Tuesday -July 15, 1997
O The Battalion
OPINION
nappealing to the masses
University parking officials waste students' time with citation appeals process
riwan
bong
lery.
he Department of Park
ing, Transit and Traffic
Services. Upon the mere
nention of this infamous bu-
eaucratic necessity, students
romall over Aggieland imme-
liately begin to contort their
aces into a half-whimpering
mage of sheer anxiety.
It’s obvious that certain
embers of the student body
;ither appreciate nor enjoy the
rerwhelming presence of PTTS officers
n campus.
However, some students have gone on
lerecord as saying that it is not the ticket
ley mind so much; they are more opposed
jthe attitude or set of circumstances under
jhich the citation was written.
These students would agree that hav-
igto be on the receiving end of one of
liese heavily publicized incidents and
lien accepting the punishment as-
;ned by a pre-determined fine sched-
le is insulting, indeed.
What is more disconcerting than the
cers who issue these citations, how-
|r, is the administrative appeals
irocess that ensures a fair and positive
mner to adjudicate any disputes be-
feen the student or predetermined
Ity party and the PTTS administra-
ion. Not to mention the fact that once
inaction against a student has been in
stigated by a PTTS official, a long and ar
duous process must begin if the student
wishes to contest the citation.
The fine issued must be paid before
my dispute will be considered, and the
student has no more an opportunity to
plead his or her case than a simple form
that must be submitted when paying the
fine in order to appeal.
The student is then notified by mail of
thedecision of the parking officers and is
only granted the opportunity to speak
personally on his or her behalf after re
ceiving word of the judgment. If by some
Columnist
Len Callaway
Junior journalism major
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whim a student was to prevail
over the fine, the refund would
simply be credited to his or her
fee statement.
A more appropriate course of
action might be to postpone any
financial penalty until the mat
ter is resolved. If the system was
to stay the same and a student
was to prevail on appeal, the
fine should be refunded in the
same form in which it was paid.
An even larger, and less often ex
plained, expense involved in the PTTS ap
peals process is the expense of students’
time. The appeals process is certainly not
a five-minute process, and the officers in
the field should consider that all students
have constraints on their time that must
be fulfilled. Once citations are put on stu
dents’ windshields, they can expect to
spend between three and ten hours fight
ing the charge if they feel that it is inap
propriate. At minimum wage, this equals
between $15.45 and $51.50 that PTTS
should be responsible for if the citation is
found to be without merit. If it is viable for
the students of Texas A&M to be financial
ly punished for oversights and mistakes,
the same standard should apply to PTTS.
The PTTS administration should con
sider asking officers to financially reim
burse its department for time spent adju
dicating citations that result in a dismissal.
This would encourage the use of warning
citations and allow for PTTS to show that it
is not the money-hungry revenue-induc
ing department students believe it to be.
The positions held by the officers and
support staff at PTTS are not enviable po
sitions to have, but as a group, they make
it worse on themselves by allowing a few
hateful and overly ambitious zealots to
prove a point to the student body by levy
ing fines against us — sometimes de
served, sometimes not. These people are
responsible for parking at the nation’s
third most populated university, a job for
which they should be lauded. Texas
A&M, however, has the single largest
campus, touting some 5,200 acres of
land. It would seem some common
ground could be reached between the
students, faculty and PTTS.
From the students’ point of view, the
most formidable opportunity to change
the operation of PTTS is to install some
system of checks and balances in the field.
Once a PTTS officer is in the field, it would
seem that this person has absolute author
ity to do anything he or she deems appro
priate. This ranges from the issuance of a
warning to having a vehicle towed. This is a
tremendous amount of power once an in
dividual considers the time ramifications
of attempting to rectify any punishment
handed down by a PTTS officer.
PTTS officers carry small computers
that keep up with license plate numbers
and chalk times to aid in the determina
tion of violations. These computers also
could be used to keep track of warnings
given to each tag or plate number. There
is no harm in issuing a warning from
time to time. A student would appreciate
the helpful advice, but the University will
miss the revenue that would have been
generated had a citation been issued.
PTTS Director Tom Williams said he
hopes “to automate the appeals system
so that some of the demands on stu
dents’ time could be lessened.” Williams
said he would like to see either several
terminals on campus in parking garages
or common areas, or he would like for
the system to be online so students
could deal with citations and appeals
from home, work, etc. PTTS already has
stationary staff at garages on campus
whose responsibilities could be added
to in order to make paying and/or ap
pealing citations more convenient. This
idea has the potential to be an excellent
new program and could make the lives
of students and visitors easier when
dealing with PTTS.
.(si'
1 1 n
s
P.T.T.S.
APPEALS
Students represent natural foundation of Texas A&M
rn/,
h
'here is nothing more natural than
the grass we walk upon and the
soil that holds it together. These
dements beautify the campus, adding
greenery to what some may deem an
overpowering presence of concrete and
. In a metaphorical manner, it is
dearly understood that stone buildings
University officials) are stronger than
tty amount of grass blades (students),
l»itpeople must realize that the abun-
fence of foliage (students) keeps the
University from falling apart.
Opinion Editor
James Francis
Junior English major
With the recent disclosure of minority enroll
ment figures for this year’s fall semester, many
people have begun to realize that Texas A&M
might be slowly losing its status as a university
for all cultures and nationalities. Although there
isno one person or ruling to blame for the drop
inminority enrollment, we must stop looking
Ipful fora scapegoat to take the fall, and start looking
lac forward to make the best out of the crop of stu
dents that have chosen to begin their college
arfareers here.
