Recently in The Mass Media two very important points have been brought up. One article mentions the fact that parking, for lack of a better word, stinks. That’s being kind. A second article, an editorial, raises the point that the MBTA is the nation’s absolute worst public transit system. Both valid points, the validity of each though raises an interesting yet bothersome quandary for most of us. Since we either park here or use the T to get to class, what (if anything) is our school doing to help make our educational experience easier? Since there’s not much they can do in finding a remedy for our beloved public transit system, maybe they should at least stop recommending that students take it. That leaves the parking situation. When I say “parking situation”, everyone out there knows to what I’m referring to. After two months of it I think we’re all a little fed up. I know I am. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I’m in class at 8:30 so I never have a problem. Come Tuesday and Thursday I’m in at 1:00. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the University of Massachusetts Speedway!

Here’s how some of my days begin, and I’m sure mostly everyone else’s. I take the turn off of Morrissey Blvd and enter a whole new world. A world where there are no rules, where road rage is the norm, normally mellow people flip me off, cut me off, and most of all tick me off. The prize they receive for all of this sinful behavior? A parking spot. (How can I be so hypocritical though? I am doing the same thing.) Latecomers will find themselves exiled to the Bayside Expo Center- where, yes, you still have to pay. Some might want to roll the dice and park on Mt.Vernon Street, but you might be towed.

The worst is when you’re late and when you’re driving past the North Lot and you see about twenty spaces open but Mr. Police Officer or Ms. Campus Security Guard won’t let you in. Sometimes they will, though. Why? Because they’re playing God with our parking spaces, that’s why. I know their job is hard enough without cranky students barking at them but when I see a space wide enough to park an RV in then yes I get mad and want to park in it when all I’m trying to do is get to class to further my education.

I don’t have any brilliant plan to fix this situation, but I thought that after paying over six thousand dollars for tuition, fees, and insurance, I would at least be able to park somewhere on campus without feeling like I was trying to find a parking space in North Station before a Celtics game. It’s hard enough for most to get motivated for school and it doesn’t help any when you’re driving around in circles (literally) to find a space that should have been allotted to you already.