#i2amru (I, Too, Am Reinhardt) Volume 1 Number 1 | Page 68

Nathan Stamper, a graduating senior commuter, also echoes those
sentiments and feels that commuters should be allowed to park
in far more locations on campus
than they currently are allowed .
“I honestly feel that commuters
should have a free pass to park
wherever’ Stamper explains.
“Commuters may live far away
and have a class in West Apartments but can only park all the
way at FPAC. When I say ‘anywhere’, I don’t mean residential
areas. Just the surrounding areas.”
Yet another factor in making
parking policy decisions is the
issue of state legislature and interference, or lack thereof. Ford explains that, although commuters
clamor for more parking spaces,
they are generally unaware of the
different communication processes already at work trying to create
change for them on Reinhardt’s
Waleska campus. Still, the process
of creating those spaces can stall
anytime and anywhere the state of
Georgia becomes involved.

Ford explains that the university
and the state are currently in discussion about turning the parking lot behind the former First
Baptist Church into a commuter
lot, but that currently, no crosswalk connects the school to the
parking lot, and this is urgently
needed. Too many students, he
observed, instead of going all the
way down the street to cross in
front of the gym where there is a
crosswalk, decide to cross at the
four-way stop.
“Fortunately, nobody has been
hurt in the time I have been
here,” he mentions with a mixture of relief and unease.

Furthermore, state law mandates that a crosswalk must
connect from one sidewalk to
another; given that not all of
Reinhardt’s perimeter features a
sidewalk, the university would
then have to invest in building those missing sidewalks
to facilitate additional parking
spaces in the Waleska area.
Ford also states that there
are enough parking spaces
for commuters. “Right now, I
would say we have ample parking if people would just use it
and walk, unfortunately.” He
believes that what commuters
really hate is the walking, and
he asserts that the campus is

68

However, Junior student Brittany
Winston notes that there is only
so much that Public Safety can do.
“Public Safety cannot do much
about residents taking
parking spots away from
commuters, really,” Winston remarks, “The officers
can give tickets, but that
does not move the car out
of the parking spot. They
do as much as is feasible for
them.”

Wilson’s observation
seems to encourage the
introduction of an infrastructural feature at
Reinhardt that would do
much to fulfill the needs
of Reinhardt’s student
body and faculty alike
with one fell swoop.

The Public Safety Department does
want to see some changes implemented on the issue of commuter
parking, but it encounters several
problems. First, it has to make sure
that any indicated parking spot is in
a safe environment.
Oftentimes, what is safe is not necessarily what is most convenient.
Thus, commuters, as much
as they are an integral part of
Reinhardt, complain about
the locations of the parking
spots allotted to them.
The second problem seems
to be that commuter students do not generally agree
on how the issue of commuter parking should be resolved and, unable to come
to a decision, fail to use the
avenues of communication
they have with Public Safety
through the Student Government Association.

When asked about how
she feels about walking on
campus, Winston quips,
“I would order a chauffeur
to take me to class so I
wouldn’t have to walk!”

The former First Baptist Church and its adjoining parking
lot are one of a few locations being considered as future
commuter parking lots.

N