Written by Aerial Whiting
Public Safety converted 18 faculty parking spots on the north side of the Thornton Education Center into student parking during Thanksgiving break.
The change came about as a result of feedback from students who said those faculty spots usually remained vacant, according to Public Safety Director Craig Russell. After studying the parking lot for a time, Russell, as well as Mel Sansom, vice president of finance, and Wayne Westerholm, manager of parking and transportation services, concluded more student parking could be added.
Public Safety conducted its study to determine whether there would be a negative impact on the faculty and staff if they lost parking by the Thornton.
“What we try to do with parking is we’re always trying to balance the needs of all of the different groups on campus that have a demand for parking,” Russell said. “In this case it’s balancing the needs between the faculty and staff – which it was originally a faculty and staff area – and balancing the needs of the students. … We felt like that was a change that we could make that would help the students, and it really wouldn’t create much in the way of problems for faculty/staff, either.”
Students discovered the extra parking almost immediately.
“Wayne [Westerholm] said that he checked [the parking lot] over the weekend, and already the students kind of figured it out and already filled it up,” Russell said.
Although the change created more spaces for students, it did not come about because there was insufficient space on campus for student vehicles beforehand.
“Right now we enjoy the blessing of having enough parking spaces for every registered car on campus,” Russell said.
