Parking at Stockton University has always been a huge problem; there are never enough parking spots. Between the students, faculty and visitors for University’s events, parking is very limited. Now that there is construction going on, it takes up a good amount of the parking spots. Commuters and faculty are now having a lot more difficulty finding a spot to park in.
For the first week of classes parking was discussed as an opener to get people to feel more comfortable in class. Many professors would come into class and say, “so how was parking? Did any of you have trouble?” It has gotten to the point that one of my classmates has even gone to taking an Uber to school so he does not have to try and find parking. Parking is one of the main discussion topics because nothing is going to change until the campus construction is finished. When walking in the hallways, I hear bits and pieces of conversations about parking.
Students have told me “it sucks,” in regards to the parking here on campus. Senior Nicole and her friend commented, “it sucks because it takes forever to find parking. I live about 15 minutes away and I have to leave an hour early just to be able to find a parking spot and to get to class on time.” I think that this is a little much that someone who lives so close to campus has to leave way ahead of time just to find a parking spot so he or she is not late for class.
Also a professor in the Holocaust and genocide department explained to me how difficult it is for faculty with some seriously good points. She said “it is hard for faculty who are adjunct faculty because they have to teach at other universities in the morning and it is really hard for them to get here on time to find parking. These faculty members do not have a choice of when they leave the other campuses, it all depends on when their classes get done.” This definitely will make it difficult for professors to get parking and make it to their classes on time.
I am enlightened by this insight because not many students have considered this. Which brings me to another point, there is a time frame that students have for professors to be late before the class can leave, but because of this parking situation how would it work? The professor could just simply be trying to find a parking spot.
A graduate student here at Stockton also gave me some input on the parking situation. “Parking is a huge mass of frustration. I have to be here at 10:30 AM for class but come here at 8:30 AM just to find parking. Stockton is disregarding the environmental issues that have come with the construction of this new building. We are an environmental-friendly school. I also think it would have been better to build more parking like a parking garage or something before building another building.” I think this graduate student made some great points as well. Stockton University prides over the fact that we are very environmentally-friendly. We care about the woods that surround our school and maybe this chaotic construction isn’t benefitting the environment.