The Department of Public Safety hands out between 24,000 and 35,000 tickets every year for cars improperly parked on campus. This does not include the tickets written by the city of Eugene for cars parked in the campus area.
DPS publishes a guide to parking regulations on campus titled “Solving the Parking Puzzle.” The 11-page guide is available at the DPS office in Straub Hall and online at safetyweb.uoregon. edu/parking/rules.htm.
“It is an individual’s responsibility to know the rules and regulations for driving and parking on the U of O campus,” DPS Parking Manager Rand Stamm said. “We will be happy to provide them with any and all information. But ultimately, it’s their responsibility to know it.”
When Stamm came to the University in 1985, the guidelines were printed in a tri-fold brochure. Since then, he has helped develop the publication into a full booklet in order to convey more information more clearly, he said.
“Probably the largest number of citations issued in a given year is for over-timed parking in a metered area,” Stamm said.
One continual frustration of many students is the relatively scarce supply of parking spaces available on and around campus.
“Basically, the University owns or controls just over 3,300 total parking spaces,” Stamm said. “We further rent from the city of Eugene 200-some meters you can use our permit at.”
Over the course of a year, DPS sells between 6,500 and 7,000 total permits.
Even though not everybody who purchases a permit is on campus at the same time, this ratio of permits to parking spaces still leaves the supply of parking spaces stretched thin, Stamm said.
“If you don’t absolutely have to drive, don’t,” he said.
Stamm, who rides the bus, said DPS deliberately crafts its policy to discourage driving and encourage the use of alternative transportation. This is part of a larger effort by the University to promote alternative transportation, he said.
“The University’s policy and their long-range plan is to encourage the environmental and social advantages of alternative transportation.”
Those who feel that they’ve received citations in error or that extenuating circumstances may invalidate their citations can appeal their citations in writing or through the DPS Web site. The booklet published by DPS details the process.
“The petitions officer and the appeals board are both independent from DPS,” Stamm said. This is to avoid conflicts of interest and ensure a fair hearing, he said.
The booklet also outlines the process for replacing a permit that is stolen.
“That is a greater or lesser problem depending on the manufacturer of the permits.”
The permits are manufactured by the lowest bidder. DPS requires that the permits be made so that they can go on in one piece but cannot come off in one piece. In the past, some manufacturers have not followed DPS those specifications, allowing thieves to scrape off the permits and put them on other cars.
“This year our manufacturer is one we’ve used before,” Stamm said. Stamm said he does not expect this year’s permits to be vulnerable to theft.
An insert in the current edition of the brochure addresses the issue of broken meters. It is a violation to park at a meter that is malfunctioning.
“There’s a sticker on each meter that tells you what to do when the meter is broken,” Stamm said. “Quite often, they are forcefully malfunctioned.”
A broken car must be reported to DPS at once and removed from campus within 48 hours.
“The University’s policy is that you don’t leave a broken-down vehicle on campus,” Stamm said.
This is because such cars are targets for theft and take up all-too-scarce parking spaces.

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