If an individual was to take a stroll on cam-
|the| pus, covering all sidewalks, observing all build
ings and noting every face that passes by, he or
!i she would see that there is more to the Univer-
ii sity than parties, getting good grades and grad-
difi uating into the real world. The grass on this
liap campus is not uniform in its growth. There are
green blades, brown blades that have been
ini) scorched by the sun, straight blades, curved
blades and even blades that have been cut in
half by lawn maintenance. This di
chotomy of grass makes up the stu
dent body, a group of individuals that
ranges from freshmen to seniors to
graduate students. But no matter how
different the blades may seem at first
glance, we must all understand that
everyone at A&M has the same goal: to
be happy with the life they have cho
sen. And the only way to reach this ac
complishment is for all students to
come together as a functional unit.
Enrollment figures for the fall se
mester report that the University might see a 30
percent drop in African-American enrollment
and a 15 percent decline in Hispanic enrollment.
Although these figures give us an approximate
idea of the types of faces we will and will not see
in the fall, figures are just numbers, not people. It
might seem sad to some students that their par
ticular culture is facing a decrease in enrollment,
but these same students must come to the fore
front of this situation and declare that they can
cope with what’s going on, and hopefully lend a
hand to help bring all students together.
Grass functions as a whole, not individual
blades that are out to dominate one another and
elect a supreme overseer. This should be the
same with the students who walk this campus.
This is not to say that students should stop being
individuals, but there is a part that lies in every
one of us which allows room for others to be
brought into the group circle.
A&M is only as good as we make it. If stu
dents constantly concentrate on the bad or un
fortunate things, such as the decline in minori
ty enrollment, soon everyone will begin to har
bor the belief that the University is not an
accommodating institution of education. This
school’s diversity in majors, programs and
classes is every bit as varied as the students
who attend. But while the University runs its
programs on a tight and organized schedule, it
seems that the students are falling behind in
their own attempt to unify.
Although the road students face in dealing
with racial unity and inner-struggle is a diffi
cult one to travel and maneuver upon, the solu
tion might be a simple one. If everyone stops
looking at numbers, statistics and percentages,
and starts viewing each other as equals in the
“student scope” of college life, things can begin
to change.
Students must come to understand, however,
that it takes more than one individual to com
plete this turnaround, although one person’s ac
tions can generate a following of thousands.
A great French painter by the name of George
Seurat created a masterpiece in his painting enti
tled, “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La
Grande Jatte.” Although it was created in the
nineteenth century, I think the message behind
his method of painting carries over into cen
turies to come, and it especially defines the criti
cal situation students find themselves in at A&M.
The painting was crafted using the tech
nique of Pointillism, a method which uses tiny
dots of color to create the painting. Up close,
an individual can discern all the specks of paint
used to form the painted images. From afar,
however, every pinpoint of color works togeth
er to blend into each other, producing a crisp,
grand-scale painting of brilliant light and in
tense hues. Recognized as Seurat’s greatest
achievement in the art society, this painting il
lustrates the harmonious endeavor all students
of A&M should seek.
We should stop looking so closely at the color
of skin and history of nationality that docu
ments an individual’s background. What we
should do is take a step back, look at the Uni
versity’s students from a distance and learn to
become the blueprints for building a better life
— a widespread patch of grass, diverse in its
shape, color and growth, but held together by
common roots.
To those students who worry that the drop in
minority enrollment might mean a “weeding
out of undesirables,” don’t let it get you down or
lead you to believe that the University is out to
get you. We, students of all races and nationali
ties, are all here in the same boat, simply trying
to keep our heads above water and oars rowing
in the same direction. Although some will leave
the boat and others will remain on the shore,
the group consensus should be for those who
stay at sea to work together in order to com
plete this fantastic journey of future unknowns.
In the end, the student population, which
covers the spectrum of any rainbow, must come
together to form a universal society of Aggies
walking hand in hand.
Biting off holyfields fae?
was uncivilized. iN\ sorry
for Not using a Knife
and fork...
IttJ
Mail Call
A&M should offer
what students need
In response to John Lemons’ July
14 column:
We look back upon ’ol army
days with fondness, yet Texas
A&M College was but a shadow
of the University that it has
evolved into today.
Currently, we have equality in
numbers among male and female
students, many different educa
tional avenues that can be pur
sued and a highly distinguished
faculty. Although our status as a
“world-class university” is debat
able, it is generally agreed upon
that we are moving toward a
common goal. Slamming the
door on a music major curricu
lum, however, would represent a
major step backward in our
aforementioned progresses.
Lemons’ basic argument is
that we should not branch into
the unknown, and stick with
what we are good at — the Col
leges of Engineering, Agriculture,
and Business for example. This is
the exact same attitude that has
plagued A&M for decades, hin
dering its progress and growth.
It is ironic that Lemons in
cludes the College of Business in
his argument. A business degree
was not offered when A&M was
founded in 1876.
Undoubtably, when plans for a
school of business were proposed,
many detractors said we should
stick to what we were good at of
fering. The Department of Busi
ness, however, has survived to be
come one of the preeminent
programs in the nation. Couldn’t
the Department of Music follow
this same path of success?
Lemons bolsters his argument
by stating that “obviously, few
Aggies are clamoring to become
music majors.” Obviously any
student interested in music will
avoid A&M like the plague. I ac
tually knew people in high
school who wished to attend
A&M but couldn’t because of the I
lack of a music program. Music
majors want to come to A&M.
Unfortunately, A&M has no in
terest in music majors.
A music major program at
A&M will not be an instant suc
cess. Much time, effort and mon-l
ey will be needed before its cred
ibility would be ascertained.
However, it can be done. Think
big, Lemons — students can
have it all.
Grant Williams
Class of’98
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