Reporting also by Mitchell Drennen
When a university increases their parking fee by 733%, students notice. Practically overnight, Samford University’s parking fee went from $60 to $500. Students took to social media to voice their outrage. Many felt betrayed and blindsided by the decision. The university says the growing cost will pay for the construction of a new dorm, parking garage and upcoming Creekside District.
“The fact that samford (sic) hasn’t even officially announced the parking cost increase looks so bad for them,” read one Fizz post from March 20 at 12:38 p.m. “We can see it! Why aren’t you telling us straight up?”
Hundreds of posts about parking flooded Fizz late Thursday night into Friday morning.
“so why are we, students who have no control over the parking situation and who live off campus bc the university doesn’t have enough housing, suffering the consequences of a lack of parking (sic),” said another at 6:20 p.m. on March 20.
In less than 24 hours, Samford freshman Lachlan Caliguiri had organized a protest to be held at 12:30 p.m. on Ben Brown, Samford’s most populated plaza. Freshman Emilia Horton had created a petition that had over 1000 signatures by 9:30 a.m. the morning of the protest.
Caliguiri and Horton both utilized Fizz to organize their respective tasks. Many students called for a protest the night that parking fees went up. Caliguiri acted on this. “ This is not in any way trying to hurt the university, but they’re hurting us,” Caliguiri said. “I went to Target, bought a couple of these 90 cent boards and cut them in half. It cost me $8 and some change – better than $500.”
Horton’s petition implored the university to rethink the change in price. The petition, as of writing this article, has 2,486 signatures.
Horton’s petition isn’t the first of its kind – back in 2018, a petition with 1590 signatures called for solutions to the university’s parking problems.
The night before the protest, Lachlan emailed different news stations from around the Birmingham area to cover the event. Amy Hybels from CBS 42 reached out to Caliguiri that morning for an interview.
“At 8 this morning, I got a phone call and email from the lady (Hybels) and she said, ‘We’re on our way.’ And I said, ‘Okay, perfect’; and here we are, less than 24 hours later,” said Caliguiri.
Samford asked Hybels to leave the property after interviewing Caliguiri and Horton. After this, Samford University public safety officers stood watch on Ben Brown Plaza as the protest was happening.
Students say they would have been more receptive to the price increase if it had been introduced in a different manner.
“ I just think a gradual increase would have been better. Even if it was a $150 increase. But 500, that’s crazy,” said Caliguiri.
Horton suggested a solution that has been discussed before: the university could admit less students.
“ Stop accepting so many students when we just don’t have the space,” Horton said. “Recognize that we aren’t a big school and that it needs to stay that way. Because if we do start changing into a big school, then we’re gonna lose what makes Samford so special.”
Samford University President Beck Taylor acknowledged the price increase in a recent interview regarding Samford’s 27-acre expansion plan, the Creekside District.
“As we grow and expand and invest in the campus experience, we’ve gotta find additional money to do that,” said Taylor. “We’ve not done ourselves any favors by keeping the cost of parking, frankly, almost at zero.”
Taylor also said that the new fee may increase the number of parking spots available on campus.
“ Look, price does ration demand, and I’m an economist by training. I know that when something is priced at zero or very close to zero, you get an over consumption of it. So, it may very well be that for some students, a $250 semester fee for parking may cause them to think about other options,” he said.
Colin Coyne, Samford’s vice president for finance, business affairs and strategy, sent an email to the student body on Friday afternoon, March 21. The email recognized students’ concerns and gave Samford’s justification for the increase in prices.
Some students feel, however, that this email was dismissive. Caliguiri and Horton, among the other students who gave their support to the protest, still plan on making change around campus. Talks of another protest have already begun on Fizz.
“ We tried, and that’s the least that we can do. I made my voice heard,” said Caliguri.
The petition can be seen here.
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