Starting today, University Police will ticket cars without parking decals or with incorrectly placed decals.
Dr. Eugene Dial, dean of Student Life, said two of the biggest problems with decal placement are when students tape the decal to the inside of the window, and when the decal is in the wrong place.
“The problem with taping the decal inside the window instead of sticking it to the outside is that the tape will come off in the heat,” he said. “If they’re fixed on the outside, they aren’t going anywhere.”
Anyone with a decal must have it affixed to the outside of the right side of the rear window.
When a decal is on a different window or is on the left side of the rear window, a ticket will be issued.
“If they didn’t read the instructions before sticking it on and didn’t realize which side it belongs on, then all they have to do is go to University Police,” Dial said. “University Police will, at no charge, scrape the decal off and issue a replacement.”
He said the same holds true for people who have placed the decal on upside-down. However, a ticket will not be issued so long as the decal is on the right side.
Dial also said a major problem that he sees when people appeal tickets after they park a different car on campus.
“If the car doesn’t have a decal, it will be ticketed,” he said.
If anyone needs to use a different car, they should get a temporary pass from University Police. This is a sheet of paper which is placed on the dashboard.
“A lot of people say the problem is that they don’t have the time to get one, but if it takes longer than a minute, then I’d be surprised,” Dial said.
Visitors must obtain a temporary pass in order to avoid a ticket.
“In addition, anyone parking at the building in Houma for classes must have a parking decal,” Dial said. “A lot of people find that ridiculous, but the money from these decals is how we pay for road and parking lot repairs.”
He said the grass parking lot between Married Students’ Housing and Babington Residence Hall has been covered with gravel.
“We did it in expectation of having the Ayo Building up and running, which would increase the demand for parking spaces over there,” he said. “We had been hoping it would be ready for this semester, but now we’re going to try for the summer session.”
Dial said this was because of some minor details which were not done before a confirmation date for classes set by the University.
“We ended up going past the date, so now we’re hoping for the summer,” he said. “It’s like putting up a house — the big parts went up quickly, and it’s the little things that seem to be taking so long.”