Lots 58 and 48 along Cuming Street serve Creighton University students with valid parking permits and are among the most frequently used student-designated parking areas on campus.
Creighton University students have been battling full parking lots since at least the 1940s, a topic that’s still relevant today. Over 300 new parking stalls were opened near the Morrison Stadium and the upcoming new sophomore residence hall this fall, according to University President the Rev. Daniel Hendrickson, S.J., and another 56 stalls will open at the same time as the hall. Additionally, the university worked with the city of Omaha to reopen about 40 parking spaces on 21st Street.
Tracing the Creightonian archives on the Creighton Digital Repository, records show that parking has been mentioned more than 200 times in the Creightonian — dating back decades.
According to these past newspaper issues, the state of parking at Creighton has been debated for approximately 80 years, with students and administrators sharing their qualms and attempted solutions since the 1940s.
The university has tried to alleviate the stress of parking in the past. A Creightonian news article from May 9, 1947, titled “Hilltop Motorists To Have Additional Parking Facilities,” reported, “Creighton University, long confronted with the parking problem of the students, is to have a new parking lot.”
Over 15 years later, in 1963, student demand for parking was already outpacing available spaces.
“Hill parking lots provide 560 available parking spaces, according to Brother Frank Jelinek, S.J., superintendent of buildings and grounds. To date, 658 student parking stickers have been issued, including those distributed gratis to interested religious and graduate students,” a Creightonian article from Oct. 18 of that year, titled “Vehicle-equipped scholars provoke parking problem,” said.
Problems with parking continued into the ‘70s.
The Creightonian news article “Construction costs eliminate proposed parking solution,” published on Aug. 30, 1974, cited construction costs as the reason for the parking issue.
“Creighton’s parking problem is no secret. Efforts to alleviate it are stifled by one thing — money. Construction costs are the main reason,” the article said.
By the late 1980s, parking complaints hadn’t let up — and for good reason, according to Richard McAuliffe, the then-supervisor of Public Safety.
“Parking is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” McAuliffe said, according to the Creightonian news article “Public Safety’s McAuliffe calls parking the worst he’s ever seen” by Eric Stenner on Sept. 9, 1988. Stenner’s article continues, “The problem has been compounded for several reasons. This year’s freshman class is the largest since 1981. ‘You can be sure most of them came with cars,’ McAuliffe said.”
Kevin Sarver, the editor of the Creightonian at that time, wrote an editorial criticizing the university for its lack of student parking titled “CU has severe parking problems,” which was printed in the same Sept. 9, 1988 issue of the Creightonian as Stenner’s news article.
“I’ve gone through two weeks of classes, and the way I’ve got it figured, you either have to come to campus before dawn to get a parking space within an acceptable location, or get one the night before,” Sarver wrote.
The frustration extended to the cost of parking passes.
“Maybe it’s just me, but why did I pay $30 for a parking sticker and there is no place to park?” Sarver wrote.
The issue isn’t just a historical annoyance — students and staff alike continue to feel its impact today as, decades later, many think these problems are continuing and history seems to be repeating itself. This year, Creighton welcomed a record-breaking-sized freshman class, which seems to have further intensified demand for campus parking once again.
Jessica Weaver, the university’s parking technical specialist, said the challenge is finding spots near the center of campus.
“Parking is a struggle right now … to find parking close to buildings. We do have lots that do sit with empty spaces, but they are further away from main campus,” Weaver said.
Assistant Director of Student Accessibility Services Gillian Trost Price said the issue can affect work schedules.
“Well, I personally arrived early enough that parking hasn’t been an issue for me, [but] I know it can be a challenge for others. Some of our student workers have shared that finding a spot can be difficult and at times it has even prevented them from getting to work,” Price said.
For students like Tessa Bailey, a sophomore in the College of Nursing, the struggle isn’t just theoretical — it affects daily routines and expenses.
“I can’t be spending gas money to be driving around campus for an hour just to wait for somebody to leave their parking spot,” Bailey said.
The financial burden Sarver described in the ‘80s remains a reality for students today, who often pay more than just the price of their parking pass when on-campus parking isn’t available.
Commuter Ximena Perez Silva, a sophomore in College of Arts and Sciences, said she has faced additional expenses.
“So, my thing is, I’ve paid more in downtown parking than actually utilizing my parking pass,” she said.
As the university continues to undergo renovations and construction, some students find that the parking problem is growing.
“There have been multiple instances where peers of mine, including myself, have had to park far away from campus due to construction and new infrastructures,” Silva said.
The university also repainted the Hixson-Lied parking lots 58 and 48 along Cuming Street this summer, and a sign reserving four parking spots for electric vehicles was put up in those student lots.
Weaver confirmed these changes.
“So, there was some mistakes made in the original restriping … and you could not get a parked car through in places. … So, you will see, unfortunately, those lines … where we had to adjust those spaces. … It did not change the count from last year,” she said, confirming that the number of stalls in lots 58 and 48 did not change.
Adding spaces for electric vehicles is part of the university’s plan to be a more sustainable campus.
“So, that is part of the Creighton initiative to be more sustainable. We have traditionally had electric cars in the garage. So, there were old charging stations in the garage. The infrastructure was not feasible to maintain on a large level,” Weaver said.
The Department of Public Safety is responsible for parking enforcement on campus. The department declined to comment.
Bailey recounted a personal experience with being issued a parking citation.
“I went to the officer bawling my eyes out and he literally looked at me straight in the face and was like, ‘No, you’re not parking here.’ And I just got in my car, and I cried some more. And then I missed my class,” she said.
Bailey also described the financial penalty for parking in the wrong spot.
“I come back to my car [to see a] $50 ticket for going in visitor parking,” Bailey said.
Beyond the cost, she expressed frustration with what she sees as Public Safety priorities on campus.
“I feel like they need to be more focused on the crime and less on students that are just trying to get to their classes. They have too much time on their hands,” Bailey said.
Weaver said the university is looking for short-term solutions to ease the strain.
“We did find about 30 stalls that we are gaining from Physicians Mutual to hopefully move vehicles for Heider residents and possibly Degelman and Swanson residents,” she said.
Hendrickson said that, with the new spots opened near Morrison and the residence hall currently being constructed, the parking problems are beginning to be addressed.
He added that Creighton is in partnership with Omaha and other landowners near campus to brainstorm ways to ease parking stress. Other solutions, he said, include shuttle routes to neighborhoods and utilizing the JayPass city bus service program.
“As a university in a growing downtown setting, we have to balance parking with new academic and residential buildings, green spaces and walkable areas that strengthen campus life,” Hendrickson said via email. “Parking will always be at a premium in this type of environment, and campuses nationwide face the same challenge. … Student feedback guides our efforts, and we encourage people to keep sharing ideas as we shape the future of our campus together.”