The Parking Office announced on May 1 that there are changes to the parking regulations on campus for residents and commuter students for 2022-23. Students who park in the wrong spots, do not hang their parking permit tag, or park in handicap parking will be fined by Campus Police.
Resident students assigned to surface lot parking are allowed to park in any lot on campus designated for resident students. These lots include Carpenter, Forest Avenue, Maple Terrace, Van Winkle, Grove Street, Klingbeil, McClelland, Plummer, and Rockwell Daycare. Students who purchased a parking pass for the garages can use the North or East/West garage based on their assigned lot for this year.
Some of the surface lots that were available for residents to park last year have changed as well. The Rockwell, Bancroft, and Cushing lots are now for commuters and employees only. These changes were made by the Parking Committee which includes members of the administration, the Student Government Association, and two representatives from campus police.
Campus Police Officer Michael Petrie said that these changes were made to accommodate more students and staff. “Last year, we'd get a lot of calls from residents saying ‘my lot is full wherever I go.’ We're not getting that call as much because there's more options.”
Senior health science major Kara Desmond has a residential surface lot parking pass. Desmond said that the new parking on campus is “a little frustrating at times” because it can be difficult to find parking spots near her dorm.
Officer Petrie says that students with parking passes who live in Rockwell and the surrounding dorms still have the availability to park close by.
“Students want to park close to Rockwell and Forest so that's why this year it's switched to the East/West garage, which is not that much further away,” Petrie said. “There are actually more spots. The East/West garage holds 58 spots, the Rockwell lot only holds 48. So we were hoping there was a little more of an increase in parking in this area.”
The Rockwell lot is closed to provide more options for employees and commuter students, but it also allows for game day parking near the field. “It gives us a chance to open up the lot for the game days with no issues,” said Officer Petrie. “We couldn't use it last year because it was all resident assigned. So there was no flexibility to have people park there.”
Senior criminal justice major Bryanna Krance believes the parking changes are beneficial as a commuter student.
There is more space to park than there was before,” Krance said. “I have seen a lot more people commuting this year. I feel like the new options are good because you won't be fighting for spots as much.”