DOUG HARDMAN
Opinions Editor
Do you ever just have one little thing that irks you and has the potential of ruining your day? I have mine and it is being unable to find an open parking space on campus. There is nothing that drives me more insane than driving around campus for 10 or more minutes because I cannot find a decent parking spot. I know I cannot be the only one, considering the Batten and the Village II parking lots are both jam-packed every single morning and the only decent place to park is out by Fine Arts.
And you know, since all of us are theatre or music majors and need to be right next to the Fine Arts building every morning anyways, no worries, problem solved. If only it were that simple, then you would not have to listen to this rant. Anyways, it is extremely irritating—this is a school campus, not a mall parking lot. You know there is a real overcrowding problem when cars are not even in parking spaces, but parked on the curbs in Batten.
I am not saying a little exercise is a bad thing, but if a student has a class in Batten, Clarke, the Library or anywhere in Village II, they should not have to park so far away. I cannot even think of why there are no available parking spots. Last year, I did not even have my own car to park, but I always recall there being open spots in Batten and Village II because I walked by there every day.
Not to start pointing fingers, but there was an increase in freshmen for this school year. If this overcrowding parking problem has to do with freshmen and their cars, then there is an even greater need to fix this issue. I know of other colleges that do not even allow for freshman to have cars until their sophomore year.
I wholeheartedly believe that parking is an issue that needs to be addressed. Getting a little off topic, I think freshmen living on campus should not have a car because it breaks the need to have to go home. Going to college is about becoming independent, but freshmen having cars means they can go home whenever they feel like. Let your parents drop you off, it is almost like a rite of passage—they brought you into the world and then they release you into the world.
Freshmen having cars loops back around to one of my ideas: one part of the overcrowding issues is freshmen living on campus with cars. If there were less freshmen cars on campus, the rest of us who need to use them to park our cars and go to classes would have room to park. While this may be part of the solution, it is hard to enforce because they have also paid their $100 to park on campus.
My other gripe about parking on campus is that the entire library is closed off to students. It is one thing to have faculty parking because they do not live on campus and, like commuters, need to park and go to their job. There are usually library parking spaces available, yet they are closed off to students. I mean, we did pay $100 to park on campus, even if just for class or campus activities, so why is it I cannot park in the library lot if my class is in the library?
Parking my car so I can get to class has become more of an issue than it needs to be and I know I am not alone here. This semester, I do not even attempt to park in Batten or Village II before noon because I will be driving around for 10 or more minutes. It is a situation that needs to be fixed. Again, if I have paid $100 to park on campus, I better find a perfect spot.