Share with Cher is a recurring feature taking student queries to a whole new level by publishing concerns or questions about campus and going straight to the source. Contact Cher with questions at
culture@arbiteronline.com.
A question that came my way is that of left-handed desks. Why, even when planning ahead and arriving early to class, is it nearly impossible to score one of these highly coveted seats?
In my quest to find answers to this particular question I ended up running across someone who offered to help get the answers we’re all looking for. Mike Sumpter, director of Facilities, Operations & Maintenance, on my behalf, contacted the campus space and planning folks about the left-handed desk issue.
“The good news is the campus is working hard to eliminate that inconvenience. All current classroom upgrades and renovations use hand dominant neutral design so, ultimately, that concern will be eliminated,” Sumpter said. “In the meantime, we would hope that anyone who needs help would let us know and we’ll do our best to make sure they are accommodated.”
Another issue I usually can’t get through the month without hearing about is that of parking. Where are long bed pickups supposed to park and why do students pay for permits when they can’t use them on game days? So again I went to the source who was all too happy to answer these questions and offer some handy info that I didn’t even know about.
JC Porter, assistant director for Transportation and Parking services, commented on the long bed parking issues by saying that campus spaces are already larger than standard spaces. He suggested parking long bed trucks up against Broadway because those stalls are longer and you can let your pickup bed hang over onto the grass. He also recommended the larger spaces up against the grassy area in the East Stadium.
“A general permit is what’s needed to park in those spaces,” Porter said. “There’s also some parallel parking off of Michigan which is also a general permitted area and that way they can parallel park and it doesn’t matter how long the bed is, it’s just the cars around it that will affect it.”
Porter continued by addressing the permit-related parking issues. He said the only permits affected during events are general permits, because those do not guarantee you a space on campus.
“If you want a guaranteed parking space, those permits are called reserved permits,” Porter said. “They cost a little more because we guarantee a parking space on campus and we only sell as many (reserved) permits as we have spaces which is how we can guarantee them a space. The reason why general permits are the least expensive permit is because we also say it’s the least convenient, because all our general parking is kind of on the outskirts of campus.”
The good news, according to Porter, is on weekends and evenings you have other options. Reserve permits have guaranteed parking Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. However on the weekends and after 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday there’s also cross parking. This means that if you buy a general permit and have night or weekend classes, you can park in the reserve lots and still only pay the lesser permit fee.
“The general or reserve permits can (cross) park in the general or reserve areas. The only places that can’t be cross parked into are the pay lots, which are the Lincoln and Brady Street garages, the Admin area parking and also the student housing
parking lots.”
Porter ended by noting that the T-Lot is also a cross parking lot which can alleviate Saturday game day parking issues, but added that there is never any overnight parking except by students who live on campus.
