Morgan State students, faculty, and staff are regrouping after the closure of the Morgan Commons Parking Garage.

On Sept. 5, The garage became unavailable for use due to “scheduled” maintenance and repairs.

According to Kevin Banks, vice president of student affairs, the repairs on the North Campus parking lot were long overdue. 

“There were structural concerns that had been [previously] looked at… it may have been exacerbated from the ongoing construction of the New Thurgood Marshall building,” said Banks.

“[The repairs] probably should have happened earlier, maybe a couple of years ago.”

According to Sidney Evans, vice president of finance and management, Morgan plans to complete repairs sometime in Jan. 2022.

With the garage’s closure, the CBEIS parking garage, Lot Y, and Lot QN remained available for permitted student use, all of which are an additional 10-minute walk from the central campus.

As a result, many students must sacrifice getting to class on time to avoid getting ticketed or towed. 

Bianca Benjamin, a senior business administration major, said that the lack of available parking space causes anxiety that interrupts her focus in class.

“I’ll be in class, and I’ll think about the time like ‘Oh my gosh is somebody coming,” said Benjamin.         

West Sievers, a project manager at the Baldwin and Cummings lot, said handling student overflow has fallen to the maintenance staff and campus police. 

On-site maintenance staff at the Baldwin and Cummings lot had to let people in manually to manage parking overflow. 

 “If this is happening here and at other lots, they might be overwhelmed,” said Sievers, a maintenance staff member. 

While state police enforce street parking ticketing and towing, Morgan police enforce ticketing in university lots for improper parking. 

“A lot of people are double parking or impeding the flow of traffic,” said Billy Hopper, university police officer. “[However,] there will come a time when we look at passes.” 

Parking lots are now open to anyone after 4:15 p.m., according to Teresa Felton, a staff member of the parking and transportation office.

While Banks said he understands the frustration from the last-minute closure, he urges students to continue to use the university shuttles as the university mediates the issue of distant lots.

“As your vice president for student affairs, I will stand in front of students if they want to yell and shout at me about us not informing them earlier or not moving quicker,” said Banks. 

“I will own that. I understand the frustration.”