For many upperclassmen students at Fairfield, the orange sheet on their windshield wiper indicating they’ve received a parking ticket has become all too familiar of a sight.

According to Mary Ann DeMasi, parking operations assistant for the Department of Public Safety, 974 tickets have already been administered this school year, which is less than two months young.

Many upperclassmen argue that this number is too high. These students are irritated that they are constantly being fined exorbitant amounts of money for parking in the wrong areas, simply because they can’t find anywhere else to park.

According to DeMasi, the primary reasons why students get parking tickets on campus are that they’ve parked in the wrong lot, or that they’ve neglected to pay the $120 fee to register their car with the university.

DeMasi firmly believes that the current parking system the university operates with is “the best system” that DPS has come up with yet.

She argues that, as long as students register their cars, they are guaranteed a parking spot in the lot near where they live, whether it be the Townhouses, Dolan Hall or the Village.

According to DeMasi, the only students who are required to park a ways away from their residence are those juniors who live in the village who must park in the Jogues or Regis Hall parking lots.

As long as students park their cars only in the sections that correspond with the color of the decal on their windshield, DeMasi said they won’t be ticketed. Failure to do so, however, will result in a ticket that’s unable to be appealed.

Junior Cristina Boyle feels as though DPS is too strict and petty when administering parking tickets.

“I think it’s crazy if you get a parking ticket for being one spot over from the student section,” Boyle said. “I can understand if you’re like 10 cars from there, but if you’re like one car over then it’s ridiculous.”

Freshman commuter Nashelly Aquino also feels that DPS should reevaluate their parking policies.

“We should be able to park anywhere on campus because some of the parking lots aren’t as convenient. Commuters should be able to park in the BCC parking lot because the commuter lounge is in the BCC, so it’s more convenient than parking behind Canisius,” Aquino said.

Aquino feels that doing so will “reduce the amount of parking tickets around the university.”

Junior Myles Reyes, however, has run into little trouble with DPS’s parking tickets, and doesn’t feel as though the tickets are administered unjustly.

“DPS has clearly mapped out the areas where students are and aren’t allowed to park, so there really shouldn’t be any discrepancies. If you park only in your designated area, then you won’t get ticketed,” Reyes said.

Fairfield is a pedestrian campus, so upperclassmen are not supposed to drive to their classes, even if they’re located on the opposite side of campus.

Assistant Director of Public Safety John Ritchie explains that this is a rule on campus because “this practice disrupts other community members.”

Many students additionally have questioned why sophomores aren’t able to have cars on campus, as many other schools allow this.

Ritchie feels as though this would be a reasonable addition to campus, however, “we [Fairfield] would struggle with finding adequate parking.”

Despite the numerous complaints DPS has received from students with cars on campus about their parking policies, DPS isn’t looking to make any adjustments in the near future.

“We in DPS would like to take this opportunity to thank the campus community for their understanding with the general parking rules and regulations on campus,” Ritchie stated.

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