Imagine the parking situation on campus if Campus Parking Services was not watching over our shoulders. It’d be chaos – well, at least more so than it is now.

Whether or not we want to admit it, we need Campus Parking Services to provide us with as much order as possible when we’re trying to slide into our respective white-lined slots. Thanks to those little joy-filled pink envelopes tucked under our wiper blades, they do a pretty good job of it too. Sometimes it’s a little too good.

Allow me to set the scene. It was two Fridays ago, a chilly and overcast spring day. I had plans to attend a Bible study held at the lagoon, and immediately after that had to return to my dorm. To save the time of a cross-campus hike, I decided to drive and park in the lot by the lagoon so I could return to my dorm in time.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, when I left the lagoon what did I find on my window, but a $40 fine from Campus Parking Services. Only half the lot is lagoon parking. In my hurry I neglected to notice the other half, the one I parked in, was blue/yellow permit parking until 7 p.m. My orange sticker didn’t cut it.

Obviously, it was my fault. I was in the wrong lot. But the situation just gets a little dicey after considering a few more things. It was about 5:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, just over an hour away from the lot opening to everyone. Also, the lot was nearly empty, holding only my car and perhaps six other people’s vehicles. In no way was there a concern of the lot filling to capacity.

Even my job at the Star has gotten me into trouble with parking. I was attending a meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and was coming from the DeKalb Public Library. As before, I had no time to return to the dorm lots nor quarters to waste in the parking meters. I took my chances, and once again, a beautiful pink envelope in a nearly empty lot, half an hour from its opening to everyone.

Like I said earlier, technically I was in the wrong. I deserved that ticket according to the rules, and I paid the price. But maybe instead of being so strict, situations could be accounted for when deciding whether to issue a ticket or not. I know many other similar situations have occurred, and I’m sure students would be happy to comply with the rules if it weren’t for contingencies we can’t always plan on. Of course, Campus Parking Services provides an appeal process for extenuating circumstances, but students have to weigh whether or not it’s worth the trouble.

I understand some of the advantages of having a zero tolerance policy with parking violations. It keeps us in line and every time someone wanders from that line, it helps increase the budget a little bit. Unfortunately, it seems the desire for order sometimes strays into an unnecessary ticket for us, even if we deserve it.