Seniors woke up last Tuesday morning to find pink slips wedged between the doors of their cars, like presents waiting under the tree on Christmas morning. Happy holidays from Public Safety!
Actually, PSafe issued parking violations only to those seniors who had parked an unregistered vehicle in the driveway accompanying a woodframe house. Although the driveways on Fountain and Home Aves. seem private compared to the lots on Vine Street and at Hi/Low Rise, they are officially University property and fall under PSafe’s jurisdiction. So, we’re not going to argue against the annual $50 vehicle registration fee that each student, resident of Fountain Avenue or not, must pay. Rather, what we find troublesome is PSafe’s method of choice for “reminding” seniors that they, too, have to register their vehicles.
As mentioned above, it’s easy for seniors to consider their living spaces private—they live in individual houses, they put out trash and recycling according to Middletown’s weekly waste removal schedule—and they park in individual driveways. The University didn’t hesitate to remind seniors of all the other concerns that come with living in a house. Under the WesHome program, spearheaded by Physical Plant and the Campus Fire Safety Office, a University staff member adopts a woodframe and advises its student residents in how to use a stove without burning down the house, how to close a storm window and how to plunge a toilet.
Interestingly, in the absence of programs such as WesHome, senior residences would undergo more damage and the University would have more bills to pay. The ticketing of cars parked in driveways indicates the reverse: rather than reminding seniors of the mandatory registration and receiving $50 per student with a vehicle on campus, PSafe acted with hardly a warning, except for an e-mailed that was sent around August 25, reminding students to register their cars. Keep in mind, also, that PSafe officers sifted through the cars on Fountain Avenue at 6:30 a.m. It’s not likely that any students would be awake and outside at that hour, able to move their cars before receiving the fine.
We’re aware that, in the scheme of things, a $20 ticket isn’t much to complain about. Rather, we would like to emphasize the underhanded way in which PSafe handled the situation. Why not follow ResLife’s example, which recently sent out a reminder to seniors about what furniture may be kept outside on porches and what furniture must be kept inside. That reminder was delivered shortly before ResLife staff begins to inspect houses and fine violations. If the University doesn’t want to foster more unnecessary bad feelings between administration and students, it shouldn’t ticket inconspicuous violations without fair warning.
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