The Spectator The independent student newspaper of Valdosta State University
It comes as no surprise to VSU commuters that some days you end up hot and sweaty trying to walk to class from the parking deck in Sustella due to limited parking spaces.
We should not have to choose between flip-flops and walking shoes just to walk to class from a parking spot. We should also not have to wait for a bus system, which most of the time has students standing outside in the vicious Valdosta heat for 10 minutes just to get on a crowded bus.
I have a problem with this; I think something needs to be done with the current parking situation and I have a few suggestions.
The first suggestion is to take the staff parking and turn it into parking spots for the commuters. That may sound cold and heartless, but anyone who has ever worked in retail knows that the employees park in the back so the customers can park up front (receiving the best parking spot). Well I hate to tell you, but students are the customers here at VSU. We pay our money every semester to keep this university up and running, so I will not take any parking space—I want the best one.
The second suggestion may not help out a lot, but it would serve the purpose for four or five cars at the least. Take the police cars that are parked in the Oak parking deck—that never move out of there—and let some students park there. In the process, remove that little radar telling us how fast we are going. It’s not like the students are going to go 45 mph in a parking deck.
The third and last suggestion is to open up all of the 45-minute parking spots on campus to commuters only on the week days. Most commuters leave campus after their classes so those parking spots would open up quickly and provide more parking spots for the students. It would also allow students to park closer to their classes, which is a win for everyone.
Dear JLW,
As I mentioned in my original post, I am a grad student. In case you are not aware of what that imposes on my life, I’ll just say I don’t have time to “research” anything beyond what I need for the 100+ pages of term papers I have to produce this semester. If YOU would like to research my statement, I would recommend http://www.collegeprowler.com (while you’re researching, please note what these schools charge their students for parking). Please be aware that I was specifically talking about major colleges and universities, I would assume that community colleges (which, usually, do NOT have dorms & thus would NEED the parking for EVERYONE) have plenty of parking & no limitations. If you would like to argue that VSU is not a major university and is nothing more than a small-city college, please be aware that we have the same number of students as, for example, Georgia Tech (which DOES allow Freshman to park on campus, but only after their first semester, & charges over $600 for parking).
In reference to a comment above, the term “most” is applied to the number of campuses that ban cars for freshmen. I would like for the person that made that comment to do some research and report back an actual percentage for both Georgia and Nationwide. I’d really like to know exactly how many “most” is. I certainly do not believe that such is the case for a majority of Georgia campuses.
All of these suggestions would just create additional problems. Staff show up before the students anyway, so point one wouldn’t work. The police cars in the Oak Deck do move – when there is an emergency. There is a reason why they are parked close to the police station. Finally, the timed spaces are few and allow for people to drop off and pick up large items from the buildings. The only solution is more parking spaces, not half-brained ideas that only cause further problems.
Dear Mr. Garrett,
I do not have to stretch my imagination very much to assume that you are an underclassman. Let me guess, this is your sophomore year? As someone who has been attending VSU for the past 7 years (as a duel-enrollment student, an undergraduate, and most recently as a graduate student), I can tell you that parking has greatly improved on campus! What has outweighed the improved parking is more students! This is a GOOD problem to have! Let me tell you a little secret: most colleges and universities DON’T allow on-campus freshman to park on campus!!! Eliminate those underused vehicles and tah-duh! THREE whole sections of the Oak Street parking lot magically open up to the rest of the student body!! Ghee, how hard is that? Apparently, for the SGA, it is very difficult! THEY are the ones holding back commuter parking on campus! Why does SGA still allow on-campus freshman to continue parking on campus? Because, guess what, most of the SGA is or was at one point on-campus freshman! Very few commuter’s (especially those of us from the area) rarely become so involved in SGA.
I’m sorry, but saying that eliminating staff parking for STUDENTS benefit is a good idea is the most inane suggestion I have EVER heard!
Erin
As a staff member, I disagree that staff parking should be taken away. I pay more for my parking spot and work hard to keep the school running every day.
Secondly, the most obvious solution is to prohibit freshmen who live on campus to park on campus. Most universities have this rule: No cars for freshmen. When a freshman lives on campus and eats on campus, they do not have a need for a car. As a freshman I had a car, but would only use it on the weekends. The rest of the week it sat in Oak Street parking lot taking up space from commuters. Prohibiting freshman parking would clear up a lot of space. Or, have off-campus parking for freshmen with a shuttle.
However, I do agree about the buses. There should be a bus schedule so when you arrive at a bus stop you have a clear idea of when a bus is suppose to be there. This keeps you from waiting 20 minutes in the hot sun for no bus.