The Executive Board of California Faculty Association – SLO represents unionized faculty at Cal Poly. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.
Finding a parking space has always been a gamble at Cal Poly. Lately, it’s become worse with the faculty being informed of a 125-space reduction due to campus construction. Were faculty informed in a direct campus-wide email before reporting for the fall quarter? No.
On September 18, the first day of classes, the VP of Administration and Finance sent an email addressing a “parking update” and describing the “shuffling of some parking spaces.” The email slowly filtered its way through the numerous levels of the Cal Poly bureaucracy. The update may (or may not) have ended up in faculty mailboxes a few days later.
This late and disrespectful messaging hurt the faculty’s ability to plan for a quarter that had already begun, especially for those with childcare and other off-campus responsibilities. This is on top of the fact that the purchase of a faculty parking permit only gives one the right to search for a space (finding the space is not guaranteed) – a search that is now getting harder and taking faculty further from the campus core. Faculty cannot change the number of parking spaces, nor are we in charge of managing the impact of ongoing campus construction. But, we are still left having to manage yet another impediment to doing our job of serving our students.
Do you know who doesn’t have to worry about there being fewer parking spaces? President Armstrong and his guests. They are always guaranteed prime parking spots; often taking over scarce faculty and staff spots in locations closest to classrooms and offices. If President Armstrong and his special guests must have dedicated spots, give them the metered parking spaces – there are a lot of them. This would havePresident Armstrong absorb a small loss in parking revenue rather than the faculty absorbing the cost of longer and less fruitful searches for parking spots.
What we are asking for is respect and some solutions that lessen the impact of the reduction of parking spaces on faculty (and staff). President Armstrong should:
- Use metered parking spaces for his guests.
- Notify the campus community in a timelier manner of all future parking changes.
- Meaningfully consult with faculty and move beyond an annual parking survey whose only solution seems to be “join a vanpool!”
- Engage in real dialogue about how to help Cal Poly grow without compromising the faculty’s ability to get to class on time.
- Implement new temporary lots, more shuttles, free electric scooters and more usable and practical alternative transit options for all faculty.
We need a parking reprieve in 2025-2026, even if it’s a short-term one. Better management and timelier communication would go a long way to achieving that.
In union,
The Executive Board of CFA-SLO (California Faculty Association- SLO)