LUCC recently approved a new parking policy for Lawrence students that awards at least one freshman, one sophomore, and one junior a 24-hour parking spot if they register their vehicles.Parking management has been an ongoing issue at Lawrence, and this policy is designed to alleviate the problems related to vehicle registration. Lawrence has a two-tiered parking system, with a designated number of 24-hour spaces primarily for seniors and faculty lots that can be used by underclassmen during nights and weekends. However, students who have paid for spaces and registered their vehicles often cannot find spaces in 24-hour lots because they have been occupied by unregistered vehicles.
The new parking policy is designed to provide an incentive for all students with cars on campus to register them instead of only seniors, who have the best chance of getting 24-hour spaces via the lottery. After considering several options for ensuring parking fairness on campus, LUCC decided that this policy would at least be a step in the right direction. So far, it seems to be having at least a mildly positive effect. According to the office of Dean Truesdell, seven freshmen, 11 sophomores, and 30 juniors have registered their vehicles since the adoption of the policy, presumably in the hopes of winning a 24-hour space. “This is an attempt to solve Lawrence’s parking problems to some degree,” Dean Truesdell said. “Hopefully it will make the parking process easier and give students more incentives to register their cars.