Does Siena Even Care?

Does Siena even follow its own regulations?

There’s a huge problem on campus, and it has to deal with commuter parking. Let me tell you, it’s a struggle to find a spot at 10:30 a.m. Foy’s parking lot is almost always full, spare the few lucky ones that find the few empty spots. Believe me, we all pull in hoping we’ll be that lucky one.

But that’s not all. Pick any parking lot, I dare you. Count the number of staff and faculty parked between two white lines.

It’s a lot, isn’t it? You will be amazed how many you’ll find hidden between commuter students’ cars, especially behind Roger Bacon. Some do not even bother trying to hide it: parking in hoards, blocking off large sections meant for us students.

An anonymous Siena sophomore states, “Every time I pull into the student parking lots, there are resident students and staff parking where commuters park. I’ve had to park near Thompson Trail on multiple occasions. I know people can park anywhere, but it’s frustrating to battle for a parking space after a long commute. I shouldn’t have to do that – no one should.”

To drive home my point, I counted nine open faculty spots (designated by yellow lines) just behind Roger Bacon alone on a single day around 10:30 a.m. That same day, same time, I found six faulty cars (the ones with the yellow tag hanging from their mirrors) in the row I parked in alone. Another day, I found 19 cars in student parking just on one half of the parking lot while I was walking. Why didn’t they park between yellow lines? It would not have been hard to find one. Not to forget the other commuter rows filled with dozens of staff and faculty that I couldn’t see without walking through the rows.

Let me remind you of Siena’s Public Safety issues instructions detailing where you can park and where you cannot when you receive your permit. I’m sure it is the same for faculty, but if it isn’t, allow me to pull it from the Siena College’s Parking and Traffic Regulations handbook: “Parking spaces are color coded. White lines spaces are for Students and Visitors. Yellow lined spaces are for Faculty and Staff. Students and employees must park between the proper colored lines for their designation…Parking tickets for violations will be issued based on the line colored even in the event there is no sign posting such regulations.”

So, where are the parking tickets for staff and faculty violations, Public Safety? Where’s the regulation for parking, or has it become a free-for-all?

Is a student allowed to park in Staff and Faculty parking for every staff or faculty member parked in one of ours? Say, an eye for an eye? A parking spot for a parking spot?

It seems only fair. “If they are parking in student spots they should be penalized just as students would be. It should be fair both ways,” Brandon Smith ’21 said.

Miles Reid ’21 emphasizes, “They shouldn’t be able to park in ours if we can’t park in theirs.”

If Public Safety is ignoring this problem, which makes the lives of commuters harder than it needs to be, why should commuters be punished? Why aren’t the parking lots on a basis of first come, first serve? It seems staff and faculty have already made it that way. Isn’t it about time students join in on the game without the threat of a parking violation from Public Safety? Where’s the justice for students? Where’s the equality among parking spots?

Case in point: it is hard enough already to find a parking spot on campus, and having staff and faculty in our parking spots does not make it any easier. Parking is a priority, whether Siena needs to spend the money for a parking garage or more parking lots is up to them, but it’s Public Safety’s job to enforce that teachers and faculty are not taking up valuable commuter spots. Remind and remove staff and faculty from our spots until we can park in theirs without the threat of a ticket. It should not always be the students walking the farthest distance to class, especially when a parking spot would have been available if a staff or faculty member had just parked between yellow lines.

Why have rules and regulations if no one is willing to enforce them on everyone but a select group of people?

It’s time to change, Siena. Your commuters are students too and we would like our parking spots back.