By Allison Cronk, Reporter.
A survey conducted by The Picket at Shepherd University showed that out of 184 students surveyed, 55% have been ticketed at least once this fall semester while parking on the SU campus as of Oct. 14.
SU students expressed frustration about excessive ticketing that they see as excessive from Shepherd University Campus Police and the Shepherdstown Police Department, along with a lack of parking spaces throughout campus.
Campus lot restrictions are enforced from 6 a.m.-4:30 p.m. during the academic week.
Students, both commuter and resident, have issues surrounding lack of leniency when it comes to getting ticketed.
“To the guy that gave me a ticket at 12:27 [pm] for my parking expiring at 12:25 [p.m.] I hope you fall off your scooter,” a student who wished to remain anonymous said.
One commuter student who wished to stay anonymous said, “The parking and ticketing situation is leading to extreme reactions from students, filled with loads of complaints and criticism.”
According to students, campus police ticket vehicles en masse. “I just watched 15+ cars get ticketed in a lot,” another student who wished to remain anonymous said.
Hundreds of cars have been ticketed by campus police and student ticketers. Although yearly parking decals at Shepherd are available for purchase at the Shepherd police office for $70, many students still receive tickets from parking in incorrect lots, fictitious parking spots, expired meters, etc.
The annual parking decal is for both resident and commuter students, who each have designated lots to park in. Residents have blue decals on their vehicles, while commuters have red.
When Picket Staff reached out to campus police about the parking decal issue, they declined to comment.
The police are unable to give numbers as a privacy violation, however many students have come forward to express their annoyance with the fines they must pay after being towed or ticketed. As the initial parking violation tickets usually cost about ten dollars, if paid in the following 10 days after the violation occurred, then $50 for any time after that.
Many students believe that the student ticketers have vendettas against certain cars or students. Student ticketers also declined to comment.
Students think the “parking police” as they like to call them, are being completely unreasonable and ticketing without leniency to students that have missed the parking meter by minutes.
However, some students are not surprised by the ticketing and towing that has taken place on campus. “Why are y’all so shocked that they [campus police] are towing cars that are parked in two spots or making up parking spots?” a student who wished to remain anonymous asked rhetorically.
Some students, however, are pleased with the strict parking enforcement.
“Glad they’re finally starting to do something about this. As a resident, I’ve been screwed over too many times by people who think that something gives them the right to our parking,” another anonymous student said.
Many cars can be seen parked in parts of the parking lot not designated with markers, which is a traffic violation. This makes parking unfair for other cars, as well as a dangerous situation for pedestrians in the parking lot.
Students may appeal a parking ticket if there may have been an error.
Editor’s note: All students who were interviewed for the reporting of this article wished to remain anonymous out of fear of repercussion from the university administration. As a student newspaper dedicated to free and accurate journalism, as well as giving the student voice its due platform, complied with their wishes.
Leave a Reply