LSU junior Bryce Paulin is one of many students who have had a difficult time finding parking close to campus this semester.
“It’s been such a struggle to find a parking spot,” Paulin said. “I literally drive up and down the aisle every day and it takes forever to find a parking spot.”
Paulin says it takes him around 30 minutes to park in the morning.
He becomes desperate at times to find a spot and he was met with a surprise when he got back to his car last Tuesday.
“I was running late to class and I couldn’t find a parking spot,” Paulin said. “So when I did, it turns out it was a towing spot and my car got towed, so that was a fun time.”
Paulin says he hopes campus parking officials ease up on giving fines for parking violations, but his views aren’t shared by everyone on campus.
Director of Campus Parking Jeff Campbell says students just don’t want to take the long walk to class.
“I think the problem comes when it’s not as convenient as many students want,” Campbell said.
Campbell says students can either take the shuttle into campus or leave their homes a few minutes earlier to grab a spot.
“I get on our cameras – we’ve got cameras all over campus, on top of our building – I kind of watch and I can pick a car out and they just drive around incessantly,” Campbell said.
Though Campbell remains adamant that LSU has sufficient parking, Paulin would like to see more parking spots opened up.
“I guess if they were able to find a way to give more access to students, or maybe parking like in campus to get us closer to classes, I think that would be extremely helpful,” Paulin said.
With no easy solution in the near future, LSU students can either take Campbell’s advice or risk the consequences of trying to find that lucky spot.