By Alex Bradshaw
The 3,000 students with purple passes that park at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium were given an ultimatum last Thursday. If their cars weren’t removed by 3 p.m., they would be towed from the lot.
Due to the football team’s Thursday night game against Pittsburgh, the parking office opened the stadium parking lot for fans attending the game. Students staying on campus past 3 p.m. could move their cars to any lots designated for green, yellow or blue permits after noon. Many students who arrived in the morning and left late had to move their cars midday.
Adrian Bates, a commuter student at U of L, was upset that she had to move her car.
“I have to find another place to park because I will be in class when I am supposed to be moving my car from the lot that I pay to park in so it doesn’t get towed,” Bates said. “It’s ridiculous. Lots of students attend home games, and those students who are attending the game could get their car towed because of a parking pass.”
One of the students who hoped to leave his car there for when he went to the game after class was Blake White.
“I planned on leaving my car as it was, because I have class up until the game,” White said. “I had to leave class early so I could take the purple pass down, so I could avoid being towed.”
Although the parking administration would not comment on the issue, Denise Fitzpatrick, director of Media Relations, felt that the university did all it could to give students advance warning.
“The parking administration put flyers notifying students every day for the past week. There were announcements daily on the shuttle letting them know that they could not park in the lot after 3 p.m., and there was an announcement on Netmail,” Fitzpatrick said.
According to Fitzpatrick, if students were upset before the event, they didn’t express their frustration to the university.
“Only one student complained before the event,” Fitzpatrick said. “3,000 people have purple permits; fewer than 10 were still in the parking lots after 3 p.m.”
The students who did not move their cars had to pay $108 to pick their cars up at Dave’s Towing, almost twice the cost of a purple pass.
Some students understood the university’s position. Eric Denison, a senior History major, said he’s used to moving his car.
“I live on Third Street, and when the street cleaning signs go up, we’ve been informed that our cars will be towed if we don’t move them,” he said. “That’s just the way it is. I don’t see how this is any different.”
The same rules will be in place for Friday’s game when the football team faces Rutgers. For more information, contact the parking office at 852-7275.
