Fix my Blue Zone

For the class of 2016, the iconic gothic wonderland promised in brochures and experienced briefly freshmen year has been a mess of construction. Hard hats, machinery and unnecessarily ornate faux-wooden fencing have detracted from the west campus aesthetic. For Duke at large, it’s a small price to pay for an assuredly more interactive and effective campus for future generations of Duke students. As a senior with little to no chance of experiencing those improvements, the construction has been a tough pill to swallow, albeit one I could appreciate.

Increasingly, however, the construction has undermined the actual commutes and experience of Duke students. From the shutdown of the plaza to the renovation of the Bryan Center entrance, many of the most impedimental campus renovations have been the ones regarded by students as unnecessary. But perhaps none has had as direct, frustrating and genuinely disruptive effect as the situation in the Blue Zone.

Parking, or a lack thereof, represents a problem nearly every college campus faces. I think there is a broad understanding among undergraduates that Duke is working within an already heavily developed area, and the consistent construction will further congest an already tight space. Yet, as it stands, students on and off-campus who must fork over an additional $300 for one of the most inconvenient parking locations at the University are being denied a space at all. Trying students’ patience is one thing, but our ability to get to school is another.

While I have been quietly lamenting about the sometimes 30 minute wait it takes to get a parking spot for most of the semester, I recently found that a well-reasoned frustration is shared by nearly every student who drives to school. “Fix My Campus,” an online Facebook forum dedicated to fielding student complaints and (occasionally) remedying them, has roughly 3,700 members, or more than half of the undergraduate student body. Right now, over half of the current threads outline just how difficult it is to park on campus. While “likes” might be a bit of an arbitrary measure of salience, the fact that hundreds of students are rallying around these posts and offering photos and testimonials of their own experiences sufficiently indicates how legitimate this problem is.

Frankly, this issue should not even come down to a student lobbying group. The news that Blue Zone would be undergoing its own set of construction was hardly circulated, and the university has yet to acknowledge or offer any sort of temporary solution. Students who do wager to park “illegally” near the Gardens or by the BC face the high likelihood of being fined or towed, filling the coffers of an administrative division seemingly ambivalent towards doing its job.

What’s so frustrating is that there are, ostensibly, some solutions. While teachers and staff assuredly require parking spaces throughout campus, lots in Allen, Trent and near Sanford are seldom full. Students who have paid for a Blue Zone permit should be given more leverage to park around campus so long as the lot is under construction. I can’t imagine that it would take much effort or manpower to recalibrate the gate system to meet these needs, and if the transportation office put in only a week of genuine assessment, it seems like they would be able to identify and approve additional lots for students to park in.

Similarly, at a time when Duke knows parking is at a premium, it should be less persistent in its pursuit of ticketing and towing. The decision to park illegally is often accidental, and rarely does it inconvenience the designations of the actual spot. If a car is parked illegally, especially in the current landscape, a warning ticket could be issued instead. We all know the University tracks which cars are in violation, and a little leeway would go a long way.

Thankfully, the students that run “Fix My Campus” responded to these claims, informing undergraduates that they are working with both DSG and transportation to “figure out the best steps to take to make sure that we have sufficient access to parking.” Students absolutely appreciate that effort, but I can’t help but wonder why it comes down to us? The University knew these obstacles would be arriving and made little to no effort to address to problem before it snowballed. It’s another instance in a long line of administrative negligence that affirms the undergraduate suspicion that administrators—particularly those in more bureaucratic offices—are out of touch with students’ needs.