As I pulled into the “commuter” parking lot on the last snowy day I found something very odd. How did a car drive here with that much snow on its windshield. It looks like some of the other cars are plowed in. These are just some examples when you can tell that residents use the commuter parking lot.

I understand in a time of war that complaining about parking is tedious, yet for too many commuters this is a daily concern. We arrive for classes up to an hour before hand in order to get a spot — preferably in the north lot–and often we end up in the Hogan lot instead. I am not blaming all resident students by any means; there are just a select few that make the life of a commuter student a little more difficult.

I can sympathize with wanting your car closer then a mile away, yet to make certain students walk or hop on a shuttle to get to class is a little inconsiderate. A large percentage of the student body are commuters; this includes all seniors with the exception of the RA’s.

Let’s stop and think people: if you disrespect the commuter population now, in one or two years there will be a group of residents who take the spot you so desperately need in the rain or snow.

The administration is just as much to blame as the resident students who choose to break the rules. To my knowledge, there is currently no way of checking if a student is a resident or commuter on the day they register their car; security hopes for honesty. By the time an “illegal commuter” may be discovered it is too late to revoke the little orange tag on the vehicle’s rearview mirror. The only hope to catch the violators is by a snowstorm that points out that a car has been parked there overnight. When the snowstorm occurs security then takes action and tows cars away.

The problem would be temporarily fixed by making the north lot into a two-tiered parking garage. This idea has been mentioned by many commuters that I have talked to, aesthetically not much damage would be done to campus seeing as it would just level out with Mount Carmel Ave.

I don’t mean to sound down on resident students for the lack of respect towards the commuters, nor do I mean to tell security that we have a problem. However, as a man with one eye that had a cataract in it can see there’s a problem.