2019 that the University no longer had any plans to continue with the development of this parking deck, and instead had shifted their focus to the idea of a flat surface parking lot - decreasing the amount of spaces available from an estimated 1,200 to a mere 300 spots. The Board spokesman, Jeff Stensland, said in an email that the money raised for the deck would now be going towards the development of the surface lot, and the removal and new construction of space for the School of Visual Art and Design and theater students at a different location, at an estimated cost of $1,000,000. Considering this drastic jump in cost, as well as the fact that a majority of greek members are NOT members of the School of Visual Art and Design nor theater students, this appears to be a complete misappropriation of the funds originally collected. Greek students, who payed their own money into the building of a parking deck their members were supposed to benefit from, are now paying for a newly-proposed, measly 300-spot lot, and the renovation of a new space that they, most likely, will never even set foot in. 

The University has not only siphoned millions of dollars from their students under a certain pretense, but they have now announced that they don't intend to fulfill the extent of their commitment at all. Short of refunding greek students all the money they originally committed to this project, the only acceptable way the Board can remedy this is by refunding all those who payed into the parking deck the difference between the amount of money raised, and the estimated cost of the new project. The University cannot simply be permitted to take funds they collected for a specific purpose, and appropriate them to an entirely different project without the consent of the students from which the money was collected. It is deception, it is wrong, and it's borderline abuse of its students.

This petition is a representation of all Greek Village students, former and present, that feel as though an injustice has been committed against them, and are INSISTING on a remedy in the form of a refund by the Board of Trustees Building and Grounds Committee.

Please reference the below links for any additional information.

Daily Gamecock article on parking garage plan changes:

https://www.dailygamecock.com/article/2019/09/greek-village-parking-lot-plan

UofSC original statement on garage:

https://www.sc.edu/uofsc/announcements/posts/2016/07/greek_village_parking.php#.XYBCe5NKgWo

UofSC published FAQ on original parking garage plan:

https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/fraternity_and_sorority_life/documents/greek-fee-faq.pdf