“Enter to learn, go forth to serve” These words have inspired professor and pupil alike on the lifelong journey of education and self-improvement. They promise a worthwhile education and the skills to be a valuable contribution to the workplace. The only obstacle is the command “enter to learn.” Some of you reading this may have never had to park a car here, but I believe I speak for all students who commute when I say that for us, it’s huge. Picture a bunch of big metal vultures following pedestrians around the parking lot hoping their prey will enter a vehicle and escape, leaving the space vacant. It’s a jungle out there.
So what’s the problem, exactly? Do we just not have enough spaces? Looking at our parking and off-campus housing stats will show that we have about one parking space per two on-campus housing students (including almost all part-time and evening-class students), so I think it’s clear that the problem we have isn’t about the number of spaces available, but where they’re located. From some student parking it takes more than 10 minutes to walk to the center of campus. For a working student that could mean missing the first and last 10 minutes of every class, all the time. Try earning an academic scholarship with that roadblock in the way.
The space is there, but the location is unfair. Simply redistributing the available spaces could be a critical step in the academic success of some of our students. We, as a university, should be accommodating the needs of our students. We should have, as our mission statement says, “a commitment to excellence … and the full realization of human potential.” We’re not a mediocre school; we shouldn’t settle for a mediocre parking lot.
Justin Christensen
American Fork
