There have been many complaints going around lately about parking on campus and tickets have been part of that conversation. The fine print on the parking tickets that are given to people who park on campus improperly states that the fine must be paid before an appeal can be made which does not sit well with some students The Johnsonian spoke with. Some students have reported that they’ve even received multiple tickets in one day and some in the course of two days.
We sat down with Winthrop University Police Department’s Interim Assistant Chief Charles S. Yearta in the Good Building and discussed parking on campus: where students, faculty and staff members could park and how to avoid tickets.
“There’s a bunch of misconceptions we’ve seen come to the forefront. The police department doesn’t have a say when it comes to changing rules and regulations. Those must be approved by senior leadership, president, Board of Trustees,” Yearta said. “Officers have been regulating and reallocating personnel getting more coverage because we’re getting those complaints more and more from students saying they can’t park where they’re supposed to because someone is illegally parked. We also have been getting this from faculty [and] staff and the university.”
The students getting tickets are unhappy because WUPD started reallocating personnel. Junior integrated marketing communication major Ryan Cohen said, “While parking is cheaper than many other universities, I think Winthrop needs to communicate policies better. As a junior, I’m just finding out that nobody aside from visitors are allowed to park in those [lots] regardless of the time. I think it’s a bit ridiculous as that may be the closest parking to where you need to go to, which is more so important at night. Also, I think after 5 p.m. anybody should park in faculty and staff. Not just people with tags. The faculty is gone.”
Yearta said that there have been a lot of mix–ups and misunderstandings when it comes to students and faculty/staff parking on campus. “The biggest [misconception] is this: Winthrop’s policy dictates that if you are a student — whether you’re taking one class or you’re auditing or full time — if you’re faculty [and] staff — which means you’re being paid from Winthrop University for something, could be five dollars [or] it could be part time work, all the way to the president’s office — if you work or are a student at Winthrop University, you must have a current, up–to–date parking pass to park on this campus at all times. That includes weekends, midnight, 2, 4, 6 a.m. That includes holidays. If you come on Christmas day when the university’s shut down, you will still need a parking pass. Technically, you must have a parking pass to park on this campus. There is a misconception amongst students and faculty [and] staff, that either on the weekends or after a certain time you don’t need a parking pass That’s not true. The university nor the Winthrop police department have changed any policies. The policies are the same as they were six years ago. The only thing that’s changed in that period of time, is that the price of the permit went up.”
There have also been many complains regarding the amount of student parking spaces the university has and why the ones that are allocated are very limited in terms of location to the campus. Sophomore exercise science major Demetria Murray said, “Parking in general is so limited, and yes, we’re a small university, but we have so many people who drive, and it’s unsafe that the only promised parking is [far] away from the university and unsafe since we are an open campus.”
Yerta also talked about visitors. “By definition [this] means true visitors: you’re not affiliated with the [university]. Lots of [commuter] students are saying, ‘I’m only coming to the campus for this one class or for a small amount of time, so I‘m a visitor.’ Technically if you want to park on campus, you need a parking pass. Winthrop color codes parking by colors: garnet [and] red is for faculty [and] staff, green is for visitors, white is for residents [and] students and blue is for the disabled [and] disability parking. White just means students but you’ve gotta pay attention to the area and the signs. There are some parking lots where it’s painted as white lines but only commutters or students can park there. You have to pay attention to the sign because some are a mixture of both. Some of the faculty [and] staff parking lots are either faculty [and] staff only or they say that students can park there after 5 p.m. Once again, you still need a parking permit to park in those lots”.
Yerta said that, “When individuals buy a permit by filling one out in person or online they check a box saying that I’m responsible for reading these procedures. We find now that most don’t, but you’re responsible for that. When coming onto campus from public roads, there is a sign that says that by coming onto campus you understand that we have the right to tow you for violations, etc. It’s the announcement saying that you are responsible for violations you make parking on campus. To make sure you’re in the right place, on the website is also a parking map. The map is also located in the Good Building lobby and some offices throughout the university that have them as handouts.”
The parking rules and regulations are located on the Winthrop police website. If you go to www. winthrop.edu/police, you’ll get the main page. On the left side there is a tab that says parking enforcement where Winthrop’s parking policies are listed.
Photo: Sam Ross/ The Johnsonian
Graphic courtesy of Winthrop University
