Written by Ritsuki Miyazaki

Parking issues on campus continue to rise as students take advantage of disabled parking spaces on campus.

According to the VSU Parking Department, there are a total of 6,063 parking spaces on campus. 4,337 spots are designated for students, and 184 are designated as disabled parking spaces.

To park in the disabled parking spots, students are required to have a State of Georgia authorized tag or hanger which they can get from the Georgia Department of Driver Services. Once they obtain a valid disabled permit in their name, they need to register that parking permit with the VSU Parking Department.

“It is unlawful, and we feel that it is not right for individuals to abuse disabled parking,” Anthony L. Bryant, assistant director of the VSU Parking and Transportation Department, said. “Violators of disabled parking on campus will be ticketed accordingly.”

State citations can also be issued by the VSU Police Department. Violators are subject to having their parking permit confiscated and losing parking privileges on campus along with a minimum fine of $100.

“I’m pretty sure whoever [misuses] disabled parking permits are students that live on campus, and they are affected by the parking spot situation,” Marsallis Ponder, a freshman engineering major, said. “I feel like if [the VSU Parking Department] would help us more, the problem would not be big as it is.”

Ponder lives in Georgia Hall and usually parks his car in the Oak Street Parking Lot. He feels that the parking department caters more to off-campus students than on-campus students.

According to the statistics on the VSU Parking and Transportation Department website, there were 13,089 students enrolled for the fall 2012 semester. Out of the 7,668 permits issued, 6,383 were for students, and although there is no exact number reported, Bryant said that there were about 50 registered disabled permits that semester.

“I feel like we have too many disabled parking spots all over the campus, especially in front of Hopper.” Taylor E. Asbury, a senior speech communications major, said.

Bryant also mentioned that abuse of disabled parking permits happens every semester and VSU Parking and Transportation will continue to enforce parking regulations in regards to parking in disabled parking spaces without appropriate or valid parking permits.