Public Safety cracks down on parking

Construction on Georgia College & State University campus has severely limited campus parking and finding a space is a major ordeal.

“Parking is going to be a problem for the foreseeable future, particularly with all the construction going on,” Ken Vance, Director of Public Safety said. “But I’ll say this, the students have been pretty good about it. We wrote them a letter when they got their decal that says, ‘look, it’s a hunting license – be patient and plan.’”

Public Safety and the Milledgeville Fire Department have been cracking
down on illegal parking Vance said. However, both groups understand
everyone’s concern.

“We have written a good number of tickets,” he said, “but we have gotten about 150 spaces back at the Centennial Center. When school started it was horrendous, but we got those spaces back the first week and that really helped.”

More students are using off-campus parking and taking advantage of the shuttle buses to get to campus. Buses are also running from the Ramada Inn, which has become the school’s second largest dorm.

“Our shuttle system is really doing business,” Vance said. “We even have people (non-residents) parking at the Ramada Inn and riding the buses.”

In other news, it has been relatively quiet around campus. However, five female students were caught with marijuana in the Adams residence hall and were expelled from the dorms, but for the most part students are behaving themselves.

“Kids will be kids away from home for the first time,” Vance said. “But
there has really been nothing of any consequence. The five students in Adams with marijuana, but that’s probably the biggest thing we’ve had.

“Crimewise, it’s been pretty uneventful. Students have done a good job when circumstances look like they are going somewhere wrong. I’m kind of amazed that we have gone this far without a major problem. My biggest fear is violent crime and so far we’ve not had anything out of the ordinary,” Vance said.

Even though our campus is relatively crime-free, Vance still has a
word of caution for new students.

“Use common sense,” he said. “Be aware of your surroundings. For
freshmen, you’re in a new place for the first time. Don’t try to go it alone.

Have someone go with you. We do have the SNAP(Student Night Auxiliary Patrol) program to escort people at night.”

Public Safety conducted daily fire drills for the first two weeks of class. The drills were conducted by the Milledgeville Fire Department as if there was a real fire.

“We do it better than anyone in the state and more of them,” Vance said. “Nobody in the university system does it like we do. When and if, God forbid, we ever have one, we’ll all know what to do.”

Vance said he is pleased with the state of Public Safety on campus.

“I wish I had something spicy to tell you, but I don’t, thankfully,” he
said. “It’s a credit to the kids and our officers.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 6 2002. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry