The Board of Regents is meeting on May 1 at the University of Northern Iowa. They have a lot of business to get to: approving university budgets for the state’s major schools, making major purchases, and consenting to programmatic changes.
Also, they’ll probably raise the parking fees at the Law School (and nearly everywhere else on campus). Last year, the price was $66 per month to park in Myrtle. Next year: $69. I’m not sure, but this 4.5% increase probably outpaces the rate of inflation. However, I won’t blame the Regents. If I were them, I would assume that the University knows best how to manage its parking.
On a related note, the University continues to refuse to enforce any sort of parking permits in the law school faculty lot over the weekends. They will not even enforce the normal “R” permits, the ones we use in the Myrtle lot, to allow only non-undergraduate students and law faculty park there.
Normally, this would be fine, but the undergrads have figured out that they can park there, hike up one leg of their sweatpants, walk over to the fieldhouse to work out, then go downtown to the bar without having to worry about their vehicles until Sunday night. This just makes it difficult for law students to come to Boyd after hours to study or work. Moreover, parking is a major source of revenue for the university, so why wouldn’t they want another lot full of potential tickets to write?
Steve Wieland
fsford
timhilton
smahieu
Morgan N. Engling
maryiowa
jaimiesuzi
jarens
kevinjames
brieanne
lcm
Andrew
sandista
enwinfield
I am also annoyed that we can’t park there on football game days. Yes I’m a loser who goes to library during football games.
But Steve, they make so much more money off the law students who park illegally in the faculty lot [because the undergrad bar chariots are taking up all the spots]! C.f. Fleming’s AND D’Arcy’s cars RIGHT NOW - and mine, which has been parked [without a sticker] in the Myrtle lot since 7:45 a.m.
This is an issue that we should bring up in an ISBA meeting… I know we’ve talked about it before, but it hasn’t previously mattered to me since I’m not the Saturday-morning-going-to-the-library-type.
We should also charge the undergrads for use of the law library during finals.
You know what I love, Kevin? I love how you can always tell who the undergrads are because of their WORKBOOKS. ALL OF THEM HAVE WORKBOOKS!
Why stop at just the library? The medical school locks up their entire building on the weekends and at other times (maybe after 5?) on the weekdays. Medical students, however, can still get into the building by scanning their id cards at each entrance. Just throwing it out there…
Flems, another telltale giveaway (at least with the females) is the too-tightness of either sweatpants or shorts with some kind of word printed on the bum. Usually its “IOWA,” “PINK,” or the now played out “JUICY.”
Other than their workbooks, the dudes are a little harder to tell apart, probably because they blend in well with the other male law students.
I remember making the point about undergrads in the law library during finals once to a member of the administration and they said something to the effect that the law library is still considered one of the ‘university’ libraries and is funded with money from the general university pool as opposed to just the law school, so we can’t restrict access to law students. My guess is, if this is true, the Iowa Med library isn’t funded in the same way ours is.
Sherlock, that is GENIUS. The law school needs to get on that. And Kevin Dawson, along with the sweatpants, you can tell an undergrad girl by her Uggs and the fact that she will not have a backpack, but rather a handbag.
Emily, great point. The med building is actually just a classroom building without a library. The Health Science Library, located in a separate building, is open to all students. It is also one of the stranger places I’ve ever studied.
Yet another reason that the lay out of our law school makes all of *no* sense. Maybe if the law school started enforcing their ‘no food or drink’ policy the undergrads would go away. Although I’m spending my afternoons studying at the Tate Modern, sipping lattes (jealous, much? hahah) I distinctly remember watching the Ugg-wearing sweatpant crew and their clique of loyal male followers brazenly displaying their stash of Twizzlers, Sour Patch Kids, Starburst and other assorted essential gummies. I say crack down on the munchers so that we can consume our contraband in peace in our carrals.
If we eliminate the gummies, the sweatpant clan will leave, leaving fewer distractions and a more direct path to your undergrad. No fear, Morgan…I wouldn’t dream of compromising your dating life in the interest of an environment more conducive to studying
London may have eroded my work ethic but it has NOT altered my sense of reality or priorities 
Emily, although I understand that you have our best interests at heart, I NEED to eat my poptarts and gummy bears followed by several swigs of my Dt. Coke every day (breakfrast, lunch, and dinner). If they strictly enforced the munchie policy, I would probably avoid it toooo….
I managed to get workbook UGs to leave a few times this week from the lounge (how do they know about our LOUNGE???) by talking about how I disliked UGs. I know, mean, but I needed to get stuff done! Plus, two of them were a couple who kept going out to the balcony to make out. For serious.
Kevin (D.), you can definitely tell who the undergrad boys are — they look like they’re about 12 years old, and, as Emily pointed out, are usually following some Juicy-butt-sporting girl with an updo fit for the prom. Sometimes they even wear those hemp necklaces/chokers.
