Less parking and more walking limits students
By Peter Gagnon// Photography and Online Editor
If you have a car on campus, you know parking can be an atrocity. It seems as the years press on, the parking is dissipating more and more. Caffey, Congdon, Hayworth, and even the faculty lot are consistently full. We could easily build a parking garage, matched identically to the design of Caffey, Hayworth, and Congdon, where the Hayworth parking lot is now. I opened this idea up to some students on campus to see what their opinions are on the topic:
“I was thinking the same thing! Currently, parking on campus is very limited to the number of student drivers that High Point University has,” said Dylan Linn, class of 2021. “A parking garage would be a doable project to accommodate future enrollment. Especially with the statistic that we just brought in 1,500 new students, adding the school of engineering, and finalizing the undergraduate science building.”
“I think that’s a great idea, but I don’t know how receptive people would be to it,” said Brooke Cottom, class of 2020. “In theory, it makes a lot of sense, but execution may be a problem. But with the actual building taking away the whole lot, that would be really frustrating considering I only have one more year here after this one. But yes, after this, it would be a great idea.”
“I think it would be a pretty good idea. At Centennial One, the parking isn’t terrible because the pharmacy parking lot is very close. However, if I ever need to park anywhere else on campus, then I usually have to park about a five-minute walk from where ever I need to get to,” said Sam Spencer, class of 2019. “If there was a parking garage on campus where the kids who live more centrally and are within walking distance of most buildings can leave their cars, then that would free up a ton of space for the people who live on the edges of campus or off campus who need to drive to some of their classes. As it stands, Slane and the library are inaccessible in the middle of the day, and the parking lot behind the Promenade is a disaster.”
Matthew Carty, class of 2020, said, “I believe a parking garage would be beneficial for both the students and faculty of High Point. This garage would be able to eliminate the desperate search for a last-minute parking spot and would cut back on university fines. The garage can also feature banners or a building design on the outside to blend in with the landscape or promote the university.”