To the Editor:
Dartmouth College prides itself as an institution of higher learning that goes to great lengths to provide a high quality of life for its students. And, for the most part, I would agree with that assessment. There is, however, one glaring exception, and that is the parking situation on campus. As most of you know, approved parking on College grounds is almost non-existent, and exorbitant fines are levied as if there were no tomorrow. I could understand why the College would choose to assess fines for improper parking if there were abundant parking space on campus. But this is simply not the case.
I live in the River Cluster, which has a parking lot in proximity to it (Maxwell/Channing Cox) and plenty of space along the driveways in which students could park. In fact, many students do park there temporarily while they are in their rooms. It is all too often the case, however, that they find tickets on their cars when they retrun. I do not believe these students park there out of a wanton disregard for social order -- they simply do not want to walk 1.2 miles to A-lot. It seems utterly preposeterous to me that a college that has a 1.3 billion dollar endowment and charges $31,000 per year cannot provide adequate parking for its students.
I have to admit that this letter was motivated by my own personal experience. Yes, I was one of those unfortunate Riverites who happened to park my car in the wrong place at the wrong time. I know that many Dartmouth students share my sentiment, and I hope the College heeds our call and makes some effort to accomodate our parking needs.
