Mississippi State University is truly a great place, but it seems to have gotten something wrong – on-campus parking.
This past weekend reminded me of the frustrations I have felt every fall semester since I was a sophomore at MSU. Saturday was the football team’s spring scrimmage game as well as the Diamond Dawgs’ second game against Ole Miss. Excitement was in the air, cowbells were ringing and there was a sea of Maroon and White as far as the eye could see. I was ready to join in all the fun, but I could not just yet – I had to find a parking spot.
As I was dodging pedestrians and trying my hardest to hold back the obscenities as people honked their horns at me, all I seemed to notice were the yellow blockades blocking my way to park. These blockades kept telling me again and again I could not park in those particular parking lots. I found it crazy, because we as students have paid for a parking decal. We pay the $125-135 fee every year, and every semester it seems I, as well as others, cannot seem to find a parking spot on game day.
It is not only on game day we have these problems. It all starts on the Thursday before a home game. The parking lot in the Commuter Northwest area behind Giles Hall must be evacuated by 3 p.m. Moreover, the lots behind Hull Hall and in front of Butler Hall also have to be evacuated by 12 p.m. on Fridays. If your car is not moved by those times, it will be towed.
Students are not the only ones who are frustrated by this inconvenience – professors are not fond of the procedure either.
Justin Taylor, professor of Architecture, said he believes the blocked off lots are an annoyance.
“It’s the stupidest thing ever,” Taylor said. “That’s what you get when the university puts athletics in front of academics.”
I understand the people who park in those lots pay to have those parking spots, and I do not blame them. I blame Mississippi State. MSU decides to give away our parking spots. It is up to the university to provide the season parking pass and RV parking pass holders other places to park, and, in return, should have our lots blocked off for only students and staff who have parking decals.
