Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

Many changes have been made to Western’s campus, including a new parking system that has left Western’s students with mixed opinions.

The director of Campus Public Safety, Rebecca Chiles, released an email on Sept. 17 which introduced Western students to a newly-established parking system. Under this new system, students will be required to buy parking permits as they have been in the past, except this time there is more than one permit option. The system is based around parking zones, with  “Zone 1” — zones with higher demand — or “Zone 2 — which are zones with lower demand — representing the type of permits that students can choose from. 

Students wanting to park in higher demand Zone 1 areas will pay $150 dollars for a resident permit, a considerably higher rate than those who prefer lower demand Zone 2 areas, with their permits costing half the price at $60. Non-resident permits for “Zone 1” will cost $125, with “Zone 2” permits remaining $60. New parking rules also include free parking between the hours of 6 pm-6am, making campus events more accessible for all students. 

The email cites affordability and community solidarity as reasons behind the change. Campus Public Safety was put in charge of parking just last year, according to Rebecca Chiles, who asserted that she was charged by President Fuller with coming up with a new strategy that would prioritize “affordability for our students.” 

After attending multiple conferences including a “parking and transportation summit at OSU in March” and “talking to other universities,” Chiles stated that they were forced to accept that Western was “in the dark ages” in terms of how they were executing parking. 

Regarding the process of approval for the now newly-implemented system, Chiles said that there is “a parking review committee… (with) students on that committee,” and that they “presented the whole entire concept to them with maps and zones and layouts … and it was unanimously accepted.” 

Despite approval from the committee, Chiles cited that there have been some “growing pains” and acknowledged that there has been some lashback from students, particularly regarding accessibility. To set matters to rest, Chiles admitted that, “maybe (she had) not done a good enough job talking about disabled parking,” and wanted to clarify that, “anyone who has a state-issued government placard … can buy the cheapest permit and be able to park in any of the zones on campus.”

Chiles also expressed some frustration that there is an overall lack of understanding of the system, despite the university’s and Campus Public Safety’s best efforts to keep students informed. 

“We added a new thing on Portal this year where, to get your permit, you have to click that you have read the rules and regulations,” said Chiles, who also mentioned a brochure attached to the permit with the same information that she says often gets ignored. “We wish people would educate themselves with the materials that we have provided for them.” 

The consequences of ignoring such information can be huge, Chiles stressed. “You can get a citation… if you get enough citations, your car can get booted.” However, Chiles also encouraged students to know their rights and “take part in the appeal process” should they “believe something (has) happened unfairly.”

In the future, Chiles divulges that she would like to see the use of pay-stations on campus. She believes they would be helpful in cutting down the time spent on getting “permits for every single visitor” in a large group, something that they have to do every day. 

For the full Q&A, visit wou.edu/westernhowl

To read the full parking rules and regulations, refer to https://dev.wou.edu/safety/parking-services/parking-brochure/. 

To contact Parking Services, call 503-838-8267.

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo by Caity Healy