A parking pass for expectant mothers was added to Ball State’s parking services this semester.
The temporary pass allows expectant students or faculty to use six designated spots, said Nick Capozzoli, parking services manager. Expectant mothers were originally given temporary handicap permits.
The new spots are located throughout campus including the McKinley Avenue parking garage, the Student Center parking garage and the Emens parking garage.
Sullivan, who helped establish this pass, said for mothers in their third, or even first trimester, walking to class can be strenuous. These parking passes can help ease their stress.
“It is already a challenge being a student. Now, imagine if you are three months pregnant having to walk from an off-campus location with a backpack,” said Hannah Sullivan, president of Ball State’s Pregnant and Parenting Support Group. “We are able to do something so positive for the community [with this pass].”
While Sullivan said no one in the Pregnant and Parenting Support Group group has applied for a pass, Capozzoli said parking services has sold three permits as of Wednesday.
To acquire a permit, a faculty or staff member must have a Ball State parking pass, Capozzoli said. Then, they need to have a physician fill out a certification form.
After completing the paperwork, the hang tag for expectant mothers is issued free of charge for the “necessary timeframe.”
The pass was added after Kyleigh Snavely, Student Government Association secretary, started working last year with Pregnant and Parenting Support Group to establish it.
RELATED: SGA may establish parking passes for pregnant students
“If we can get [mothers] a parking pass right next to their class, it reduces the time, the stress on their bodies,” Snavely said. “I was just a third party figuring out who this initiative needs to go to.”
The initiative was then added as a platform point for SGA’s executive slate Amplify. The platform point is now complete, but Snavely said she wants to “dig deeper” into it.
She said she plans to do this by researching if the passes are working as effectively as needed throughout the upcoming months.
Contact Liz Rieth with comments at ejrieth@bsu.edu or on Twitter @liz_rieth.
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