Park by the sticker please
COMMENTARY
Jonathan Perry

TCU does not have a parking problem. Vice Chancellor Don Mills himself clarified this in a recent Skiff article. I kept telling myself this as I clumsily fumbled for the off switch on my alarm clock at 7 a.m.

“TCU does not have a parking problem” is what I muttered under my breath as I walked in the sub-40 degree temperatures to move my car. I parked in the visitor lot the night before after not being able to find a parking spot on Main Campus. And as I watched the last parking spot behind the Tom Brown-Pete Wright apartments disappear, sealing my fate and forcing me to make the trek to the stadium parking lot, I again told myself that TCU does not have a parking problem.

Then it happened.

Out of the car lucky enough to get that last spot stepped a woman, a woman who I am quite sure has not been able to call herself a student at any point during the last quarter of a century. Just to be sure, I checked the sticker on the back of her shiny new car. It was a Faculty/Staff permit, not a Main Campus (otherwise referred to as “student”) permit.

Upon returning from my epic journey from the stadium lot, I noticed that the Faculty/Staff lot was nearly empty, and I began to wonder why this woman had not parked there. I decided to investigate further in hopes of confirming my beliefs that TCU does not have a parking problem.

It appears that Faculty/Staff members can park anywhere, as long as they “attempt” first to park in the Faculty/Staff lots. However, some Faculty/Staffers prefer not to park in these designated lots (according to TCU Police personnel, who asked not to have their names mentioned) because they are “farther away from the buildings where they work.” Basically, faculty and staff members don’t want to walk long distances to their destinations, so they park as close as they can in alternative areas. Where have I heard this before?

Picture this: faculty and staff park in Main Campus (student) areas, then students either park illegally and get fined or choose to park in residential areas. This causes complaints to both Tarrant County and TCU, raising the question of whether or not to build more parking. This in turn prompts certain TCU officials to again state that “there is no shortage of parking spots, but there is a significant shortage on parking close to the classrooms,” which ultimately points the proverbial finger at the TCU student body for being lazy.

I agree with the TCU officials. They get to park wherever they want as long as they first “attempt” to find a spot in their designated lots. How could there possibly be a parking problem under this system?

Jonathan Perry is a senior e-business and entrepreneurial management major from Dallas.
He can be contacted at (j.r.perry@tcu.edu).