Written by Sophie Thibodeaux
The current parking arrangement for students at Harding needs to be updated with new rules and guidelines to accommodate the current number of students who drive and need to be able to get to their residence halls and classes.
The parking lots next to the dorms do not have enough spots for the students who live there. Residence halls — including Sears Hall, Allen Hall, Searcy Hall and especially Cathcart Hall — have limited spaces near the buildings. Many students must drive around and eventually pick parking spots several buildings away from where they live because all of the spots closest to the halls fill quickly. Residence halls like Shores Hall and Pryor Hall have bigger parking lots to accommodate the students there, and even if they don’t get a spot in that specific place, they are close to other buildings like the Swaid Center for Health Sciences that consistently have open spots.
One way student parking needs to be updated is by allowing more times throughout the day when students can park in faculty spots and not get a ticket. The number of students in many buildings outnumber the faculty who need the parking spots. Many of the faculty spaces are never utilized, and they could be taken by students who need them more because they do not have the time to walk across campus to class. I also think it is not fair to give students who take a faculty parking spot a ticket anyway, especially if there was nothing else available at the time or if they did not occupy that space for very long.
Parking on campus has been a topic many students on campus have had an issue with for the past few years. The University needs to revise or come up with new ways they can accurately and comfortably accommodate the number of students who drive and need more parking options.
