Two minutes to get to class, the rain is pouring down and the only available parking space is down by the basketball courts. Almost every Quinnipiac commuter has experienced this feeling.
On Oct. 30, the Commuters Club met to discuss the parking situation at Quinnipiac. The guest speaker was Malcolm MacHenry, the Director of Security. He began by telling the club that the college campus has over 1200 parking spaces. The parking lots have a constant turnover so there should always be available spaces for all the student cars.
The commuters’ biggest complaint is that the resident students use the commuter lots. Resident cars are parked and left in spaces for days at a time. The resident students are supposed to park in the lot behind Dorm Road or in the basketball courts. The residents claim that it is too far to walk and in the snow they have no path or walkway to the dorms from the lot by the basketball courts.
MacHenry said it is too hard to distinguish commuter cars from resident cars. Separate decals could be ordered for resident students, but this would involve an added expense, which was not worked into the budget. To get rules enforced, a request would have to be made to the Student Government who would then have to pass it to the Senate. The Senate would then have to pass a motion on the decision of what is to be done about the residents’ cars.
If these laws were to be enforced, it would also mean extra security, tow trucks on duty and actually getting the residents to move their cars. The students are also reminded that parking is illegal on New Road. This is owned by the Town of Hamden so the students will get tagged and towed by the Town of Hamden, not the school.
The $5 parking fee was also questioned in the meeting. The fee goes into a contingency fund that covers the cost of general upkeep of the lots. The fund covers lighting, painting of lots, and plowing. MacHenry also wanted to remind the students that if they have a decal on their car, they are entitled to certain privileges. Security can help them get into their locked car if they should leave their keys inside or to get the car jump-started in the winter.
Editors’ note: In a fit of nostalgia, Chronicle staffers were looking through old papers recently when we stumbled upon this article. Does it seem like nothing ever changes here at Quinnipiac?
