Written by Flor Ramos
Harding University recently announced a record enrollment for the 24th consecutive year. This semester’s student population of more than 6,800 is a 3-percent increase over last fall’s enrollment of 6,613.
But some are not so happy about the student body’s growth.
Senior Savannah Steiner said she is glad more students are experiencing Harding, but said the lack of space on campus is problematic.
“Everything is fuller. Walking through the student center right after chapel is like a traffic jam,” Steiner said. “I think it is a good thing. It is good for our school, for building the economy… But the only downfall is that if you add more people, you have to add space.”
As each new class grows bigger, Harding has made many of the needed changes to campus to accommodate the influx, students say. For example, the university has been expanding its housing facilities. What three years ago were West Married Apartments today houses male upperclassmen. What two years ago was the house of President David Burks, today houses 11 undergraduate women.
But students claim that another problem is more obvious this fall: student parking spaces. Senior Gil Gildner said it is becoming a headache.
“Parking is a severe problem at Harding whether [parking services officials] want to admit it or not,” he said. “I have gotten several tickets which I thought were completely unjust, and the appeal process almost never works.”
The number of parking permits issued up to mid-September this fall is 2,917, an increase of 235 over the permits issued around the same time last fall. Despite the increase in enollment and permits sold, 70 parking spaces this year were lost to the construction work at the Mabee building.
Nonetheless, Parking Services Director Wayne Westerholm said there are enough parking spaces for the amount of cars registered on campus. A total of 4,700 parking spaces are available on campus. This number includes faculty/staff and student parking spaces, and those spaces located at the Ulrey center and the intramural fields.
However, some students, like senior Alan Pearson, claim it takes up to 15 minutes to find a good parking space, making them late for class.
“It is faster to park off campus and walk to classes than finding a legitimate parking space on campus,” Pearson said.
Nevertheless, according to parking services, the majority of parking tickets given in the last couple weeks has to do with students not registering their cars and getting the parking permit. There are around 4,000 students moving on campus daily, and the only way to know they own a car is by their acquisition of a permit, Westerholm said.
“What we have is a lot of people wanting ‘convenient’ parking, and no university is going to be able to guarantee it to students,” Westerholm said. “Most of our parking, realistically, is fairly close. The furthest that someone may have to walk is three to four blocks. I don’t think that is excessive when you look at a lot of other universities.”
Faculty and staff members admit they can also feel the school getting more crowded. Yet Glenn Dillard, director of admissions, said he thinks it is just “part of growing pains.”
“There is plenty of parking spaces. The challenge is, it’s not always at the front door of everybody’s building. Even where I am in the admissions office, I had to park a block away from my office this morning. So I feel the space crunch also,” Dillard said. “It is all about time managing.”
