Thursday‘s­home opener created traffic nightmare with classes in session

I was so happy when the Bulldogs football team beat Rutgers 52-51 on Thursday. The sad part is, I was happy because the end of game meant the huge campus traffic jam that started around 4 p.m. might finally be over.­

As a professor, I don’t usually have to worry about parking, which is a nice perk that comes with the job.

On Thursday, that all changed.

I should really have listened to my colleague when he said “this might be a good day to let those afteranoon classes go.”

I didn’t feel right about cancelling class””students have paid for it, after all, and they deserve to get every scheduled class.

Last Wednesday I received a brief memo from Traffic Operations entitled “Football Traffic Alert.”­ It included the ominous warning that “campus lots will be impacted.”

I had no idea the extent to which the lots would be “impacted.”­ I think “hopeless” would have been better adjective.

At 5:30 on Thursday I got in my car to try to leave, although I could see all roads were jammed up. What choice did I have, since the Red Wave Inn was even more crowded?

It took about 20 minutes for me to drive 20 yards from a parking space onto Backer Ave. near the Smittcamp House, and then another 20 minutes to get onto Shaw.

I can only imagine what happened to the campus air quality with all that car exhaust.­ I compliment all the students and folks who I encountered in the traffic, since everyone was very courteous and tried to help each other cope with the mess.

I don’t have any say in such matters, and I am not even on the Athletic Advisory Committee, but I have one tiny suggestion for the future.

Can we please reserve weekdays for classes and save football for the weekends?­ I mean, I like the Bulldogs as much as anybody””I wear red underwear if a game is coming up, although I have been cautioned against showing my students.

I do value the contributions to campus life that can be made by great athletics, but faculty and students also want to get serious about our coursework.

With only enough parking spaces for fewer than one out of four students, the traffic situation is bad enough.­ We don’t need campus lots to be “impacted” by other events, no matter how important and interesting they might be.

The next time I get this kind of traffic advisory about a weekday football game, I’m not sure what I should do about it.

It may surprise students to learn that even tenured professors can have their paychecks docked if they cancel class without clearly acceptable reasons.

I don’t know if the entire campus becoming a parking lot is within bounds of this policy.

Sean Fulop is Associate professor of Linguistics, as well the Linguistics Graduate Coordinator and director of the cognitive studies program.