B-lot parking on Butler’s campus. Photo by Andrew Buckley.

MOLLY DURM | STAFF REPORTER | mdurm@butler.edu

As the new semester kicks off, students wonder if the long-overdue improvements to Butler’s parking system are finally on the horizon or if they will face yet another year of parking challenges. High prices of permits, an abundance of tickets and a limited number of available spots are just some of the concerns students have. Many feel that the university has not fulfilled its responsibility to improve parking conditions on campus. 

Student parking passes become available in the summer and sell out quickly. 

Chase Metcalf, a junior applied business technology and marketing double major described a frustrating experience trying to purchase her parking pass this year. 

“I was actually studying abroad in London with Butler, so I was on the street trying to get the parking pass and my data glitched,” Metcalf said. “So unfortunately, I got an I-lot pass because it took me two minutes after the time it opened and every other pass was already all sold out.”

I-lot is a Butler student parking lot that requires walking down several flights of stairs and crossing a bridge over the canal to reach it. The lack of accessible parking even affects students who do not live on campus. 

Senior elementary education major Brooklyn Timm has faced parking challenges as a commuter student.

“I couldn’t get a [commuter] parking pass my first year,” Timm said. “Thankfully I knew someone that lived around here so I parked at his house off campus. My friend — [a fellow commuter student] — also didn’t get a pass and she had to pay every time she parked in the parking garage.”

When it comes to their overall experience with Butler parking, students express growing frustration over what they feel is a recurring issue. 

“[Parking on campus is] stressful,” Metcalf said. “Especially if you come home late. I even had [a B-lot pass] the past two years, and when I came home late, there were no spots anywhere.”

B-lot is the closest parking lot to many residence halls on campus. The hassle of finding a parking spot can be annoying for students, but an even greater concern is the safety aspect of Butler’s parking lots. 

“It’s unsafe when it’s dark out, especially being a woman on campus,” Metcalf said. “Since I’m an athlete, I have morning practice at 5:30 a.m. and we get home late from matches around midnight. So now I’m supposed to walk either to I-lot or to the [tennis bubble] at 5:30 in the morning when it’s still dark out or in the middle of the night.”

Metcalf advocates for a solution that she believes could alleviate parking struggles for many student-athletes.

“I feel like for student-athletes there should be a specific pass for different sports since they have their own sporting facilities that they need to park at early in the morning or late at night,” Metcalf said. “I got seven tickets last semester for parking in my own facilities parking lot. My parents even got a ticket for parking for one of our matches.”

Sydney Haworth, a junior speech language and hearing sciences major, is president of Butler’s Student Government Association (SGA). She emphasized that student ideas for campus improvement are valued by her organization.

“We genuinely like to hear what students specifically want,” Haworth said. “We want to have a good line of communication with students to understand what physical things you want to see, and what physical ideas you have. Because there’s so many people that are not involved in SGA that have great ideas about parking, so let us communicate that for you, let us be a train of communication to help get that done.”

Students can engage with the SGA through their website or by attending their tabling events on campus.

While the desire for change is adamant among students, a resolution to the parking predicament may be soon to come. According to the university, Butler’s Gateway Project is the university’s vision for a more “vibrant and interconnected Midtown community.” This vision includes many goals for the university such as transforming Ross Hall into a boutique hotel. Also included is the plan to create a new parking structure behind Ross Hall and Sigma Chi. With this initiative, the Gateway Project could bring significant relief to students facing parking challenges. In the meantime, students will continue to face these issues until the new parking structure is completed.