Students Upset After Super Bowl Prompts Class Cancellations

IUPUI made special arrangements with Indianapolis to allow the city to use 4,000 of its 16,000 parking spots on a few days surrounding the Super Bowl.

Some students said that although they're excited about the city hosting the big game, they paid a lot for parking permits and classes and are being temporarily denied both.

"I think the Super Bowl is great for the city. I just think that it shouldn't hinder our education," said student Chris Gault. "It seems the school is putting the outsiders and the Super Bowl attendees before the students and their educations."

Parking has long been a contentious issue on the IUPUI campus, which has had trouble with having enough spaces to meet student demand.

"They're selling our parking spaces that are paid permit holder spaces," said student Andrew Reno. "A lot of us have taken out loans to pay for our classes, and now we're being given less time in the classroom."

Classes that would have been on Super Bowl weekend are canceled, and faculty was given flexibility to cancel or adjust classes on the Friday before the game and Monday after the game.

"(We're) trying to make it as easy as possible on students by not requiring them to attend face-to-face classes if their professor thinks that's best," said Rich Schneider, IUPUI spokesman.

IUPUI will be a busy area, with a Super Bowl route that runs through campus, and the University Place Hotel, the AFC team hotel, will be bustling with activity.

"We didn't want to have students stuck in traffic and not be able to get to a class and then be penalized in some fashion for missing that class," Schneider said.

School officials pointed out that there will still be 12,000 permit spaces available for students and that the parking restrictions are on days when few students will be on campus.