Gridlock beyond the gridiron: what faculty and students don't know about parking at UNC

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article mischaracterized an anecdote told by Brad Ives. The father of a patient was unable to park in his normal lot when he was issued a parking permit. The article also incorrectly stated a point of Julia Green's. Green has issued a permit once, but she has not publicized the permits.

Thousands will show up for the football game this Saturday. But how many faculty and students will not show up to research, work or even study because they don’t know they can access campus parking?

The Facebook page for biology professor Mark Peifer’s research lab lit up last week when his post showed a bike rack in front of the Genome Sciences Building, closed for a Rams Club reception. The post got over 60,000 views and sparked discussion on UNC Overheard, where most seemed unaware they can ask for game day parking.

Transportation and Parking Director Cheryl Stout said faculty with weekday permits and UNC Healthcare employees can park in designated employee lots. Faculty without permits and graduate students can ask their department coordinators. According to the department website, commuter students can request permits for academic work.

In a Daily Tar Heel survey, the Gillings School of Global Public Health and its Department of Biostatistics, the School of Government, the Department of Sociology, the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, the School of Education, the Biomedical Research Imaging Center and the Department of Biomedical Engineering said they were unaware of, had no need to issue, or did not offer the permits.

Julia Green, department manager of the Department of Applied Physical Sciences, said in an email that she issued a permit once and doesn't publicize the permits.

“We are a small department with limited resources and all parking-related matters at UNC are quite time-consuming, in part because you always have to go to their office to do any business — no coupons or passes are ever sent by campus mail,” she wrote.

Karen Gilliam, student payroll coordinator for the chemistry department, said the department is likely unique because many students do research on weekends. She said she received between 70 and 100 football parking requests last year.

Stout said it’s a balancing act to divide resources across UNC’s population, but everyone who needs to access parking should be able to.

“You’re not necessarily parking like you would on Saturday like nothing’s going on. But there should be accommodations in every single area for that,” Stout said.

Brad Ives, associate vice chancellor for campus enterprises, said he received game day permits as a law student. He said his office works to solve parking availability, but problems go beyond access.

Communication is one problem.

But the controversy goes beyond parking.

“I think, it’s sort of the lingering effects of the whole scandal — there is this mistrust of athletics and mistrust of the administration as well,” Ives said.

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