In general, you can spot the undergrads because they look TERRIFIED when you look at them; like you’ve caught them doing something wrong.
As for their parking habits, Fleming and I like to stalk them down as they’re walking back to their cars from the Fieldhouse … we follow closely behind them in our cars and wait for them to get in theirs so we can reclaim the lot … it’s become a sport, as of late.
Sara–no, no, my dear, please do not misunderstand me
Gummie candies are an inrreplaceable aspect of finals preparation and should be consumed whenever and wherever necessary (I, in fact, made my mother ship four bags of Sour Patch Kids to London to assist in the completion of my Journal note). However, big difference between spreading your loot out on the big round tables as if it were the morning after Trick-or-Treat and sipping a Diet Coke while munching on a bag of sweets, strategically tucked away in your knapsack. Undergrads=blatant and ignorant. Law students=masters of technicalities 
Ah, and Lindsay, let us know forget the (1) full face of makeup or better yet the (2) I still have my makeup on from last night b/c I couldn’t be bothered to stop home first on my morning ‘walk of shame.’
I’m gonna be unpopular here. I think a lot of y’all have no real good reason to be whining about the undergraduates.
1) Parking lot issues: If you don’t get a parking space right next to the BLB, I’ve got some good news–there’s another parking lot up the hill. Yes, that means that we have to walk an extra 1/3 mile. Considering how much exercise a lot of us get around here, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
2) Undergrads in the library: Yes, they can be amazingly blatant about their food eating in our library. But its not that shocking when you consider that the Main Library has NO restrictions on food consumption (with the exception of when you are using a computer). There’s this small sign on the far right that says “no food or drink” when you enter the law library; how would you ever expect someone to look at that? The problem here is with enforcement–it’s not like the vast majority of the kids are trying to be rude.
3) Undergrads in the fourth floor: Now if there comes a time that the undergrads take so many tables that we don’t have any for ourselves, then maybe we have a problem. I’ve personally never seen that. And yes, some of them can be annoying at times (the make out couple), but on the whole I’ve rarely seen disrespectful behavior out of them. On an average day, I am far more annoying on the fourth floor than any of them. Its not like you can be upset at them for talking or eating on the fourth floor; that’s the point of studying up there.
In my almost two years here, I’ve found that the most distracting people have been my fellow students. When I had a study carrel on the ground floor of the library, there was this group of 1Ls who seemed to think they could use the empty carrels around me to hold study group sessions; didn’t they realize that students take a study carrel on the bottom floor of the library because they want to avoid any semblance of humanity? When you gave the a dirty look, they just looked at you like YOU were the jerk for thinking they couldn’t talk in the LIBRARY. And again, this was 1Ls, not undergraduates! As someone mentioned earlier, the undergrads seem to cower away if you look at them, fearing that they’ll get in trouble for breaking a rule that does not exist.
In conclusion, there’s a reason that I only applied to Iowa Law (besides in-state tuition). I wanted to be in a college town. I wanted to have a student union, an undergraduate library, and random other buildings for me to get away from the stresses of law school (am I wrongfully invading other people’s space when I go study in a building on campus that isn’t called the BLB?). There are plenty of law schools that have their own campuses, where you don’t have to worry about any pesky undergraduates getting in the way of your pursuit to shed any semblance of humanity. Thank god Iowa isn’t like that.
Mike
Your points are fair, although I do disagree and/or dislike the vast majority of them. However, that, too, is another beauty of lawschool in that disagreement and contention are actually welcomed. Maybe for us old people (and seriously…I am old…painfully old) who are more removed from the undergraduate experience (Note: before anyone blasts me for being an 1. elitist, 2. agist, 3. spinster 4. gunner or even worse, 5. a grown-up I do not mean for this comment to be offensive) we are less ‘down’ with the ‘collegiate’ atmosphere. Although we enjoy being part of a campus, we also enjoy our place on the top of the hill on the west side of campus. Call it elitist, call it isolationist (is this even a word?) but it’s just a fact of life–the structure of law school makes it a particularly unpleasant place to be come finals and although our fellow classmates can be nothing short of maddening there is at least a little consolation in the fact that at some level they completely understand the level of stress and exhaustion that we’re experiencing. I’m not hating on the undergrads….if they want to be a ‘part’ of the lawschool community on a more regular basis so that they, in fact, KNOW the etiquette of the library (hide the gummi stash and leave the makeup at home) or the fourth floor lounge etc.. then maybe I could humour them. But for them to invade the one (very small) quiet place we have to study during finals is just annoying.
But, of course, we can agree to disagree
Now, please send my love to BLB…I’m off to study at the local pub 
Mike - One thing you forgot is that law students with disabilities need access to the building, which is difficult if the lot is full. Kim has told me that she has been literally unable to access the building on weekends because able-bodied 19-year-olds use up all the spaces in that lot.
