There is no parking. Photo by Mason Buysse.

TESSA SPECCHIO | OPINION COLUMNIST | tspecchio@butler.edu 

You’d think with over 5,000 students and even more faculty members on Butler’s campus, at least one of us would be able to find a decent parking spot. On the contrary, it seems every accessible spot on campus is blocked with a fine. 

The parking situation has to change.

Indianapolis in general has horrible parking, and in no way is Butler the only university that has this issue. Most urban campuses are forced to deal with high demand and limited space, meaning a lot of students are affected with the ramifications of inadequate parking.   

It’s not Butler’s fault that Indianapolis doesn’t have a handle on effective parking options, however it is the university’s responsibility to figure out an adequate solution so that students can park their cars on campus. 

The solution our university has come up with: purchase a parking pass and park in your designated lot. 

However, I would argue that the parking pass system is the single worst process this campus has come up with. All students with vehicles living on or off campus are required to register their car with parking services and purchase a parking pass. But passes are sold out by July, registration closes in September and even the worst lots, such as I lot, cost over $100.

Senior strategic communications major Bella VanMeter received a parking pass every year of their Butler career. 

“Parking options on campus are not good,” VanMeter said. “There’s just simply not enough parking for the amount of students that are allowed to have passes.” 

Butler proudly cites 4,400 parking spots on campus, of those available to students, they are blocked with fines and completely sold out months before the academic year.

There are no passes to be purchased and no way to register a vehicle beyond the first month of classes. That, plus the lack of open parking on campus, creates a system which essentially forces “illegal” parking. 

Enter: parking tickets

Butler’s parking services department and BUPD  both work on distributing parking citations and they charge anywhere from $25 to $100 depending on the violation, which is the standard for the greater Indianapolis area.

Leah Smith, a senior middle and secondary education major, estimates she’s received 25 parking tickets in her four years on campus. 

“It’s just a lot,” Smith said “I’ve had an abundance of tickets … I just don’t understand.”

Parking tickets are intended to regulate behavior, but on campus it has become routine rather than corrective. Students are not being fined for dangerous or disruptive behavior, but for attempting to navigate a system with expensive access and extremely limited availability. When there’s no flexibility and the system is inaccessible, citations do not serve their intended purpose. 

These citations are not just a minor inconvenience. If you’re a commuter student or disabled in a way that prevents you from walking to class, repeated tickets become a significant and completely unnecessary financial burden on a student who is already paying to attend our university. 

I think it’s easy for the university to fall to a “rules are the rules” argument when it comes to trying to decrease the financial burden of parking for students. However, rules are only effective when they are attainable and easily followed. When parking passes completely sell out before the academic year begins and legal parking is scarce, enforcement is not about accountability and is instead needlessly punishing students for a system that is not working. 

Skylar Ashcraft, senior criminology and psychology combined major, who lives off campus but works part-time as a building supervisor at the HRC, has received multiple parking citations for parking in the lot outside of Hinkle. She expressed frustration with the lack of options and understanding from enforcement officers. 

“I think it’s the zero tolerance policy,” Ashcraft said “I’m not a stranger who’s taking advantage of campus parking, I am a student who pays to go here and a student employee.”

There is truly nowhere to park on campus, and it seems Butler is not interested in fixing the problem. For years now, the university has had more interest in turning the abandoned Ross Hall into a swanky hotel rather than updating the parking situation. Both Parking Services and BUPD declined an interview, citing officer availability.

So what’s the solution? 

Butler does not need to completely eliminate parking regulations, however, it does need to update its system and enforcement.  

There needs to be an increase in the availability of parking, and a decrease in pricing and citations until that happens. Campus needs to be more accessible, especially for disabled students, by properly shoveling snow from walking paths and ramps and keeping paths clear all-year round. 

If Butler were to implement a new parking system or build new parking structures, not only would students have better access to campus, the university would be able to allocate their parking enforcement officers’ efforts to more pressing issues. 

Butler’s parking system penalizes students for circumstances out of our control. There is no reason for on-campus parking to cost over $100 or for attending class to come at risk of a fine. 

Until something changes, the current system’s failings will be something students are forced to pay for.