Kyla Robberecht|Marlin Chronicle
“We’re not a big campus,” Seward said. “I am a firm believer [that] we don’t have a parking problem. We have a walking problem.”
Some areas lack available student parking, such as Goode, which Greenleaf said has led to frustrating walks to rehearsal in the rain.
Using an example of walking to the grocery store from the parking lot on a rainy day, Seward said, “Does everyone want the convenience of being able to have that front row spot where it’s a short walk? Absolutely.”
For future development, Seward said, “If we have the need for additional parking, it’s obviously something that’s on the table.” He said the addition of new lots would occur with continued growth and development, but the current lots are servicing campus well.Updates to Virginia Wesleyan’s parking were made effective Jan. 1, according to a Campus Life email sent on Dec. 19. “[These changes] came about from a parking study […] when we were looking at Campus Master Plan and we knew where we were going,” Associate Vice President for Campus Life and Operational Management Jason Seward said.
The email listed the specific changes, which reallocated designated parking spaces for the following parking lots: Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center/Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Brock Commons/Boyd Dining Center, Avenue of the Sciences and Greer Environmental Science Center. New signage in the lots reflect those changes.
The reason for parking changes was “growth in both facilities and programs over the past ten years,” according to the Dec. 19 email. “We’ve become a much more sophisticated university,” Seward said.
Seward referenced how partnerships have impacted the university’s growth. “We have a number of campus partners that have headquarters here on campus [and …] our camps and conferences have grown significantly, with a number of outside groups choosing to call Virginia Wesleyan home,” Seward said.
Seward said new buildings also bring more visitors, MOCA being the most recent addition.
Seward said the new plan has been working with “always open spaces in all of the lots.” As a benefit, Seward said for “the first time in my 26 years here, we now have specific lots that are student-only parking.”
These lots are Avenue of the Sciences, which is outside Blocker Hall and the lot behind Brock Commons/Boyd Dining Center.
Junior Meadow Schmitt spoke to how parking changes have impacted students. “They changed [Avenue of the Sciences] to be more student parking,” Schmitt said. “I don’t think it actually makes a big enough difference to counter the loss of the Goode parking lot.”
Students are also allowed to park in the Jane P. Batten Student Center lot but not overnight.
Spaces for visitors and commuter students have increased, which Seward said has resulted in “funneling them to one specific location, like the Batten lot.”
Sophomore Alex Pleasants lives in Allen Village (Village 2) and said, “I parked by Batten because I live […] in a corner of the building that’s super far away from every other parking lot. And so when I carry stuff, like my refrigerator, up to my dorm room or something, it’s super annoying.”
“Batten was the only parking lot that was close and accessible,” Pleasants said. “I got two parking tickets for it, but they waived it, fortunately.”
“Now the parking lot that’s behind V2 is super crowded, and it’s almost impossible to find a parking spot,” Pleasants said.
Seward said proximity to buildings motivated these strategic parking placements, pointing to the example of the Batten lot being used for athletic competitions and attendees.
Schmitt said for an ideal parking situation, “there needs to be closer parking.” She emphasized parking proximity to dorms specifically.
“It’s one thing if you’re a commuter and you have to get out and walk to class. It’s a different thing if you live on campus and you’re having to carry a bunch of groceries all the way across campus, or […] if you have some sort of disability or something like that, or you’re injured in some way or sick, and you’re having to walk an unreasonable distance just to get to your bed,” Schmitt said.
As a prior student worker at the Goode Center, Schmitt observed the Goode parking lot in action from “big events and small events, both with students on campus and without them.”
Schmitt said at a larger event in the Center, “It was hard to get out of Goode because there’s only one entrance and exit, and everybody’s trying to go down them, and then you have all the people cutting everyone off and stuff in the parking lot itself.”
The changes in policy for the Goode parking lot have impacted students who need access to the nearby buildings.
The “Student Only” parking sign on Avenue of the Sciences, outside Blocker Hall.
Laila Jones|Marlin Chronicle
Junior Anna Greenleaf said she “tried to park in that parking lot during J-term for two hours to go to Beverly and when I got out I had a slip of paper on my car saying not to park there or else I would get a ticket.” Greenleaf expressed frustration about restriction from using lots, even when they are unoccupied.
Moving into the spring semester, Greenleaf said the new parking designations restricted students from parking in Goode for rehearsals.
“It doesn’t make sense if I have rehearsal all the way in Goode [and] I can’t park there,” Greenleaf said. She said if there’s rehearsal happening, it means that the venue is not being used otherwise.
Schmitt said that she has seen the Goode lot reach maximum capacity when the campus has larger events hosted by external organizations. She said she can foresee how the space reduction from the MOCA might pose challenges for Goode as a venue.
“Our lots are accommodating what our needs are as an institution, both on the student side, the faculty and staff side and the event side,” Seward said. “The current plan, as it stands, supports all of those equally and sufficiently.”
By Isaac Fick & Lily Reslink