University of Virginia Library

Parking Problems

The expected influx of some 400 more
student cars into the University as a result of
the new first-year car rules does not seem like
a serious problem at first glance. It won't be
until the first rainy day this semester. Then,
most of those 400 first-year men will drive
their cars to Cabell Hall rather than walk
through the rain. Since first-year men are
practically the only victims of 8 a.m. classes,
they will have their pick of the limited open
facilities available in the Cabell Hall area.
Then at 9 a.m. the rest of the available spaces
will be consumed by the secretaries and
faculty members who come to work by that
hour. And, inevitably, some Dean or senior
faculty member is going to have to walk three
miles through the rain at 10 a.m. because he
couldn't park anywhere near Cabell Hall.

After this happens several times, there will
be a sizable group of influential people dead
set against first-year car privileges, and
perhaps second and third-year privileges as
well. As the University grows, the problem
will become more acute. Sooner or later there
will be a crackdown. When faced with this
problem once before, the University reacted
by setting up extremely high grade
qualifications for undergraduate car owners. It
could happen again.

We think that Student Council should act
now to see that it doesn't. And we think that
the solution to the problem lies in a dual
sticker system. One type of sticker should
allow students to park as they do now, in any
available student parking on the Grounds. The
second type would limit students to the lots
surrounding Scott Stadium with the provision
that cars must be moved to University Hall on
the weekends of home football games.

This is not an unreasonable restriction to
place on student automobile operators. For
most students, a car is useful for
transportation downtown or out to Barracks
Road and on trips outside of Charlottesville.
Nobody would be unduly inconvenienced by
having to walk to classes and the library. Nor
should students who live far enough off the
Grounds feel unduly put upon if they have to
walk the final stretch from Scott Stadium to
class.

Nonetheless, any group singled out for
inclusion in the second type of parking sticker
is going to feel discriminated against. It will be
difficult to determine an equitable system for
doing this, but we feel that some sort of
seniority factor ought to be the primary
consideration. It will probably be insufficient
to merely place the present first-year
undergraduates in this group; that might avert
a crisis, but it would do nothing to alleviate
the problem that existed during the first
semester which was in itself serious enough to
warrant action. Another group, perhaps the
second-year undergraduates or the first-year
students in the graduate and professional
schools ought to be included. Nobody will
like being relegated to Scott Stadium; but
before they oppose such a plan they ought to
consider the possibility that the University
will tell them they can't have cars at all.