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GVU senior and commuter, Emily Tavegia, arrived on campus for a rehearsal in the Viking Theatre and parked in the visitor lot. 

“There was no event going on or anything, the visitor lot was empty and normally they don’t ticket on the weekends, so I thought I’d park in front of the theatre,” said Tavegia. 

“I didn’t want to walk across campus at 8 p.m. alone because that’s not safe.” 

The parking ticket Tavegia received was timestamped 12:08 p.m., but she was only on campus during her rehearsal time: 5-8 p.m. 

Tavegia’s peers, who also had commuter stickers and were parked in the visitor lot at the same time, did not receive tickets. Tavegia was hesitant to go forward with the appeal process. 

“I don’t want to take the time out of my day when I know that so many people haven’t gotten their [tickets] appealed for valid reasons,” said Tavegia. 

As GVU students grapple with the ongoing parking ticket crisis, another issue has emerged – parking lot overcrowding. 

“The first week, it was really bad, to the point that I had to park on the street. All three lots were full,” said Tavegia. 

GVU sophomore and Langrock resident, Jenna Davenport, has also had negative experiences with overcrowded parking lots and parking tickets on campus. 

“The yellow lot has been overflowing since the beginning of the semester,” said Davenport. 

“When I went and got my yellow sticker, the lady was showing me where to park with a map of campus. She said, ‘If there is an occasion that this lot is full, this is where you can park,’ and pointed at the visitor and wellness lots.” 

When the yellow parking lot was full, Davenport parked where she was told to and received two tickets, one day after another. Davenport’s appeals were denied without explanation. 

“I explained that I was told the wrong thing,” Davenport said. “I wrote that on my appeal form, but they didn’t seem to care because it got denied.” 

GVU senior and L’s resident, Elizabeth Moore, also received two tickets within 24 hours. 

“It was the last couple days of summer before school started, right when our other parking passes expired,” said Moore. 

“I had been parking in the same spot all summer and the previous years before that. It’s my fourth year here, and usually, seniors can park in [the orange] part of the parking lot.” 

Moore’s appeals were denied because she had not received the proper decal yet. 

“It was $60.00 for just two tickets. I don’t make that much as a college student,” said Moore. 

“I think it’s pretty unreasonable to ask that much for a simple mistake like that.” 

Parking decals are not cheap. Orange and yellow residential passes cost $160 and green commuting passes cost $80. Orange parking decals are given on a first- come, first-served basis. 

At the beginning of the fall semester, Student Services ran out of orange decals, leaving many students without the parking decal that they had already paid for. Many of these students received tickets before receiving their decals. 

Most parking violations carry a $30.00 fine, with the exception of parking in a fire/handicapped lane, which carries a $100.00 fine. Many students do not have the excess funds to pay for a parking ticket. This is further complicated when the issue of parking lot overcrowding arises. 

It seems that there has been a pattern of conflicting information regarding parking policies on campus. 

Students are asking for clarification and transparency from Campus Security. 

“I’m concerned and confused about where we should park,” said Emily Tavegia. “I’ve been here a year and a half, and it has never been this bad.” 

The GVU campus would greatly benefit from a statement from Campus Security that outlines a consistent policy that can be spread and shared.