With all the publicity about Temple’s explosive student growth, along with all the new construction on campus, students often wonder how housing could possibly be keeping up.
After all, before the surge in students, Temple didn’t even guarantee housing to juniors and seniors. And in the midst of all this comes the move of Tyler students to Main Campus in fall 2008.
How are all these students going to fit in one place without causing congestion in an already compact campus, especially in terms of parking and traffic on campus?
“[The move] shouldn’t have any negative impact,” said Richard Rumer, the associate vice president of business services.
Tyler students will be housed in Peabody Hall and the Edge, as first reported by The Temple News [“Tyler art students move to Peabody,” Rayan Chatila, Feb. 11, 2008].
As for parking congestion, Rumer said it won’t be an issue.
“About half of Tyler students take most or all of their classes on Main Campus already,” Rumer said. “And the majority of faculty that teach them are on Main Campus.”
More than 700 of Tyler’s 1,461 students already come to North Broad Street. The students moving this fall are the 757 studio arts students who currently go to the Elkins Park campus exclusively.
During the fall, Tyler students will be housed in Peabody and the Edge but will still attend class in Elkins Park. Construction on the new Tyler building next to Presser Hall will be completed in the winter, and Tyler students will attend classes there starting spring semester 2009.
Once the building is completed, 60 spaces around the building will provide parking for faculty and staff. Additionally, 80 spaces in a parking lot off of Diamond Street will be available for students who wish to pay for parking.
For those who don’t want to pay, it’s the street or, of course, the infamous Dirt Lot, though its future has come into question, as reported by The Temple News [“Dirt Lot gets temporary repairs,” Kathryn Lopez, Jan. 22, 2007].
“We are not maxed out in our garage or parking areas on campus,” Rumer said. “The reason the Dirt Lot is overcrowded is because students don’t wish to pay for parking, so they try to find the most economical way to park.”
The main reason why congestion shouldn’t become an issue is because most newly moved Tyler students will be living on campus, rather than commuting, Rumer said.
“We hope we’ve done a good job to look out for potential issues,” Rumer said. “We’ve been planning for the move for a great deal of time.”
So, parking congestion due to Tyler students is, perhaps surprisingly, one issue Temple should have nothing to worry about.
Morgan Ashenfelter can be reached at morgan.a@temple.edu.
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