Steve- I just looked outside and the disabled parking spots are empty. I think that’s pretty common. If you really need a disabled parking pass, they aren’t that hard to get; a friend of mine from UNI got one because he has asthma.
Lets not pretend that the real purpose behind the efforts to protect our lot is to increase accessibility for individuals with disabilities. Your original post fails to discuss this issue, and nobody bothered to bring it up until I made the point that there is ample parking relatively close to the building. If this is a significant problem, I have no issues with increasing the number of disabled parking spots in the lot or creating weekend disabled parking spots. Considering the fact that the parking tickets for parking in disabled spots is something like a hundred bucks, I don’t think we’d have to worry too much about protecting the spots.
Emily- I understand where you are coming from, but I think it is unrealistic to think that the BLB ever was going to be a refuge from undergrads. The truth is that our place on top of the hill is the closest educational building to three different dorms.
emily, come back and i will share my poptarts with you.
Mike - I definitely see your point of view, and the “bigger person” inside of me might agree a little bit. Sure, we can all use the exercise, and if we’re not disabled/in need of a close parking spot, walking a few extra feet is fairly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.
BUT the ridica-self-centered crazy law student inside of me does not. We want to use those spots so that we can go to the library on a Friday night and/or early Saturday morning (!). Others are using those spots to go to the bars/get free parking close to their dorms. Education should take priority.
Also, the larger issue for me is that it’s a safety thing. Sure, anyone can say that Iowa City (especially the west side) is super safe, blah blah blah, but when I leave BLB by myself at midnight, I want the shortest route to my car possible. That over-the-river-and-through-the-woods route is “serene” by day … but a little frightening by night. (And let’s not pretend that the presence of an “emergency call box” actually assuages anyone’s fears.)
Do I REALLY mind that the undergrads study in our building? No, not really. Mike is right; they’re really not that big of a bother. And props to them for seeking a different, perhaps more focused, study environment. They’re just so easy to spot; it’s hard not to make fun of them. But I definitely DO mind that they use our facilities as a pit stop on the way to the Ped Mall debauchery … educational and safety issues should always be a priority.
I also mind the undergrads clogging the law school lot because a lot of people visiting the law school for legitimate reasons are unaware of the Myrtle lot. I know there were issues at the JGRJ symposium because people attending the panels didn’t know where to go to park upon finding the main lot was full. It’s a minor point, but law student groups and faculty do host a lot of events that draw outsiders on the weekends, and they shouldn’t have to go on a wild goose chase for parking. (See, e.g., assorted symposia, admissions events, visiting speakers, etc)
Mike, not everyone who is disabled has a disabled parking permit.
Also, we’re professional students, we are on a different tuition plan, we will give back to the University some day. We need to be in the building at all hours, and walking to and from Myrtle at night understandably makes people nervous.
The parking people can add one more lot to their weekend rounds. Imagine what would happen if they actually advertised the availability of parking at the law school to undergrads. We’d never be able to use it.
100% in agreement with Brie, and also with the fact that walking to Myrtle at night suuuucks. I’ll admit I park in the law lot to go to the Field House for practice, but only because I’ve already been studying here for hours, and then come BACK to my carrel after. Hilkin, you can come to BLB and give me a ride to my car then around midnight, k sweetiepie?
Mike–there’s a big difference between expecting the BLB to be a refuge and establishing reasonable boundaries to facilitate legal studies. The BLB is also right across the street from two child care centers but we don’t encourage fingerpainting and hide-and-seek in the building, either (of course, no one can be held accountable for the caffeine-induced debauchery of law students). Not trying to be a brat, but as professional students, who, as Steve rightly points out, will contribute to the University so forth and so on, we have a reasonable expectation to a building that is conducive to studying.
The safety issue with the Myrtle lot continues to be an issue, has always been an isssue, and unfortunately, its starting to seem like it will continue to be an issue until our legitimate fears are realized. I think its outrageous that the University continues to ignore our concerns. If they aren’t willing to police the lot then provide a shuttle service from BLB to the Myrtle lot, running every thirty minutes from sun down until the library closes. Provide an escort, buy us pitbulls…I don’t know..do SOMETHING.
Sara, I have booked my plane ticket home in reliance on your offer to share your poptarts. And I’ve packed a couple extra bags of Haribo gummies…be excited.
Winfield: bring the puffy strawberry Haribo gummies. LOVE them. I’ll trade my delicious bag of Swedish Fish.
Morgan: Consider it done. I plan on clearing out every 24 hour convenience store, express market and Superdrug before I’m forced to leave gummie heaven. I feel a sort of duty to share the puffy-good-deliciousness with our half of the world…finding quality Haribo gummies in the States is an exercise in patience and diligence and let’s be honest–finals is NOT the time to start being a better person.
