I live on campus. I pay over $34,000 a year to attend this college. Myparents don’t foot the bill, I don’t live at home, and I work. Since I certainly cannot walk down 422 to get to work, I need a motor vehicle to get me there. My car might be pretty hot but it doesn’t float, so I need somewhere to park it on campus. If you arrive on campus after 8 p.m., you are, in no way, going to park anywhere NEAR Residential Blvd. The closest parking lot to the dorms is Founder’sHall, which we all know is sacred ground not to be touched with the dirty, hell raising tires of resident students. This lot is for commuters, professors, and staff ONLY. Just because we pay more money to attend this college and stay on campus 24 hours a day, that does not automatically give us the right to park anywhere convenient.
Commuters are here for probably 5 hours a day. They park here, go to class, and leave. We need somewhere to park all of the time, night included. Commuters and staff are guaranteed a spot — as soon as they pull into their driveway after class. And let’s be honest, how much farther would one have to walk to get to Founder’s Hall from the Dixon parking lot? Is it that horrible? I remember being a freshman and walking from Dixon to Woodcrest, so that I wouldn’t get ticketed. The freshman this year park right on Residential Blvd, taking away spots for those of us that are actually ALLOWED to have cars on campus.
Even 20 more spots would alleviate the pressure. There’s plenty of space on this campus; the way this college boasts about its acreage you’d think there’d be plenty of room for all of us to romp around. I realize there are certain restrictions on how much we can actually change the woods, but it’s necessary. The problems wont end if there isn’t a valid solution, and printed tickets instead of handwritten ones certainly isn’t going to change anything.
So I say, less privilege to the commuters. Their stress ends when they leave the lot.
Lauren Tague
