In 2005, then-Florida Atlantic University President Frank Brogan said, "We recognize we're going to be a commuter school forever that provides great access." There are times when FAU, which wants to become more like a traditional university, seems to forget that mission. The recent student protest over parking should serve as a reminder.

The Boca Raton campus has just 9,648 parking spaces to accommodate 21,238 students who take at least one class there and 2,324 faculty and staff members. More than 1,000 of those spaces are in Lot 5, which is on the far north end of the main campus. FAU Police Chief Charles Lowe estimates that it takes 20 minutes to walk from Lot 5 to the center of campus. "It's a problem of convenience more than not physically having a spot to put a car in," Mr. Lowe said. "We have spots to put cars in consistently every day at any time of the day, but, again, they're not convenient - that's an absolute truth - but they're there."

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