Parking Still An Issue On Campus
Finding a parking spot on campus has always been a problem but the situation has been magnified now that more people live on campus. There just simply isn't enough on-campus parking at least on the side where most of the upperclassmen reside. Students that wish to park on campus are required to purchase a parking decal. If the student chooses not to purchase the decal, then they are not "supposed" to park on campus.But, since campus security has not really enforced students to purchase the decals nor punish no-decal drivers, students proceed to do whatever they please. The Voice took the issue to two students to get their opinions and possible solutions.
Brittany Kwarteng, a junior, resides in the LLC.
Q: Do you have a decal?
A: Yes. I do have a decal.
Q: Do you feel as if we need a parking decal, even though campus security does not check for them?
A: Yes, we need them for liability reasons.
Q: What is your main concern about parking?
A: Other students who park near my car are sometimes reckless, leaving dings or scratches on my vehicle.
Q: What is the furthest that you've had to drive to find parking?
A: I've had to park as far as Joyner and then walk back to LLC.
Q: Would you think that it would be better to place upperclassmen in residence halls across campus instead of confining them all to one side with limited parking?
A: Combining both upperclassmen and underclassmen together in a residence hall would enrich both parties experience. In my opinion, it would be smarter because there is parking on the underclassmen side that is not being utilized by underclassmen because they're unable to bring vehicles anyways.
Q: How does it make you feel when you see students without a parking decal in a reserved spot, but you cannot find a parking spot?
A: It upsets me because my sole purpose of buying a decal was to park on campus. So, when I have to walk long distances to park my car I feel unsafe. I have to walk this long distance back to my residence hall in the dark by myself.
Derrick Young is a senior living in Phase 1 building A.
Q: Do you have a parking decal?
A: No, I do not have a decal.
Q: Do you plan on purchasing a decal?
A: No, I am not going to purchase a decal because there is no parking. Ever.
Q; Have you ever been ticketed for parking on campus without a decal?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you value how other drivers with decals feel when you're parked in their reserved spots?
A: Yes, I care about how drivers with decals feel when I am parked in their spot because they paid for this spot.
Q: if you knew that the rules would enforce every single time you parked on campus without a decal, would you purchase a decal?
A: I would buy a decal if I knew that there was going to be a guaranteed parking spot and that the rules would be enforced one hundred percent of the time.
All in all, it falls back on the campus security. Students are not purchasing decals because they know that campus security is not going to issue a citation. Why follow a rule that isn't going to be enforced? I propose that campus security stop taking this laissez-faire approach and start enforcing the parking decal rule. No parking decal equals no on-campus parking. This will not completely solve the on-campus parking issue, but it is a start. As far as developing more parking spaces, that is in the hands of the administration. And that's a whole different story for another day.