In response to complaints from Eickhoff Hall residents, Campus Police ticketed cars without decals parked in the Eickhoff parking deck. This action was taken on Sept. 2 despite the fact that ticking for lack of a valid decal officially began Sept. 5.
Matthew Santos, senior elementary education/psychology major, is a Community Advisor in Eickhoff. While on duty Sept. 2, a resident informed him that Campus Police was issuing tickets in the Eickhoff parking deck.
He went to go check if his car had a ticket and saw that he had been issued a $50 fine. While in the parking deck, he noticed the only cars with tickets were those that were parked correctly but didn't have a parking decal.
"The only people who had tickets were people who did not have the decals on their car," he said. "This made no sense because Parking Services said that ticketing for lack of valid decal would not happen until (Sept. 5)."
Although Santos noticed that the 10 to 12 cars with tickets all lacked a decal, the actual tickets were for "improper parking." All of the cars that were ticketed without parking decals had the same thing written on the tickets.
"Campus Police only ticketed people without decals," Santos said. "People in the Eickhoff deck (were ticketed) for improper parking even though they parked fine."
The next day, Sept. 3, Santos put in paperwork to appeal his ticket and attended an appeal meeting on Oct. 4. The appeal board told him that Campus Police could not ticket for lack of a decal, so they must have ticketed for something else instead.
Because Santos attended the appeal meeting in person, the appeals board took his fine away; he was able to explain that the ticket was not for "improper parking," as the ticket said.
The tickets were issued by Officer Michael Lukosius. Although Campus Police did not attend the appeal meeting, Santos called them. He was told residents were complaining that the Eickhoff lot gate was open and that the lot was full.
As of press time, Lukosius was not available to comment.
"(Campus Police) said (it) got complaints and had to do something about it," Santos said.
The Eickhoff lot only has about 100 spaces, but Eickhoff Hall has about 200 residents, Santos said. Residents must sign up early to get into this lot. Since the gate was open prior to Sept. 5, the lot was full for the entire week.
Christine Ng, junior secondary education/pyschology major, also recieved a ticket on Sept 2. She saw the ticket as she was about to drive home for the weekend.
"The issue with ticketing is that Campus Police ticketed for the incorrect offense," Santos said.
"It's pretty unfair because (Campus Police) sent out an e-mail earlier in the summer saying (it) wouldn't ticket until Sept. 5," Ng said. "(It) should have stayed with what (it) originally wrote in that e-mail."
