Junior Torryan Bryan has received four tickets because he can never find parking on the Boca campus, he said. To show his frustration, he rapped a tune to fellow parking protestors, complaining that he’s tired of running late to class and finding tickets on his windshield.

He was one of the many students protesting the lack of parking on the Free Speech Lawn on Oct. 13.

At the protest, graduate student Neil Parsont and senior Dustin Balmuth, creators of the T-shirt protest, gave away free shirts saying “Ten Top Reasons Why I’m Late For Class” with slots 1 to 10 saying “FAU parking.”

Originally, the shirts were sold for $9, then brought down to $7 in the first two weeks of sales, but during the protest they were handed out for free.

Parsont arranged a stage setup, loudspeakers and a microphone for students to come up to speak their minds about parking and to propose solutions to alleviate the problem.

“How many want to know where our money is going?” screamed Parsont, a finance major, during the protest.

In response, J. D., an English instructor, got on the mic and voiced his opinion.

“We pay $130.28 for parking, and I have to park in the garage,” explained J. D.

Parsont explained that not only students are upset about the situation, but also faculty and staff, who pay “double for parking permits,” yet have fewer parking spots.

Although many students showed their aggravation with parking, some were upset about the actual protest.

“We can all make a scene saying ‘I’m so mad at FAU for giving me a ticket,'” explained Mark Thurman, a senior public communication major, “but that’s not going to get anything done. I think [students] need to get together a parking committee to find out what’s going on.”

Other students got on stage to propose solutions for FAU parking.

Jackie Waldman and Monique Jemini claimed they’re doing a semester-long project on the parking problem for one of their classes. They suggested that valet or preferred parking would fix the issue.

“We propose to have either the first two rows of each parking lot or the first two levels of each garage for preferred parking for anyone who wants to pay an increased fee,” explained Jackie Waldman, a senior communication major. “Basically what this would [do] in the long run [is] raise money for new parking structures and lots.”

Parsont and Balmuth originally planned to sell T-shirts to raise money to donate to FAU for construction of additional parking. Both students put forward $1,000 of their own money to organize the protest and make the T-shirts.

They were able to sell about 70 shirts during the first two weeks of sales.

Although not everything went according to plan, some things did end up working to their advantage. The Palm Beach Post, the Sun-Sentinel, and TV news stations Channel 25 and Channel 5 all attended the protest to cover the event.

Parsont and Balmuth feel that making a statement and organizing a protest is only the beginning in finding a solution. They hope FAU will recognize the seriousness of the problem and come up with more parking.

“[Parking] has been a problem for a while, but at some point there needs to be something done,” said Parsont.