Parking and student residence proposals go to regents

Annual parking permits would go up $12 (reserved and 24-hour reserved) or $6 (general staff, Ames Lab, residence, departmental, vendor) under a rate proposal going to the state Board of Regents next week. Motorcycle permits would go up a proposed $3 and academic year student parking, including residence lots and the football stadium lots, also would go up a proposed $6.

The board meets Wednesday, March 12, in the University of Iowa student union. The full agenda is online and a live audio stream of public portions of the meeting are available from the board's website.

Annual parking permits for the Memorial Union ramp, including employee permits, would go up a proposed $12 and semester permits would go up $6 ($5 for summer). The cost of a "winter" permit (November through February) would not change.

ISU's parking division, based on a recommendation from the Transportation Advisory Council, also will seek to increase the illegal parking fine by $10, to $40, beginning July 1. The illegal exit fine at the MU ramp would go up a proposed $15, to $65.

Proposed permit increases on July 1

* Includes residence department, Ames Lab staff permits

Residence hall rate increases

Iowa State proposes to increase all resident hall rooms and Frederiksen Court apartment rates 1.5 percent for the 2014-15 academic year and the Schilletter/University Village apartments 1 percent. Semester meal plans would go up 1.3 to 1.4 percent, as requested, and block meal plans (25 to 100 meals) would go up 1.5 percent.

The proposed increases would equate to an additional $109 for a student opting for the standard rate, which features a double room without air conditioning ($4,154) and the Gold meal plan of 225 meals and 200 dining dollars each semester ($3,676 for the year). The total for this package would be $7,830.

Room rates vary according to building, air conditioning availability and number of roommates.

In other business, Iowa State will ask to:

• Award a Doctor of Humane Letters to Stephen Rapp for his leadership in prosecuting individuals responsible for crimes against innocent people. Rapp, a Cedar Falls native, heads the Office of Global Criminal Justice in the U.S. State Department. President Barack Obama appointed him Ambassador-at-large for War Crimes Issues in 2009. He is a former Iowa legislator (1973-75, 1979-83) and former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa (1993-2001). The honorary degree would be awarded at spring commencement on May 10. Faculty members in the anthropology department nominated Rapp for the honor.
• Terminate the master of agriculture program in professional agriculture, launched in 1981 as a distance education option, due to a wider range of more focused graduate program options for students and reduced faculty interest in the program. The proposed termination would take effect when its 26 enrolled students complete the program, no longer than five years.
• Change the name of a bachelor's program in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, from public service and administration in agriculture, to agriculture and society. The proposed name reflects the program's focus on the social and human sides of agriculture, and is intended to help strengthen students' efforts to market themselves to would-be employers. If approved, the change would occur this August.
• Receive an annual report on student retention and graduation rates at the three universities. Iowa State's one-year retention rate for the fall 2012 class was 87.1 percent; the average one-year retention rate during the last 10 years is 85.4 percent.

Following the fall 2007 entering class