Campus News
By Addison Burke, Sports Editor
At the beginning of Xavier’s basketball season, students received the typical email sent before each men’s home game about parking. While it was very similar to previous years with information as to where students can and can’t park, there is a new closure this year: the R1 lot. This is because R1 is being used for paid parking.
In previous years, the only resident lot that had been closed down for games was R3, located behind Cohen. With this year’s closure of R1, all students parked in both lots must have their cars moved four hours prior to tipoff. If cars are not moved prior to that time, they will be towed. This requires students who have classes later in the evening on game days to make plans to move their car in advance.
“The decision to close R1 on game days came out of the University’s Sustaining Excellence project this past summer,” Director of Auxiliary Services Bill Moran said.
Sustaining Excellence, as described on the University’s website, is “a comprehensive transformation project that will study the University’s entire operation with a focus on identifying opportunities for revenue growth, refining processes, managing expenses and emerging with long-term institutional viability.”
With the University looking for more ways to bring in revenue, the R1 lot is now closed to students during men’s home basketball games.
R1 being turned into paid parking falls under the “revenue growth” sector of this plan.
“As just one of nearly 300 initiatives designed to cut costs and/or generate additional revenues, it was determined that closing R1 on game days in order to sell the spots to donors would generate over $150,000 annually,” Moran said. “To raise that kind of money for the University in exchange for closing the lot just 16-18 nights per year was an opportunity that couldn’t be passed up.”
Moran mentioned that this is not an unprecedented action for the University. Back in 2019, the University decided to take the same opportunity as today by closing down R3 to sell the spots to people attending the games.
A concern of students with this closure is the lack of parking available left over for students, but Moran has reassured that there is plenty of parking available for students during game days.
“Between R1 and R3 being closed, we lose 426 spaces on a game night, but with over 5000 parking spaces on campus, we have plenty of alternatives,” Moran said. “On a game night, students are also able to use several employee lots that are otherwise usually not available, including the Smith Lot, Gallagher Lot and University Drive.”
In recent years, students have felt that there is a lack of parking available on campus, regardless of whether or not it is game day. With the medical school arriving in a few years, the stress of parking may be higher for students and faculty alike.
“I think C1 should be resident parking. I understand why people who bought basketball tickets need places to park, but I think overall there needs to be more parking available for resident students that are closer to the dorms,” sophomore English major Katie Weimer said.
“The university will soon be embarking on a 10-year campus Master Plan, which will include necessary parking support to any significant physical changes the University may undertake during that time,” Moran said.
