SPSU’s parking: Construction zone. Image provided by www.tfhrc.gov

I take pride in my school, in that our classes are hands-on, that my education will prove that I have learned much from here, and that many other capable people have left our school to go on to do great things.

But for the life of me, I cannot imagine any Civil Engineering student who would want to admit to being an SPSU student right now. And why, you might ask? The reason is simple: Roads.

Anyone who has driven to the SPSU campus lately has noticed the new construction taking place at the school. But more than that, any commuter student could point out that our main parking lot has had the front of it ripped open, and the small parking in front of the student center has also been removed.

More so than that, the only safe place to make a left-hand turn out of the school on to the 120 loop has also been blocked off.

Though the benefits are numerous, I find myself incapable of getting past one main issue with this plan. Why was it deemed a good idea to shut down commuter lots during normal semesters? Why did we make it harder for students to get to class and to come to this campus?

If SPSU is home to so many great engineering degrees, why did they decide that shutting down the most convenient entrance/exit to the school in the middle of the academic year was a good decision?

Shouldn’t we be showing the rest of the community that SPSU makes not only sound structural decisions, but that our designs will not severely impact the rest of the business when we make them?
Our school is in the business of getting students here and educating them. So why are we making it more difficult for them to get here?

The only possible advantage that I can think of to this plan is that we are attempting to mimic our successful neighboring university, Kennesaw. Kennesaw State University always seems to have some construction project occurring on their campus that makes it as difficult as possible to get from one side of campus to the other, or even on to their campus. Yet they seem to be having record growth in all of their programs. Perhaps we are trying to apply the same tactic to our school, hoping that by inconveniencing all commuter students, they will feel challenged, and through the challenge of finding a parking space, they might excel and tell all of their friends to join them.

For the last four years I have heard nothing but complaints from KSU students about the terrible parking situation and how construction in the middle of a semester was making their lives miserable. And always, there was noticeable envy of our school’s ability to grow without ruining the student’s commute.

But as it looks right now, that’s no longer a difference between our two schools.