A few weeks ago, rumors spread around campus that the College was going to "pave the bird sanctuary" to replace parking spots lost due to construction. President Marx moved quickly to provide facts about the proposed plan, and has been working with a group of students ever since to come up with alternatives. Marx has now challenged these students to find 100 rising juniors and seniors willing to give up their parking permits next year, and students have come up with a plan to use the $20,000 Marx provided as incentive.

For many, the necessity of having a car on a rural campus outweighs almost any amount of money. As a result of this the reduced demand option is doomed to failure, but we think the experience will teach the community a valuable lesson. The process will demonstrate to students the difficulty involved in making decisions that affect the entire College community.

If students are upset about a particular issue, they must understand that sometimes there is no perfect solution to a problem; sacrifices are essential in order to fix any problem. If students are unwilling to make sacrifices, which seems to be the case for this situation, then President Marx is free to proceed with the original parking lot plan or to consider alternatives such as paving the upper tennis courts with the knowledge that he consulted students.

As President Marx wrestles with the issue of how to adequately inform the student body and include its input, we suggest that he use AAS referendums in the future to gauge the student body's feelings on a particular issue. While not binding, such referendums can prevent a small handful of vocal students from dominating the debate on campus. We hope President Marx realizes that these vocal students do not represent the student body.

We are also disappointed that the AAS did not take a more active role in deliberating and proposing solutions to this problem after President Marx spoke at length at one of their meetings. By failing to provide possible solutions to a crucial issue facing students, the AAS missed a chance to contradict student claims that they are out-of-touch and ineffective.

The community effort to deal with this difficult issue is a good learning experience, but the improbability of getting the required 100 parking permits demonstrates that a few voices of concern can misrepresent widespread student opinion.