Editor's note: "Since U Asked" needs questions to answer! Send your query about why things are at the University to insideuva@virginia.edu, or via messenger mail Since U Asked, Inside UVA, Booker House, Box 400229.

Q Why is it that University employees who park at University Hall are required to vacate the parking lots by 5:30 p.m. on the nights of home basketball games? I appreciate Parking and Transportation's attempts to help commuting employees with the Central Grounds shuttle implemented this fall, but I would like to understand the rationale for fining full-time employees when their jobs do not permit them to vacate their parking spaces before 5:30 p.m. Why aren't the basketball games moved to later in the evening?

-- Martha J. King, assistant editor, James Madison Papers

A We forwarded your question to Athletic Director Terry Holland and to Rebecca White, director of Parking and Transportation.

There are about 2,400 spaces around University Hall. Roughly half of them -- located on the north side of Massie Road -- are available to permit-holders at all times, even game nights, White said. The others must indeed be cleared by 5:30 p.m. to make way for basketball fans who pay a special premium for their close-in parking on game nights, she noted, but even this inconvenience is an improvement over the situation a few years ago, when those spaces were cleared by 8 a.m.

Many game times are set by television contracts, which provide a major source of revenue for the self-sufficient athletic department. Other game times are set mostly for the convenience of fans, many of whom travel from outside the area and would be less likely to attend if games started (and thus ended) much later.

Holland noted that the parking situation is a "huge public relations problem" on two fronts. Besides University employees who must vacate the lots before games, basketball fans also complain when they arrive to find the lots filled by the cars of people who work or live a mile away.

Unfortunately, you can expect parking conflicts to continue for the next few months, as the basketball season kicks into high gear. "P&T personnel will be on site at U-Hall throughout the day helping people find space," White said.