30-Year Prof Quits Over Parking Shortage

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Aug. 31 (UPI) — A veteran Canadian professor says he’s packed in his job out of frustration that Dalhousie University has 2,000 parking spaces for 20,000 people.

Professor Dan Middlemas quit Monday and told the university he wasn’t willing to leave home outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia, at 7 a.m. in order to find parking before his 2:30 p.m. class, the Toronto Star’s eastern bureau reported.

The expert in Canadian defense policy who works in the political science department said the situation was “ridiculous” and that the university didn’t appear to have any plans to rectify the situation.

There are 17,000 students and 3,000 faculty and staff at the school, which has 2,000 parking spaces. The university also deliberately oversells the parking spots by 30 percent, the report said.

“It’s just silly — it’s been 30 years of frustration,” Middlemiss said.

While many staff and students use public transit, bicycles or walk, the parking shortage is chronic and Middlemiss said because of his suburban home’s location, driving is the only viable option.

Meanwhile, Ken Burt, the school’s vice-president of finance and administration, told the Star building underground parking wasn’t an option as the city sits on granite and excavation costs would be prohibitive.

“Our focus really shouldn’t be on parking — it really should be directing our resources to the students, to the research of our faculty and to running a university,” Burt said.

He gave no reason why a multilevel, above-ground facility couldn’t be built, the report said.