A change enforced at  Mississippi State University’s Wise Center parking lot  draws equal criticism and appreciation among the people who use the facility. 
The MSU Wise Center houses the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Veterinary Medical Center and the University Television center, among others.
Karen Templeton, director of outreach at the College of Veterinary Medicine, said the college had difficulty providing adequate parking for its students, faculty, clinicians and clients.
“There were often no spaces for them, partly because our parking lot became an area for many park-and-ride commuters. This is problematic when residents needed to get here to work on emergency cases. We see patients 365 days a year, 24 hours a day and many of these are emergency cases. It’s important that we have adequate parking for our clinicians and the veterinary students, residents and interns,” Templeton said. “We monitored the situation for two years and provided our findings to Parking Services along with a proposal. Parking Services modified the proposal and implemented the new parking regulations.”
Head of the communication department, John Forde, met with the Traffic Policy Committee on Thursday to discuss the issue.
“I’m very confident they will work out a solution soon to help our students who have broadcasting classes at the University Television Center. It is unfortunate that the parking lot at the Wise Center was restricted parking just prior to school starting this fall to only MSU staff, faculty and students with the department or college housed in the Wise Center,” Forde said, “The UTC has been located in the Wise Center for about 25 years with our department as one of the main partner units. We teach multiple classes with labs meeting at the UTC.  We will directly update our Communication majors and others taking our classes when they have permission again to park at the Wise Center or if another solution is developed.”
According to Jeremiah Dumas, MSU Parking Services director he Wise Center Administration brought the proposed changes to the Traffic Committee, where it was discussed and approved. The issue that was shared was that with the Open parking designation, large volumes of commuters from other zones were using the parking area as a park and ride area. It was voted to remove the open parking designation.
Teresa Gawrych, department of communication instructor who teaches advance broadcasting classes at the Wise Center said, some of her practicum broadcasting students are coming late to class, which in turn makes it extremely difficult and impossible for them to prepare and create a thirty-minute live TV show.
“In August special parking stickers for students involved in this issue were proposed and agreed upon, but they have yet to materialize. This is a frustrating experience for all involved,” she said.
Dumas said that parking services has ordered additional decals to accommodate students who have classes or that work in the Wise Center.
“Any changes to the current zone will require action from the Traffic Committee. Parking Operations does not have the authority to designate parking zones, we only enforce said zones. The Wise Center and the Scale Park and Ride are on the South Loop and have direct shuttle access to Montgomery Hall,” he said.
Lauren Curtis, senior communication major said she cannot park at the wise center so she uses the parking at the Humphrey Coliseum.
“It’s extremely inconvenient to have to wait on the shuttles to take me back and forth between campus and the wise, mostly because they’re so slow. It usually takes at least 30 minutes to an hour to get back to my car which is ridiculous,” she said, “To resolve the issue, I feel that the university needs to listen to the student body when we try to reach out for help, or at least make an attempt to.”
On the other hand the new parking policy has benefitted all commuters to the Vet school or the Vet clinic.
Templeton said she could only speak for the veterinary college’s staff, students, and faculty.
“So far, it is working out well for our students, faculty and staff and thus far, we are pleased that there is more parking available,” Templeton said.