fyi… the following letter was sent to Phyllis Bebko, Director of Campus Operations & Planning, Ft. Lauderdale campus, regarding student parking issues.

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January 22, 2004

Dear Dr. Bebko,

I am writing to express my strong dissaproval regarding the recent changes in student parking at FAU’s Downtown Ft. Laudedale campus. Over the holidays, the University stripped away half of the parking spaces available to students in the street-level parking lot and restricted them for faculty use. While finding a parking lot space was hardly a joy before the change, it is nearly iimpossible now.

Moreover, these former student spaces have merely had their “bumpers” painted red, with no additional signage advising students that they are no longer allowed to park there. As a result, I have witnessed many students continuing to park in those spaces, unaware of their change in status, only to be ticketed by your overzealous security guards.

I would like to point out that in other institutions, the customer or client is always given consideration over the employee. I remember for instance having to park at the far end of the parking lot when I worked at Publix as a kid so that the customers could park in the more convenient lots closer to the store. Less the University forget, your students are your customers, and we pay the salaries of your employees. It would do FAU well to learn the lessons in customer service that I learned at the age of 15 at Publix.

What makes this all the more egregious is that not long after a sizable increase in the cost of parking decals, students have been put in the position of having to pay more for less parking. At this point, it would not suprise me to drive into campus one day to find all of the faculty parking lots filled with red corvettes financed by our tuition, which as we all know does not require an enormous stretch of the imagination.

I write to ask that the University strongly reconsider its position regarding the elimination of student parking as soon as possible so that your tuition-paying customers can make it to class on time.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,Javier BetancourtFAU MURP student

cc: Joyanne Stephens, Ph.D., VP Broward Campus Ancel Pratt III, Student Body President, FAU Student Government Association University Press, student newspaper