Oakland University has a parking problem. Unlike this well-known stigma, Oakland University also has a parking structure, hidden in its recesses, that could accommodate many of the students that instead park illegally at a slightly closer location.
At a pace of about 3.5 miles per hour, it takes less than 6 minutes to make the trek from the parking structure to South Foundation. South Foundation is one of the hardest buildings to park near, and yet students insist on parking nearly on top of it rather than walking a short distance from a different lot.
Communication major Michele Fedorka, whose classes have all been in South Foundation for the three years she’s been attending OU, had no idea the parking structure existed until she met up with a friend to go to work out.
“I had no idea all this stuff was back here.” Fedorka said, “They should have parking structures like this all over campus. Look at all the empty spaces.”
At around 2 p.m., the second level of the structure alone had over fifty empty spaces. People have begun to notice the availability of parking spaces, however.
“I think this year they’re noticing it a little bit more, because it’s actually filled up a little bit,” said Shayna Frontiera, who parks in the structure when she goes to the gym, “But for the most part, I think a lot of people try to avoid it.”
The biggest obstacle, according to Frontiera, is that since the structure is placed toward the foot of a sweeping hill, the uphill journey keeps students searching for closer parking. Frontiera said that the average she has spent trying to park in the dreaded P1 lot is twenty minutes.
By parking in the parking structure, albeit on the opposite side of the school, she could walk from her car to her class, back to her car, then back to class again in the same amount of time.
daniellekopacki 