Any student who attends in-person classes knows about the parking problem. 

Lot closures and construction make commuting to class virtually impossible for some students. Clemson University has done close to nothing to alleviate this issue and continues to just recommend Park-N-Ride programs, programs that don’t really work if you have anything on your plate besides class. 

There has been a huge reduction in available student parking, while the amount of commuters has only increased. We have lost over 1,000 spots to construction since summer. A ten-minute commute turns into 45, all because you have to search and search for a spot. 

Clemson University can not expect the parking problems to disappear simply by suggesting that students use Park-N-Ride lots. Park-N-Ride buses stop running after 6 p.m., only fifteen minutes after many labs get out. Not to mention if a student has other commitments during the week that they have to attend to like jobs or organizations. 

Clemson University encourages its students to engage in things that get them experience in their field outside of the classroom but then proceed to make the commute experience for those who work hostile.

I have had days where I circle a lot for hours looking for a spot to park. I have missed entire classes due to being unable to find a spot. Last semester, Parking and Transportation Services told the newspaper that they sold multiple parking passes for every one spot available to commuters. With so many lot closures, I wonder how different that ratio looks now.

Along with closing the lots, they have begun to tear down the trees that have been there for decades, permanently changing the face of Clemson University.

Through the construction of the closed lots, Clemson has torn down so many older trees and plants. It is literally changing the face of Clemson University. When I first came here, part of what made Clemson feel more like a home than just a university was the beauty of its landscape and how they integrated all of the old and beautiful oaks on campus. It made it stand out from other universities in more urban places, like USC. For what it lacked in urban connectivity, it made up for rural beauty. Now, these new lots will be bare or planted with small and young trees. I feel sorry for incoming students who won’t even have the chance to park their car in the shade when the full force of Clemson’s summer heat is in effect.

The lot behind the stadium has had every one of the trees that once stood there taken out in favor of the new Tiger Walk. Besides being able to park in the shade, I wonder how tailgates will suffer when they can no longer set up under the older oaks.

Personally, as someone who has taken many sustainability- and conservation-based classes at Clemson, I don’t understand why we are moving towards a more urban-looking campus. In the next five years, Clemson hopes to close campus to commuters and switch to an almost entirely park- and ride-based commute program.

Why would the University want to move away from the ability of campus to be a walkable community? Why would they want to lean away from the look of a canopied campus similar in appeal to those of Ivy League and towards the look of an urban campus like USC?