Column: To park or not to park?
As a resident student, I understand that I am meant to park in the dorm parking slots. I also know that resident students are not allowed to park in parking lots A,B,C or D during the school day.
I am perfectly fine walking to my classes when it’s sunny, cloudy, cold or hot. However, when it’s pouring down rain, I do not want to take the nearly half-mile walk to my classes, then sit for the day in wet clothes.
It’s easier to drive up to my classes.
“Not letting residents park in conditions like today is absolutely pathetic,” Slater Wolford, a fellow residential student, posted on the USC Aiken Student Life Facebook page Tuesday when it was cold and raining.
Another student, Adirae Skymaine, who is now a commuter, but once lived on campus stated “I understood it when I lived on campus. Especially all the way from Crossings, literally running to class in the rain sucked.“
When it is raining, people tend to try parking as close to their destination as possible, so why is it a problem for students to drive to their classes in these instances?
Another issue that resident students encounter is when they have a job off-campus and are able to get off work in just enough time to drive to campus for their class. They are expected to drop their car off in their dorm parking lot, then run to class.
That is needlessly stressful. The student should be allowed to park in an extra parking space near their class.
While I understand that commuter students need a place to park, this school year has been unpredictable, and there are not as many in-person commuter students. When there are ample empty parking slots on campus, I think that it should be okay for the resident students to park in the extra spots on inclement weather days.
“There are at least 40-50 open parking spaces at a time in each parking lot at any point in the day. I understand that commuters should be able to have the best available parking” Wolford stated in his post.
Skymaine offered a different position as a commuter student, saying, “Now that I commute I literally had to pray that there were parking pots and most of the time with residents taking up the spots. I’ve ended up parking at the hospital and walking class before because there wasn’t enough parking.“
In no way am I suggesting that resident students should be allowed to park in the commuter spots 24/7, but I do believe that the police department should be more lenient with the parking tickets and listen to the students.
No one wants to walk in the rain and be soggy for the day.
