Students must place mental health at the forefront regarding the occurrence of school shootings within the country instead of blaming video games, music or other forms of popular media.

People often accuse violent video games, music or movies as the source of youth violence. Students may look for a scapegoat to take the blame for violence among children, but this first reaction is far from justified. The correlation between consumption of violent media and brutal behavior is weak at best.

Correlations were found between youth brutality and playing violent video games for larger amounts of time, according to a Dec. 26, 2012 article on the MassGeneral Hospital for Children website. However, this was only present in a small portion of children who already exhibited high stress levels and aggressive tendencies, according to the 2004 study in the article.

Among a variety of parking problems at Texas State, the decision by transportation services officials to rezone several restricted spaces into student spots was a solid step in the right direction.

The Transportation Services Advisory Council members reassigned nearly 100 spaces back to all-zone after the tennis courts lot became restricted last semester, according to a Feb. 21 University Star article. In the same article, the officials found 43 faculty and staff spaces were empty each day when the lot was designated as restricted parking.

Texas State has its roots as an institution that produces highly qualified teachers. This has not changed to this day. Bobcats educate the future workforce and leaders of K-12 public and private classrooms across our state and even the nation.

Our future teachers are working on their certifications and developing skills as educators on campus. I’m thinking many of them wouldn’t mind a brief outlook on what is in the near future regarding policy changes in Texas public education. This past week at the Texas Committee on Public Education, we witnessed a major shift that activists, community leaders and policy experts were shocked and alarmed by.

Transportation services officials need to make solid improvements to bus operations and the infrastructure of The Quad bus loop as they review new proposals and changes for the tram system.

Transportation services officials, according to a Feb. 5 University Star article, requested students pass a vote to potentially increase the bus fee from $78 to $95 per semester effective fall 2014. Students are expected to vote on the matter April 2 and 3, alongside the Associated Student Government elections. The referendum for the potential bus fee increase is based on the same review that led officials to cancel the interurban tram services this upcoming fall.

Texas State officials should consider adding a McDonald’s in the near future to improve campus dining profits, increase meal variety and ease convenience for students.

John Root, director of auxiliary services, said daily profits at Lyndon’s U Club sometimes fall below $100, according to a Jan. 22 University Star article. These figures are unacceptably low. Instead of continuing to pay the upkeep on a seemingly unprofitable restaurant, Chartwells officials should implement a well-known dining outlet such as McDonald’s to help attract more business.

Chin-Hong Chua, Chartwells resident district manager, said a McDonald’s on campus would not be out of the question. Chua said Chartwells has partnerships and franchise relationships with McDonald’s and other companies such as Starbucks, Papa John’s and Subway.

Amid Texas State’s recent reclassification as an Emerging Research Institution, rapid changes should be taking place to improve the university’s overall prestige, operations and services to students. However, the editorial board believes Texas State is failing to serve its students at acceptable levels in multiple areas including growth management, transportation, university and community relations and transparency.

Though students have been shortchanged by transportation services in recent weeks, things could become much worse if they are not willing to hand over more money to fix the problems.

A recent review by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute led to the administration canceling the Bobcat Interurban Tram services, effective Aug. 26. Commuter students who rely on the interurban services will have to find another way to get to campus.

This unfortunate situation is compounded by the fact transportation services is asking for the student bus fee to be increased from $78 to $95 through a referendum in April. Asking for more money from students who are already strapped for cash is not likely a popular decision, but increasing the bus fee is necessary.

Texas State officials should avoid implementing a plan some universities across the nation have discussed that could abridge degrees and restrict some students from double majoring.

Administrators at Ohio State University and University of Texas discussed banning students from earning two degrees at once unless they could graduate within four years, according to a Jan. 31 Time Magazine article. Lagging graduation rates and internal pressures at many institutions have fueled many similar discussions in the country.

In the same article, it’s said 58 percent of students who enroll in bachelor’s degree programs at four-year institutions in the United States graduate within six years. In addition, statistics from U.S. News & World Report indicate Texas State’s four-year graduation rate is approximately 27 percent. With this in mind, simplifying degree paths and restricting students to only one degree could be a possibility for Texas State administrators in the future.

Some students’ only safe and reliable route to Texas State will unfairly vanish this fall when the Bobcat Tram Interurban routes cease to operate.

One of the aspects passengers enjoy about the interurban buses is safety. Often students believe riding the bus is safer than driving personal vehicles for a number of reasons, and some Texas statistics validate their feelings.

On average, one person in Texas was murdered every seven hours in 2010, according to the “Texas Crime Clock” published by the Department of Public Safety. This statistic may not seem very high since Texas is a big state. However, that number pales in comparison to the danger Texas drivers face every day—one person is killed approximately every 2 hours and 54 minutes, according to statistics from the Texas Department of Transportation.

Although San Marcos takes pride in government transparency, documents that are lawfully open to the public are being kept behind closed, ambiguous doors.

An Austin man was stabbed and killed at a Feb. 3 party on Allen Street, according to a Feb. 7 University Star article. A University Star reporter filed an open records request Feb. 11 for the arrest affidavit of the murder suspect and the search warrant of the house where the crime took place.