Texas State and Chartwells officials need to take significant steps to improve sales and combat meager profits at Lyndon’s U Club.

The main thing Chartwells needs to improve upon to see heightened Lyndon’s sales is marketing. Currently, Lyndon’s is tucked away in an inconspicuous corner of The Lair in the LBJ Student Center and is barely noticeable with its subtle facade. Many students are not even aware of the restaurant’s existence, and those who are may have misconceptions that prevent them from trying out the on-campus eatery. Some students still believe Lyndon’s U Club is a faculty-exclusive venue. This idea can be a common belief held over from the days when the restaurant resided in Commons Dining Hall and only served faculty and staff members.

A renewed focus must be placed on higher education this legislative session with fewer cuts to university budgets, more funding allotted for campus construction projects and logic-based discourse.

The 83rd legislative session began Jan. 8, and issues impacting students the most, such as higher education, need to be put on the main stage right from the start. Although religious beliefs or lack thereof should be respected for each individual privately, logic and reason must be used as the primary tools regarding decision-making on the session floor. This will become especially important with hot-button issues such as concealed carry on campus.

Parking Services officials should consider allowing student permit holders to utilize the Performing Arts Center Garage without paying the current hourly rates.

The first two floors of the new parking garage on Edward Gary Street opened for free parking from Jan. 2 to Jan. 13. The garage is available not only to students, faculty and staff members, but to the public as well.

According to a Jan. 17 press release by the city, nine of the total garage parking spots are reserved. These reserved spaces are likely for campus officials or professors. In addition to the availability of more than 400 spaces, the location of the parking garage is ideal for campus accessibility. The garage is located near a number of residential halls and academic buildings and should provide ample parking for students, faculty and staff members.

More students need to take advantage of the special opportunities and aspects offered by the Honors College to make its presence more largely known on campus.

Many students may have the false idea that participation in the Honors College requires a lot of upkeep and is not worth the hassle it entails. Additionally, some students do not realize that they decide their own levels of involvement within the Honors College. Students can be very active in classes and events or opt to be largely inactive and still be part of the college. A minimum of five honors courses, including a thesis class, are required to graduate in the program.

The San Marcos City Council is largely ignoring resident pleas and silencing the overwhelming public vote by going forth with plans to allow the Cape’s Camp land tract to become future student development.

According to a Jan. 15 University Star article, the city council approved zoning changes to permit a new apartment complex called The Woodlands of San Marcos to be developed on Cape’s Camp. The 5-2 vote sparked opposition from many of the more than 75 percent of voters who said they wanted the 45 acres to be bought by the city and used as parkland. These votes were cast on the Nov. 6 ballots in a non-binding referendum, which means the final decision on the matter is left to the city council regardless of the voting outcome.

Texas State needs to find ways to develop more strategies this year to overcome potentially greater budget cuts enacted during the new state legislative session.

According to a Jan. 17 report from educationdive.com, the current budget for higher education in Texas is $15.1 billion. The corresponding projected budgets from the Senate and the Texas House of Representatives are $14.8 and $14.9 billion. If the Texas legislature passes its preliminary budget proposals, a 2 percent funding cut will take place at higher education institutions during the next three years. The reductions are predicted to be steep, so many universities may be forced to make changes to their curriculum and possibly cut faculty positions, likely hurting students in the process.

Education is such a crucial component to a student’s future, so it is important Texas State officials utilize the university’s resources to offset any current or future budget cuts.

Liberal arts degrees are not useless, despite some messages from media outlets and society as a whole, and students who attain them are not doomed to irrevocable poverty.

There is a lot of pressure on college students when it comes to picking a major. Parents tend to want their children to succeed in careers and often encourage them to pick certain college majors that will lead to profitable salaries. In addition, many want their children to receive a degree in a growing career path to be nearly guaranteed a job offer shortly after graduation.

Students who graduate with non-technical degrees face higher unemployment rates after college matriculation, according to an Oct. 11, 2012 Forbes article. On the other hand, students graduating with degrees in health care, business, science, technology, engineering and math have consistently higher, more stable employment rates and salaries in their career fields.

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Some Texas State instructors who write textbooks and require the purchase of them for their classes are unfairly shaking down students on two fronts: through textbook purchases and tuition.

This common practice means many instructors are procuring an additional income by using their students as a resource. These professors already earn a salary through the tuition students pay to enroll in their classes, and the practice of requiring their own textbooks should not be as widespread as it is.

Some instructors fill textbooks entirely with public-domain works, which are free to print and publish. Requiring students to buy works like this for their gain is a profit-seeking endeavor and must be more widely discouraged.

Any discussion behind a Texas secession from the union should be put to rest because it is both legally impossible and an impractical decision that could create more problems for disgruntled Texas residents.

A Nov. 14 article in The New Republic reported a White House petition had accumulated more than 80,000 signatures supporting Texas breaking away from the United States. The White House has already responded with a no, but it is important to understand that Texas could not survive alone, even with a culmination of economic and nationalistic sentiments.

With California taking first place, Texas has the second largest economy in the nation, according to Jan. 13, 2011 gross domestic product statistics from The Economist online. The same website rankings show Texas’ GDP is economically roughly equivalent to Russia. In addition, Gov. Rick Perry and the state legislature may be aiming to run a surplus this year.

San Marcos residents and students need to back the San Marcos City Council’s vote to allow a student housing complex on the recently acquired Cape’s Camp property.  

According to a Jan. 15 University Star article, city council voted 5-2 to allow developers to build a student housing complex called The Woodlands of San Marcos. The complex will be built on part of the land tract known as Cape’s Camp.

Many residents believe the entirety of the riverfront location should be acquired by the city as parkland and should not become the new site for a student housing complex. The decision has been seen as controversial within the community because of environmental and tax reasons. The protests against the zoning changes and the construction of the riverfront property have the city of San Marcos torn between development and opposition from residents.