Graig MantleSelected campus parking lots will close Friday to currently enrolled students in order to accommodate prospective students and their families for Open House.
The Open House Planning Committee encourages students to find alternative ways of getting on campus, including carpooling, taking the bus, riding a bike or walking.
On Friday, 7,000 visitors are expected, and due to the loss of parking areas in past years, selected lots will be reserved to make the visitors feel welcome. Signs will be placed in front of these reserved lots to remind students that the spaces are for visitors.
The parking areas available to students will be on levels one, two and three of the Grand Avenue parking structure, and parking area G-1 across from the residence halls on Grand Avenue and G-2 behind Mott Gym.
However, even if students avoid parking on campus, there will not be enough spaces to accommodate everyone. To solve this problem, shuttles will bring in visitors from local hotels. This parking plan to accommodate visitors has been a group effort of the university administrators, University Police Department, Commuter Services and the Open House Committee.
The Open House Planning Committee hopes students realize that not driving to campus for a day will benefit their future peers. Their tagline, “Thank you for keeping Open House open,” says it all.