In total, there are 963 parking spaces around campus, including street parking and unmarked gravel lots. In comparison, there is an estimate of 41 visitor parking spaces. However, some students on campus such as seniors Alexa Custer and Amira Siddique feel that there isn’t enough space to park around campus, especially during snow emergencies.

“Snow emergencies mean that vehicles which might normally park on the street are encouraged to park in off-street locations… On-street parking can sometimes be limited after a snow emergency if city plows were not able to clear the roadsides effectively due to parked vehicles or other obstructions,” Director of Campus Safety Nathan Kemp, said.

Siddique also felt that the school did not support them during the snow emergency, and many students were unable to find a spot for their vehicles in the lot.

“I think the worst part about the snow was that many people’s cars were completely snowed in and they had to dig out their cars. It would have been nice if this could have been done or assisted with by the school,” said Siddique.

Custer believes that on days with heavy snow, there aren’t enough spaces in parking lots for students to move their vehicles from the street to parking lots — because several of the spots are reserved for visitors.

“Campus safety comes and tickets the students who have no other option. Most days, there are no visitors in the spots unless it’s a prospective student day. I think that the amount of spots used to be enough but with how un-walkable Galesburg is, it’s nearly impossible for students to not have their vehicles on campus now,” Custer said.

Junior Caroline Tieman agrees that the recent snow emergency made it harder for students to find a parking spot as people moved their cars from the streets to the lot.

“I wish there were more lots near SMC or Seymour or even Alumni. The 30 min parking by Seymour is really nice too, because that lot by the library is so small and always full. Overall I haven’t really had too many problems, it would just be more convenient if there was another lot more central to campus,” Tieman said.

Campus safety has reported no significant increase in ticketing around campus, with a total of 37 tickets in the month of January.