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Parking Rules Clear, Perhaps Not Fair
By Katie Fish ‘09
STAFF WRITER

With 1,500 parking tickets already given this year, and an average annual ticket revenue of $35,000, many students feel that there are not enough available parking spaces on campus.

Currently only 400 of the 740 spaces on campus are allocated to students. Yet, with 432 registered student cars this year, there is a shortage of spaces. Why only 400 spots for students? Has the college ever had 300 visitors to fill the extra spaces? Why not convert some of the other 340 into student spots instead of adding a new parking lot?

Chief Neal of Campus Police explains that “as the college continues to grow, more students bring cars to campus each year.” And although the parking situation and fees have been revised as recently as November to meet these growing needs, it isn't known when the current policies were put in place.

Jessica Cornelison '09 comments, “I've never seen all of the extra parking spaces full before. Students should be able to park in them.”

Contrary to the rumors about quotas and Campus Safety wanting a new Jeep, SBC Police doesn't receive any of the money collected from tickets.

So where does all that money go? Paul Davies, the VP for Finance and Administration, says that it goes into a general fund that supports “everything from salary to student activities,” but that “our goal is not to generate money.”

A committee composed of Davies, Neal, faculty, staff, and a student representative nominated by SGA, has been working on the issue as recently as November 6th, according to Davies, and we may see more student parking spaces as soon as the fall.

The student representative this year is Meg Hammock '08, who says “We actually started choosing places where parking could go for students. We looked in particular at the big field behind Prothro. It's in the works. We're pushing pretty hard.”

One solution may be permitting students to park in more of the pre-existing spaces on campus.

“I'm not sure how effective putting in more parking would be, but they just need to be a bit more understanding,” says Melanie Sullivan '09.

Hammock advises action. “The more that students talk and get involved, the more the administration is going to get involved about this, but in the meantime we just need to respect the rules that are in place.”

Chief Neal reminds students that tickets can be appealed and that currently only 2% are appealed. Campus safety (x6144) can be reached within five days after getting a ticket to see if you can save your money. About 50% of appeals are successful, Neal said.

Until the situation improves, it is easy to look up all of the parking rules on the Campus Safety website (www.police.sbc.edu). This website tells you where you can and cannot park.