It is hard to miss him driving his white golf cart around SMU’s picturesque campus. Rain or shine, he always appears to be out and about. Sometimes he gives injured students rides to class, and other times he is hard at work reserving parking spots for special events. Richard Holloway is the man behind parking enforcement and SMU’s director of Parking Services.
“He’s the go to guy, he gets things done,” said Mark Rhodes, director of Parking and ID Card Services at SMU.
Rhodes turned to Holloway several years ago to take over leadership for parking enforcement after SMU’s Parking and ID Card Services took charge over parking enforcement. According to Rhodes, Holloway was without a doubt the man for the job.
“He brought knowledge to the project,” Rhodes said. “He knew what needed to be done and how to do it… He assembled the staff, hired everybody and trained them.”
Holloway originally came to work at SMU after his daughter, Jamie, was admitted to the university. James Caswell, former vice president of student affairs at SMU, who passed away in 2007, encouraged Holloway to come work at SMU in order to pay for Jamie’s tuition. Holloway took his advice-and never left. Much to his satisfaction, Holloway saw his daughter regularly during her four years at SMU.
“What I like about it here is you can’t walk 50 yards on this campus without seeing somebody you know-it’s small, it’s close,” Holloway said.
He started working at SMU in 2001 as a security guard at Meadows Museum. Holloway worked there for a year before going to work for the SMU Police Department in parking enforcement. SMU’s Parking and ID Card Services then took over parking enforcement several years ago. They outsourced the management to Universal Protection Services, Holloway’s present employer.
Holloway’s typical workday is between the hours of 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., but he usually stays longer. These days, he spends significantly less time writing parking citations.
” Compliance is better right now on this campus than it was ever before,” Holloway said.
According to Rhodes, the success of any parking program is a direct reflection of its enforcement program. He credits Holloway’s leadership to the decrease in citations around campus. He also said because of construction and the elimination of open parking, there are fewer spaces for people to violate. Holloway admits that he gets upset with students and they get upset with him.
“I don’t get mad at the kids, I appreciate them,” said Holloway. “Some of them I appreciate more than others, but they’re fun and they’re just as nice as could be.”
The parking patron likes to give kids a break. He thinks of his job as more than just teaching students where they can and cannot park; he teaches them responsibility.
“It’s not so much I teach it, they can see what will happen if they don’t,” Holloway said. “I like to think I was a part of that but I don’t like the aspect of teaching them by punishment.”
SMU graduate, John Bowden, can’t help but think of all the car tows and boots when he reflects back on his time at SMU.
“My freshman year I probably had seven or eight tows and probably 15 boots,” said Bowden. “I was just trying to park near my dorm.”
When asked if he knew Richard Holloway, Bowden replied yes and said he taught him to only park where allowed.
Mira Suarsana, SMU senior, didn’t have a car on campus until her sophomore year. However, she knew exactly who Holloway was since she first arrived at SMU. According to Suarsana, Holloway is undoubtedly a staple around campus.
Some of Holloway’s favorite times of the year are graduation and homecoming.
“There are so many nice people who have been through here,” said Holloway. “And it’s great to have people come back for homecoming and come back to the football games and be like ‘hey dick’–it’s just a good feeling… a good feeling. I love this place. Do I get mad every once in a while? Yeah I get mad, but it comes with the job.”
