Courtesy of Wade Anthony ’24
When college students arrive on campuses across the country, nine-by-eighteen-foot asphalt spaces transform into battlefields. The wheeled troops of students, faculty, and staff clash with those of campus police, who arm themselves to the teeth with tickets, boots, and tow trucks. These battles have been fought time and time again with no ceasefire in sight, and for these reasons, they gain the persistent attention of student journalists. Connecticut College is no different, and tales of these battles are the frequent subject of student grievances.
This article dives beneath the surface-level noise created by disgruntled students made late to class from a parking pilgrimage. While the above description of parking at Conn is certainly melodramatic, for students with vehicles on campus, aspects of this experience ring true. Many students have experienced the chaos of the West gravel lot or the frustration of walking to South Lot on a snowy February day. While some students may feel as though the parking situation at Conn is in crisis, perhaps the issue is more internal than external.
I spoke with Justin Wolfradt, Conn’s Interim Vice President for Administration, to get a better understanding of the current parking situation on campus. As of now, the campus has a maximum capacity for 595 faculty and staff vehicles and 460 student vehicles, Wolfradt said. However, he also reported that “a recent study from 2022 [shows] the demand for parking on campus is about 1,051.” This means that, using 2022 figures, the campus is just below its maximum vehicle capacity.
However, these figures only cover the vehicle capacity of campus on paper. In order to grasp the actual number of vehicles on campus, I reached out to Campus Safety Director Mary Savage. According to Conn Campus Safety, the current number of registered vehicles on campus stands at 878 for students and 550 for faculty and staff. While the number of registered faculty and staff vehicles aligns with the stated campus capacity, the number of registered student vehicles is almost double that of the apparent campus capacity. This discrepancy led me to conduct my own brief survey of available student parking spaces using aerial imagery. In this very rudimentary survey, I placed the number of student parking spaces somewhere in the ballpark of 650. This is higher than the capacity on paper but still significantly below the current number of registered student vehicles. The parking capacity is perhaps greater given the recent renovations of North Lot, adding 80-90 more parking spaces, according to Dean of Students Victor Arcelus. Nonetheless, a more comprehensive survey of the number of vehicles and campus capacity is needed to understand these discrepancies. This data reveals that the number of vehicles on campus is above the campus capacity to some extent, a claim that contradicts statements from multiple administrators who say the campus is currently “at capacity.”
While the overcrowding and chaos of student parking areas on campus certainly put a strain on students with vehicles, more often than not student complaints center around convenience. “There is sufficient parking on campus. Is it always convenient? No. But this is not necessarily a realistic expectation,” said Arcelus. Considering Conn’s size, students can walk (and most do!) anywhere they need to go on campus with relative ease. For residents of the Winchester or River Ridge apartments, or students going to the athletic center, walking becomes a more daunting mode of travel. However, the fact remains that most students on campus have no choice but to walk to these parts of campus. Thus, when students with the luxury of driving to and from these areas complain about a lack of parking in front of Harris Refectory or Shain Library, they should consider taking a page out of their peers’ books and take a walk.
There is no denying that for students living on the main campus, the locations of legal student parking are inconvenient. The three main student parking lots are located on the edges of the campus, requiring a five to ten-minute walk for students to get to their cars from most residence halls. Many will scoff at this number, and rightfully so, as in the grand scheme of things, a walk of this length is a small price to pay for the luxury of having a car at one’s disposal. Nonetheless, whether due to rain, snow, a heavy bag of groceries, or pure laziness, students with vehicles consistently seek to shave a few minutes off this number by parking in illegal spaces. Consequently, campus security takes action.
The College’s Campus Parking and Traffic Regulations document outlines the campus policies on parking, including information on vehicle registration, student conduct, and a list of violations and their corresponding fines or actions. For the most part, the parking regulations at Conn are straightforward: register your vehicle and park in designated spaces. Still, students violate these regulations on a daily basis, resulting in tickets or worse. Furthermore, it is very common to see repeat violators; Savage shared, “There are numerous students with pages of unpaid parking tickets.” Since the start of the Fall 2023 semester, there have already been 825 parking citations issued on campus. Of these citations, 522 were for unregistered vehicles and 303 for other parking violations. Additionally, there have been fourteen vehicles booted and three towed. These figures are high, but what is perhaps even more shocking is the potential revenue brought in from these citations. With the fine for an unregistered vehicle sitting at $75 and the average fine for other parking violations at around $35, in this semester alone, campus security has issued just under $50,000 worth of citations. Therefore, it seems that over the course of an academic year, well over $100,000 dollars worth of parking citations may be issued on campus. What percentage of these fines are actually paid and where this money goes is hard to say, but these figures are remarkably high.
Students who have been on the receiving end of these fines may look at this data as validation for a conspiracy against the administration, but the fact of the matter is that campus security has far more important things to do than writing citations. “We do not want Campus Safety to spend time ticketing or booting, there is no incentive in giving tickets,” Arcelus said. In fact, Campus Safety could likely be ticketing far more vehicles each day if they sought every student parked in faculty/staff parking spaces. “We are flexible with students, but with this flexibility comes responsibility,” Arcelus said. However, when students take advantage of this flexibility in the name of convenience and park their vehicles irresponsibly (or even dangerously), ramifications will certainly follow.
Regardless of the current demand, availability, or policies for parking on campus, the reality is that parking is likely going to become more inconvenient in the future. The College’s master plan is highly focused on the “pedestrianization” of the campus, and plans are already underway for renovations to Cro Boulevard which will eliminate many of the street’s faulty/staff spaces. A “shift in mindset” about parking on campus is going to be necessary, said Arcelus: “In the future, we are trying to make campus safer and better for pedestrians…Students should be able to walk to do everything.” The beauty of Conn’s campus is one of its biggest selling points, so it’s hard to argue against increasing pedestrian accessibility, a coveted measurement of a campus’s attractiveness. Many students come to Conn because of its small and unified campus, so grievances about parking convenience should and are typically brushed off.
While the parking situation is not perfect here at Conn, it could be far worse. Having a vehicle is essential for many students, and can be an enormous benefit to one’s college experience. However, students who choose to be selfish and irresponsible with their vehicles have no one to blame but themselves when they are ticketed or booted. It’s quite simple; use your vehicle when you have to, and the rest of the time save yourself the inconvenience of trying to find parking and leave your keys at home.
