Public Safety, or glorified meter maids?

Author: DEB TENNEN '06

I have a great amount of respect for the role that Public Safety plays on our campus. But at Middlebury, I believe that they act more like meter maids than cops. In my experience, I have found that a student who parks his car in front of McCullough for 10 minutes at 8 a.m. on a Monday has committed a graver offense than a student who drinks underage. In the most recent edition of The Campus, the Public Safety Log stated that "between Jan. 3 and Jan. 22, the Department of Public Safety recorded 14 incidents of possession of alcohol by minors." I can't imagine that any student, faculty or staff on this campus honestly believes that in the course of almost three weeks, only 14 underage students were drinking. Yet, I would bet that in that same three-week period, five times as many parking tickets were given out to students.

It even seems as though Public Safety pays no attention to temporary clearances and authorizations that students have received for parking. Before beginning The Campus delivery route one morning last year, I specifically made a call to Public Safety and requested that I could park in undesignated spots for short periods of time while delivering the papers, an inquiry that they willingly granted-at least at the office. But when I returned to my car after being parked for three or four minutes at the Gifford gate, I had a $10 ticket awaiting me. Luckily, although it seemed unnecessarily bureaucratic, I was able to appeal this ticket. In an extreme case, a senior who had permission to park in spots closer to his dorm because of an injury, received so many unwarranted tickets that his car was towed and booted just before he was informed that he had lost on-campus parking privileges. Although this student reclaimed his privileges, he was forced to pay over $100 for the unjustifiable tickets. Last year, a different student submitted a 1,000 word appeal-that's twice as long as a Middlebury admissions essay-simply to ensure that he would not have to pay for a ticket claiming that he was parked outside of designated lines. Of course, at the time these lines were not visible under the layer of snow that, needless to say, had not been plowed well enough in the lot.

Now that parking tickets are added straight on to the tuition bill, their effect is even more removed. As more and more students find white slips of paper under their wipers every day, fewer and fewer are experiencing the repercussions. I am almost certain that any parent would rather have the school reinforcing their children's resolve to "just say no" than reminding their children that there is $10 fine if you park in the wrong direction in front of Painter. I am by no means encouraging Public Safety to step on the toes of social life on campus by giving out more citations and I also do not condone students parking illegally or in undesignated lots. However, I feel like something is wrong when an 18-year old can get drunk enough to be taken to Porter hospital while a Public Safety officer is on duty ensuring that there are no sophomores parking in senior lots.