Written by Micah Lopin

Published on October 29, 2015

Could the reason professors are coming late to class be because of their students?  Beverly Salzman, Lecturer of Psychology at Housatonic, thinks so.  

New parking regulations allow security the permission and authority to have any student’s car that is parked in faculty parking towed. There have always been rules about student and faculty parking, but they have been overlooked.

There are 190 full time employees at Housatonic and 219 parking spots for them, according to Christopher Gough, who has been director of public safety at Housatonic for 14 years. Theoretically there should be enough parking for the faculty without any difficulty. Yet they still have trouble finding spots sometimes. Professors are tired of searching for a parking spot when they should not have to.

“If faculty cannot get a space an entire class starts late. Many staff are adjuncts and run from school to school to teach and earn a living. They cannot spend endless time looking for a space or fighting to get out of the garage,” Salzman says.

So why does she think students are using faculty parking?  Salzman replied, “Two thoughts. One is laziness to drive high up and then it takes a long time to get out of the garage. Some are using parents’ parking passes who work at the school.”

The faculty parking is very convenient. As soon as you drive into the parking garage instead of turning right for regular student and visitor parking you drive straight. However, you do have to make it past two security officers during busy time. There are speed limit signs posted in the garage, but Gough confirmed that the speed limit is 5 mph also adding that during busy times you are not even going that fast.

According to the application for a parking permit, posted on the school website, “Any student vehicle found parked in the faculty or staff parking area will be ticketed and is subject to tow.” However, Gough said,“There is no towing policy for the garage. Violators are issued a paper warning that is logged, and habitual offenders can end up losing parking privileges.”

So which source is true and what do students believe?

When asked about the towing penalty for a parking permit, Gough answered, “That is an error. We are working on clearing that out.”