I am writing to go against almost every UK student, faculty and staff member on campus. I believe campus parking should not change. The University of Kentucky is known for not having cars on campus, and I think that is a great thing. There is nothing I like more than being able to walk all over campus and not have to worry about cars. I love taking different paths to class everyday through the beautiful campus full of trees, green grass and flowers.

Cars in the middle of campus cause problems such as taking up too much space, causing excess traffic and being a noisy distraction. Cars take up too much space which limits academic areas. Space is valuable on a college campus. Using that extremely valuable space for a parking lot rather than an academic building seems ridiculous.

Cars also cause too much traffic— not only vehicle traffic but pedestrian traffic, as well. They, obviously, cause vehicle traffic jams, but this directly impacts pedestrian traffic. If there are roads, there must be crosswalks. Waiting for a stoplight to change so pedestrians can cross the street adds time to all travelers’ commutes.

Finally, cars are a noisy distraction for educational learning. There is nothing more distracting, in my opinion, than sitting in class and hearing cars’ engines. A quiet environment fosters learning. I think, as a student myself, we all deserve to learn in an environment free from unnecessary noises.

With all this said, I truly believe that the University of Kentucky Transportation Services needs to not get pressured into turning the University of Kentucky into a vehicle busy area. I like walking to class on a beautiful, green campus. This will no longer be the case if roads and parking lots are built.

Elaine May is a pre-nursing freshman at UK.

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