A car parks in Garage "C" last week. A 1992 senate resolution has created confusion over whether faculty are allowed to use student spots. photo by Stephanie Platt

A dispute concerning the interpretation of a parking resolution, and whether faculty may use student parking lots, has remained unresolved after the last meeting of the senate.

William Connett, chair of the senate Committee on Physical Facilities, said that until this fall, faculty were not ticketed for parking in student-designated lots. He said that recently complaints by faculty were brought to his attention and that since the last senate meeting ran long, the parking issue was not addressed.

Connett said that in 1992, a parking resolution was passed and accepted by the chancellor that eliminated the lot specific faculty parking assignments. He said that it was assumed then by faculty that because there would be times when faculty parking would be full, they would be allowed to park in student parking.

"It was realized at the time that they did this, the number of spots that were going to be in the faculty lots would not always be enough for the number of people who were faculty," Connett said.

Connett said with recent construction of the new Student Center, students began to complain about the lack of close parking spaces, as many were lost in the construction. He said that it was then that faculty parking in student lots began to be ticketed.

Connett said the 1992 resolution specifically states students may only park in student lots but does not read that faculty may not park in student lots. The resolution only states faculty and staff would be ticketed for parking illegally. He said the lack of specificity regarding faculty in student lots allowed for faculty to infer that it would be legal.

"[The resolution] says that people will park in their designated areas, and for years that was understood to mean that you should park in the lot that was of your sort . . . and if you were faculty parked in the student lot, you wouldn't get a ticket," Connett said, "because it was perceived that the student parking places were not as good as the faculty parking places and nobody would park there unless there was some reason that they couldn't park [in the faculty lots]."

Reinhard Schuster, vice-chancellor of Administrative Services, said that the senate resolution is open-ended in regard to whether faculty may park in student parking spaces. He said that although the senate passed a resolution, the rules for parking have not been changed.

"The effect was that the rules were never changed. The parking rules that accompany the annual permit that state where you can park," Schuster said, "were always specific. It said students park in student lots, faculty/staff park in their designated lots."

Schuster said that a student group brought to his attention that there were a number of faculty parked in student lots.

"We do ticket students in faculty/staff lots," Schuster said, "and it seems only fair that we ticket faculty and staff in student lots.

Jeanne Zarucchi, senate chair, said if faculty cannot find parking in the immediate vicinity of a classroom building, they should be allowed to park in any legal open space.

"It's not an issue of convenience," Zarucchi said. "What's at stake is the consequence of a faculty member not being able to make it to class on time. That situation disadvantages not only the faculty member but every student in the class."

Michael Rankins, vice-president of the Student Government Association, has been asked by the SGA to compose a letter to the senate expressing the views of the SGA in this regard.

"It is important for a faculty member to be on time to class; however, that does not permit for blatantly breaking the rules," Rankins said. "[If a student is late for class] their grade can be chopped as a result."

Rankins said in the letter that he will write to the senate, he may recommend some faculty parking be added in lots further from classes, where there is more space regularly available.

"Let them take the shuttle," Rankins said.