The first-ever night football game at Ball State Stadium kicks off Thursday and the thousands of accompanying fans will need to park. As is policy, our students with stadium permits have been advised to move their vehicle to an on-campus lot. However, because the game is occuring on a weekday, the spots normally vacated by straying students on weekends will be full.
So, where will the students move their vehicles? The university advises the on-campus commuter lots. Gene Burton, director of public safety, said there are approximately 1,653 commuter spots available, and, of course, there have been more permits than that sold. But, each car in one of the 1,031 stadium spots needs to be relocated. So, from Wednesday at 9 p.m., when cars must be moved, to Friday at 7 a.m., the commuter lots will be nearly full. This leaves 622 spots for at least the 1,653 paid, commuter permits Parking Services has sold. So, now where will the majority of our off-campus commuting students park?
Generously, three churches on Riverside Avenue and one located on University Avenue have offered temporary use of their parking spaces -- at no charge to the university. However, conveniently, there will be no shuttle service to or from these churches and students will be forced to walk the extra distance to campus.
Though the university has made a significant attempt to accommodate its commuting students, senior Leslie Garringer said, "I think they could do a better job of letting us know." A lot of commuter students, who are in and out quickly, never see the Daily News and will arrive on Thursday morning with no place to park and no discernible alternative.
Parking Services can't magically create more spaces, but they could have made stronger efforts to inform students of this event. They could've sent an e-mail, left fliers on cars, posted information on their Web site or gave commuters the heads up when they bought their permits.
We may be in a temporary "parking crunch," as Brian Kinny, associate pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church said, but, the majority of our student body commutes to campus. Each paid $40 to secure a chance to be able to conveniently park in an on-campus lot, and now, because of a football game, the day-to-day parking hassles will worsen.
In the future, let us know.
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