Student parking at Millikin University is essentially deciding which street, Main or Fairview, to play dodge-car on. For a price and some paperwork, anyone can play, just pick a lot and pray to get to class safely. Hypothetically, there is enough parking for everyone but the safety of these spots is somewhat questionable.
On Millikin’s main campus block, there is only one lot for commuter students, Kirkland. If you want to park between the hours of about 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., pick another lot. There is almost never a place to park that isn’t designated for the Kirkland box office, visitors or handicapped.
However, the worst part about the Kirkland lot is campus visit days, when Millikin kicks the already-paying-to-go-here students out of the lot in favor of potentials. Even worse, Millikin gives little to no warning about visit days to commuters.
Westminster has, luckily, allowed students to park in their lot, unless there is a church event going on. There are cross walks on both ends of the parking lot, which does make crossing to Millikin easier, but the campus is still across four lanes of traffic. The one by the light is far more forgiving than the other, which has impatient drivers often speeding down the road and paying no attention to the cross walks or simply not caring. Luckily, there has never been a church event and a campus visit day at the same time since I’ve been at Millikin University.
The other student parking lots are located across from the DISC, by the Art center and behind the residence halls. The DISC parking lot is also pretty close to the academic buildings. I have only parked at the DISC once or twice, and if memory serves, the lanes are narrower than the other lots. The final two, while being convenient for residents and those going to the Art center, are located away from almost every academic building except Griswald Physical Education Center.
The main problem with Millikin’s parking is that very little can be done about it. The campus layout doesn’t allow for another centralized parking lot without damaging the school’s aesthetic qualities or getting rid of the Quad. The Westminster lot doesn’t belong to Millikin, meaning any changes would have to go through the Westminster Presbyterian Church. The only thing that could change is the Mills and Staley lots being opened to students during class hours and keeping Kirkland’s parking unrestricted. Maybe then we can stop dodging cars.