Starting Monday, all students without senior parking decals will no longer be allowed to park in the Mount Carmel commuter lots prior to 3:30 p.m. on weekdays, according to an announcement on MyQ posted by Assistant Chief of Parking & Transportation Ed Rodriguez.
Students who park in the commuter lot without a senior parking decal will be ticketed and towed at the expense of the owner.
“Security strongly encourages all senior residents to use the shuttle as the commuter lot is often full and the shuttle provides more convenient drop-off locations for classroom access,” the announcement said. “When the commuter lot is full, all students, including resident seniors, will be directed to the Hogan Lot.”
Sunny Nariyani, a junior living on York Hill, feels he is being penalized for Quinnipiac’s inability to get the parking and shuttle system right.
“The parking at Mount Carmel is horrible and unfair to students like me,” Mariyani said. “I am the general manager at Q30 and I have various unpredictable meeting times and taking the shuttle isn’t even an option because it is so unreliable. Currently I drive down because I can’t always leave 45 minutes prior to when I have to be on campus.”
At this time there will be no exceptions made to the Mount Carmel parking for juniors who work, intern or have other on-campus commitments said Rodriguez.
Some seniors feel sympathetic for the displaced juniors, but do not see another option.
“I can understand why juniors are upset about not being able to park but most of them have the access to the shuttles unlike me,” senior commuter Tom Battaglia said. “The parking lot is a game of whose going to fight for a spot, so it’s about time they did something. As a senior I now feel that we finally have a privilege.”
Senior Catlin Fitzpatrick believes that security should restrict certain Mount Carmel lots for juniors as a solution.
“One suggestion might be is to make Hogan Road Lot a junior only parking area and North Lot a senior commuter area,” Fitzpatrick said. “There are a lot of logistics that go into this decision on security’s end.”
Rodriguez said they have no plans of making any changes to the policy they are trying to implement, including the Hogan Road Lot suggestion.