Parking has been in the forefront of Wichita State students’ minds for years.

The Sunflower can’t stop writing about it and students can’t stop complaining about it. The former probably has a lot to do with the latter.

But it seems like a running joke to administrators and other university officials at this point. Evidence of this includes the fact that a permanent on-campus solution has yet to be offered and the lot across 17th Street is sometimes closed for seemingly no good reason.

While the university did tweet the morning the lot was closed, it offered no reasoning or solution. It also wasn’t released until 8 a.m., which means many of the hundreds of students who park there were disappointed before they had a chance to read the tweet.

Campus parking isn’t just a “first-world problem” students should rub some gravel on — if they could find enough to park on in the first place. It’s an issue that has implications in campus safety, affordability and the schedules of thousands of students.

WSU needs to start treating parking with a different level of conscientiousness toward students who pay good money to attend classes. Simply sending an email blast the night before the lot closed — or at least offering a reason — would be a good start toward sending a message of, “We’re serious about this issue” toward frustrated students.

Until there is a solution for parking, students will continue to complain and the Sunflower will continue to report on the many issues that parking affects. If an issue has been an issue for years, it’s nothing to dismiss.

— For the editorial board, Jake Trease