About a dozen students gathered at the Parade Grounds on Friday afternoon to rally for additional commuter parking spaces on campus.
With Shelby Taylor, communication studies junior, leading the group, they collected 116 signatures from students supporting their cause.
“This isn’t a petition to remove residential parking, but residents can’t fill up the entire Hart Lot during the day,” Taylor said. “The lot should have both residential and commuter spaces. It’s a problem when students have to wake up two to three hours before their class starts to get to campus to get a parking spot.”
Although the rally itself didn’t yield a large turnout, the group was successful in getting the attention of students in the Student Union and in Free Speech Plaza. According to Taylor, the overarching response from students was anger.
“They [students] are tired of inadequate parking,” she said. “I assume the turnout was low because students couldn’t find parking.”
Taylor, who also set up a Facebook event for the rally, said within two days the event gained support from more than 100 students.
“It just proves that parking really is a problem for students, and LSU can’t ignore it any longer,” Taylor said.
Stephen Peltier, co-organizer of the rally and creative writing junior, said the group will be collecting student signatures next week in Free Speech Plaza. He said their goal is to obtaining 500 to 1,000 signatures and e-mail addresses.
“We plan on sending out an online petition for students to sign electronically, and then, we’ll send the petition to the Chancellor’s Office and the Office of Parking,” he said.
In addition, Peltier said he will be presenting the petition to the Faculty Senate on Tuesday and at a private meeting with Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope on Oct. 5.
“I want to encourage students to come out to the Faculty Senate meeting on Tuesday to support the cause,” Peltier said.
Holly Dicharry, history senior and rally participant, said she would walk or ride her bike to class when she lived near campus, but now that she lives farther away, she decided to schedule her classes early in order to avoid chaotic parking problems.
Dicharry also said she tried to arrange a carpool with friends, but conflicting schedules made it difficult.
“We’ve mastered the art of following people to their cars in the parking lot to take their spot,” Dicharry joked.
Trey Duplantis, music freshman and rally member, said he would like to park in the Hart Lot near the Music and Dramatic Arts building where he has class in the morning, but since part of the lot has been converted to residential parking, he has been unable to find a spot in the area.
“Most days, I check to see if the lot is full,” he said. “If it is, I have to park on the south side of campus and ride my bike to class.”
Jonathan Lambert, coastal environmental science sophomore, agreed parking is a problem for all students – both residents and commuters.
“I’m a resident, so I can’t imagine how commuters must feel about it,” he said. “But now that Kirby Smith is open, more residents need parking on the north side of campus.”
Taylor said she has heard about Student Government’s initiative to add commuter spaces, but she worries action will not be taken soon enough.
“Students want this now, not five years down the road,” she said. “There’s too much talk and not enough action. We want to be communicated with, and we will be