B-lot parking outside of Irvington house. Photo by Lauren Jindrich.
MADELINE SMITH | STAFF REPORTER | mgsmith1@butler.edu
As the semester picks up, foot and street traffic do as well. With all traffic comes parking, a frequently discussed topic among Butler students. Parking has been an issue on Butler’s campus for years — from a shortage of parking passes, to a lack of available parking spots, to frequently issued parking tickets and even, in the past, towing of student vehicles.
For this academic year, student parking passes were available for purchase on July 20 at 8:00 a.m. At that time, students were able to choose a parking pass based on their residence. Some parking passes sold out within minutes, while others were soon to follow.
First-year exploratory studies major Kennedy Lee has been on the waitlist for a B-lot parking pass after receiving an I-lot pass. However, Lee noticed there have been parking issues for students in B-lot. Close friends of Lee have been forced to park on the top level of the Sunset Avenue Garage due to the ground-level B-lots being full.
“It’s kind of disappointing that you pay almost double for a B-parking pass to be near your dorm, then you get stuck in the parking garage and have to walk halfway across campus just to get back,” Lee said.
Finding a parking spot is not the only obstacle students face. Parking tickets are an ongoing dilemma for students.
Kevin Stefanczyk, senior applied business technology major, recalled his experience with being ticketed last year as a member of the cheerleading team. While away on a trip to Connecticut for the Big East basketball tournament, the athletes parked at the HRC with Butler-approved slips of paper explaining why their cars were to be left in the lot overnight. Since he had an AV-lot pass, Stefanczyk would not normally be able to park there.
When they arrived back to campus, Stefancyzk, teammates and the cheerleading coach had received tickets. They chose to appeal their $50 charges, but are still waiting on their refunds to this day.
“Last year I was ticketed 18 times,” Stefanczyk said. “About nine of those times were in the HRC [lot], and I did not think that was necessarily fair that as a student who had to be there, for athletic purposes, I was still being ticketed.”
Butler offers six parking passes to accomodate students living on and off campus.
Grace Feigl, fifth-year P3 pharmacy major, said that commuting to campus has improved her parking situation because she now parks in the Sunset Avenue Garage. However, after spending four years on campus, she is well aware of the parking struggles.
“I think one of the biggest things they could improve upon is the way that they sell parking passes,” Feigl said. “Every year it’s a bit of a nightmare. I think they should utilize the parking garage more though because most of the time it’s not full.
Information for students who are facing parking problems or are in need of resources, such as applying for a parking pass and appealing citations, can be found on the Park Butler webpage.
