MARAIS JACON-DUFFY
NEWS EDITOR

Butler University announced changes to parking rules for the remainder of the semester via email Tuesday.
Student will now be allowed to park in three different “A” lots, typically for faculty and staff parking, between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. and in another “A” lot near Irwin Library between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Also, some parking in the Hinkle Fieldhouse lot has been reopened for “HV” pass holders–Apartment Village residents.
In an email to the Butler Community, Bill Weber, Butler University Police Department assistant chief said the decision to make changes to parking rules mid-semester is atypical. However “the feedback [BUPD] received from campus was very good and warranted immediate action,” Weber said.
The new changes will go into effect tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 17.
Weber’s email also attributed the decision to make parking changes to feedback from the student body, faculty and staff, the parking committee, a parking consultant and the Student Government Association.
The Council on Presidential Affairs conducted a transportation survey on Monday in Starbucks and the Health and Recreation Complex.
Participants who volunteered to take the survey were asked what lot they park in, the frequency which they drive, how long it takes them to find a parking spot and how many parking tickets they have accummulated this school year.
The survey also gauged responses on the idea of a neutral lot, where anyone can park, and whether or not parking in “A” and “C” lots should be open to all after 6 p.m.
CPA already hosts a bike share program and a shuttle bus for students to use. The popularity of these programs was also surveyed.
CPA members working the Starbucks table Monday said they saw a good amount of traffic to their table and said a large number of students did participate in the survey.
Junior Kate Carroll, vice president of Administration for SGA said the idea for this survey came from the current conditions of parking on Butler’s campus.
“Obviously, [the administration and Board of Trustees] took the summer and worked with a parking consultant and task force to make the already imposed changes,” Carroll said. “But a topic like this does not get solved overnight or on the first try necessarily.”
Carroll said the survey session was a form of CPA’s survey chat forums that are held three or four times per semester.
“The university listened to positive ideas put forth by the students, faculty and members of the Parking Committee and moved these ideas forward. Is this the end of changes? Unlikely, I’m sure more positive ideas will come to our attention,” Weber said in an email to the Collegian.
Sophomore Annie Sparrow said she likes that she will be able to park in “A” parking near the library at night.
“I don’t like walking across campus by myself at night,” Sparrow said. “Now I can go to the library late at night and I don’t have to find someone to bring with me.”
Junior Aaron Wentzlof said he is pleased with the parking changes for the Hinkle-AV lot particularly.
“It was so annoying to come home from class and see an empty parking lot right in front of my apartment that I wasn’t able to park in,” Wentzlof said. “I couldn’t think of a single reason why that lot shouldn’t be HV parking. It is nice to see the university actually listening to us, though.”
A student petition to open the Hinkle lot to HV pass holders began circulating amongst the student body in September. Earlier this month, Weber said he encouraged any peition or opinion anyone has because he said he hears “great ideas that turn into changes because of students.”