One problem many students face as they prepare for graduation is not those two credits they still have to finish or those books they checked out from McKeldin Library three years ago and still can’t find. The problem is that many students have outstanding parking tickets, and the university requires them to pay before they’re handed their diplomas. We would like to offer a new policy suggestion: Before any student parking permit fees or parking violation fines are raised, all university administrators must pay outstanding parking tickets.
The Diamondback disclosed recently that not only has Transportation Services Director David Allen voided several of his own tickets (which he said he paid this week), but he has also voided tickets for other university administrators. This news comes soon after Allen’s department proposed raising commuter permit fees by $17 and resident permit fees by $14. Transportation Services also proposed raising some violation fines from $20 to $75. It is difficult to understand why student increases are justified when well-paid administrators skirt financial responsibilities incurred when they break the rules.
Granted, certain jobs come with perks, and we’d be kidding ourselves if we believe most people in Allen’s position would not help out a friend by voiding a couple of tickets. But if Transportation Services really has an $800,000 budget hole it’s trying to plug, why would the department void any legitimate tickets at all? Those funds cannot be raised only on the backs of students, but that is what is happening de facto if only well-connected administrators can escape parking fines.
The Diamondback has not yet found an administrator who admits having Allen void his or her tickets, but we encourage those who had legitimate tickets voided to confess and move quickly to pay those fines (and with interest where applicable). The news that the Transportation Services director voids tickets for friends may not be a surprise, but it certainly is unwelcome. Administrators should be held to the same standards of the students they vow to serve. Before any final decision is made for parking permit and fine increases for next year, all administrators who have voided tickets should ‘fess up and pay up.
