More than 13,400 violation tickets were given out throughout the year 2000 on campus, said Art Mitchell, police officer for the University Police Department.

As far as the number of tickets given out on a daily basis, there is no official record kept, he said.

“There is no daily tabulation kept,” Mitchell said. “One day an officer could give out 30 tickets and another day give only one out.”

Mitchell expressed disappointment with the high number of tickets given out in 2000. He said the officers do not enjoy writing tickets.

“We don’t like to write them anymore than people like to get them,” he said.

However, Mitchell said the $20 cost of a ticket for parking illegally is not as much of a concern to students as it was in years past.

“There was one lady (student) who was late for a class, and she parked in a staff parking lot,” he said. “I told her I would have to ticket her, and she said that was fine. She was more concerned about getting to class on time.”

With the low cost of tickets, more and more students are opting to pay the price of a ticket rather than walk to their classes, Mitchell said.

“People don’t want to walk,” he said. “In the stadium lot and Greek Court lot, there are always empty spots.”

The ample spots in those particular lots is typical and is nothing new, he said.

Underclassmen can park in any student lot on Thursdays because the stadium lot is closed for driver’s education classes. They also can park in any student lot on open house days and days of job fairs, Mitchell said.

He said with one third more cars on campus than 10 years ago, underclassmen can use those days to their advantage.

Although a car may be convenient to have access to, Mitchell said a smart underclassmen would not have a car at school at all.

“If you don’t have a car here, you don’t have to worry about things such as taking care of it or anything happening to it,” he said.