1) Morgan: Ha!:) Unfortunately, A) I’m in bed by 11 almost every night, and B) I don’t drive to school–I walk 25 minutes to school every day. Somehow, someway, I have survived. But maybe it’s why I have the body weight of a 12 year old boy . . .
2) Emily- The difference between the day care centers and the dorms is that the day care centers are private facilities–the attendees there don’t carry U of I student id’s. Undergrads do. And the BLB is simply another building on our large campus (at least in my view) Besides, how do you propose to protect the BLB from the undergrads? Is it really feasible to create the BLB into some kind of “gated community” unlike any other educational building on campus that I know of? And have we even made a strong argument that undergrads actually impede upon our ability to study, or merely impede upon our collective sense of entitlement to an environment without them? I think we’ve established that the vast majority of undergrads cower in fear that they will be caught–they don’t create a big stink in the library (besides breaking a rule they probably don’t know about) and they are generally far quieter than a lot of us are on the fourth floor (for example, I am more obnoxious than an undergrad when I am on the fourth floor–especially after a couple Red Bulls–am I banned from the lounge?)
3) As for the “we will give back to the school” argument: And the undergrads won’t? And we’re gonna make more money later, so we are more worthy of unique treatment now? Arguments like this simply reek of the worst kind of elitism. Who are we to say that our contributions to Iowa are more valuable than those of undergrads? Each department benefits our university; I’m certainly not going to say that my law degree is more important and worthy of respect than an english or business major.
4) As for law students with disabilities but no parking pass–That’s their own fault. Part of our fees goes toward paying for access to the student health center; if you need a pass, make an appointment (at no extra cost to you) and get one–if you choose not to get a parking pass, that’s your problem, not the U of I parking department’s.
5) The safety arguments–This is the best argument y’all got. I understand where you are coming from on this one. But here’s where it breaks down for me. If the undergrads don’t park in our lot on the weekends, I guess they’ll have to park in Myrtle. Is their safety less important than ours? If there is a real safety problem, we must address it as a University problem, not a law school parking problem. I personally don’t think that undergrads should have cars on campus, but I bet I was in the minority of students without a car during my undergrad years.
Mike, you just like being a contrarian. I don’t care if students come into the law school, they just need to stay out of our parking lot.
Also, the point about disabilities is that sometimes people who cannot walk very far need parking. Period. Whether the health center is available doesn’t help much when you need access to your school.
Yes, students who can contribute more money to the University are exactly who a responsible school administration should be looking out for. Athletes generate revenue. Have you seen that tutoring building devoted solely to holding D1 athletes’ hands through college?
Also, compare the Public Health school to the Business School. There’s a reason one of those is situated in a palace and the other is tucked away somewhere to keep the hippies out of sight. There are some brilliant students here who could transfer up to a different law school if they wanted–or graduate and refuse to give back.
Mike: Technically, undergrads don’t “have” to park at the law school. I didn’t have a car for all of my undergrad career (albeit at a very different university) and I did fine. The way I understand it, Iowa’s Cambus serves all the major dorms and a lot of the undergrad off-campus enclaves. Plus, there are several designated undergrad lots with shuttle service to and from that undergrads can park their cars at on weekends. Many law and professional students live in areas not served by the Cambus, so driving is the only option.
I’m also willing to “go there” and say we should have access to greater parking privileges than undergrads across the board–faculty get more access than students, so why shouldn’t graduate students get put somewhere between faculty and undergrads? Not full law parking lot privileges, but we should be able to trump the undergrads on nights and weekends just based on seniority.
Another weird thing, totally unrelated, parking-wise: visiting faculty don’t get permits for the faculty lot. My admin prof was talking about his treacherous walk through the rain and hail from downtown the other day. Sad. The administration can’t cough up at least a few Myrtle permits for them?
Point is, they’re not using the lot to come to the library to study. The kids studying here are probably Hillcrest kids who are walking. I’m annoyed with the friends who come to visit on the weekends and leave their cars in our lot. And empty Busch Light cubes and other various assortments of litter.
Here’s a thought: don’t make it permit parking during the day or anything. But come midnight, tow those undergrads the hell out of that lot. There’s no reason anyone should be parked in the lot overnight. Then they won’t park there all weekend.
Yeah, Morgan, I’ve never understood why they don’t do that, either. The University has maximized every possible opportunity for profiting off of parking violations…how could they have missed this golden opportunity for BOTH a parking ticket AND a tow violation? My guess? Team ‘Pink-bum’ has connections at the University Parking Office…..organized crime–its everywhere these days
Morgan- I would support that towing idea. The only thing I’d suggest is to push back the tow time to 1 so it is after the library is closed.
Oh wait, the library isn’t open till midnight on the weekends…nevermind:)
Which is another gripe, but we’ll save that for later.