Finding a parking spot is challenging anywhere you go, however it’s especially difficult for those parking on campus. While MU Parking & Transportation provides permits to students who request them, the location of these parking spots make no sense.
Undergraduate students living in Residential Life can be assigned to a few different lots. Most students get parking permits for the Hearnes lot, which is actually far from most on-campus dorms. Last year, my roommate and I lived in Excellence Hall and had to park at Hearnes. Any time we needed to go somewhere off campus, it was an 18-minute (one mile) walk to the car. This continued to be inconvenient, especially if there were groceries to carry. The most frustrating aspect of having to park 18 minutes from the dorms was the fact that the Virginia Avenue Parking Structure was right across the street. This was also confusing because I was moved to Virginia halfway through the first semester. So while I got to move to a closer parking space, my roommate still had to park a mile away and wasn’t offered a closer space, even though we filled out the parking form at the same time. Hearnes should not be the default parking space for students living on campus. Restructuring where each dorm parks would be a viable solution to this problem. If a dorm is right next to a parking garage, students should be able to park in that garage.
Parking far away is not only frustrating, but also dangerous. Two freshman girls should not have to walk a mile to their cars in the dark on a campus that’s not entirely safe. With MU’s history of sexual assault and recent gun violence, having students walk alone at night to and from their cars is not acceptable. No one is ever going to feel safe on campus until the parking situation is improved for all students.
In addition to this, on-campus parking for non-residential students is horrible. The only MU lot offered to non-residential life students is RP10, which is near the baseball field. This lot is for students living in Greek Life and downtown apartments who need an overnight permit. However, this is also extremely inconvenient for many reasons. This year, I live in downtown housing and park at RP10. While my apartment offers parking spaces, they’re limited and extremely expensive. Opting for MU parking, while cheaper, comes with many challenges. For starters, every home football game I have to move my car to another on-campus parking garage. RP10 is 1.8 miles from my apartment complex, which would be a 38 minute walk. Instead of walking, I take the Tiger Line. While this works a majority of the time, not all Tiger Line shuttles run on the weekends. After the end of a home football game weekend, I have to move my car back to RP10 before 7 a.m. on Monday or I will get a ticket. If certain Tiger Lines don’t run on the weekends, how am I supposed to move my car before Monday at 7 a.m.?
Living downtown, Conley and Turner parking structures are only a couple of blocks away, but they are reserved for faculty and graduate students. This is confusing because Hitt Street, University Ave and Virginia Avenue parking structures are also assigned to faculty and graduate students. If faculty and graduate students have five parking structures available to them, shouldn’t a portion of those spots be offered to undergraduate students living downtown? It’s unfair to make students living downtown park all the way at RP10, when there are clearly closer spots available.
MU Parking has to make on-campus parking more accessible to students. To make them entirely rely on the Tiger Line to get to their cars is not only inconvenient, but also unfair. How are students supposed to make it to their destinations on time if they have to allow extra minutes for the shuttle? On-campus parking structures need to become available for all students for convenience, but to also ensure their safety. Just because some students don’t live in residence halls doesn’t mean they should be denied accessible parking.
The Maneater encourages you to donate to Take Back the Night. An organization centered around helping women fight against sexual violence. https://takebackthenight.org/
Edited by Sarah Rubinstein | srubinstein@themaneater.com