On Wednesday, Aug. 27, students, faculty and staff were informed of new changes in the parking policy, which were to take effect in the 2025-2026 school year. In a campus-wide email, Paul Menice, director of campus safety, summarized the new parking policies, which includes an increase in fines.
The policy changes mainly affect students’ access to certain parking lots and impose harsher fines on those who violate the new rules.
In a statement sent to The Student via email, Menice wrote that “The recent changes including increased fines and the revision of overnight parking in faculty/staff (F/S) lots were decisions made by the Parking Committee, which includes representatives from Facilities, Campus Safety, Environmental Health and Safety (EHS), and Student Affairs.”
Menice added in the statement that this change stemmed from the fact that “a significant number of students who parked overnight in F/S lots were not moving their vehicles by morning, which displaced employees who needed parking when arriving for work.”
Another concern was snow, with Menice noting in his statement that “in previous years, vehicles left in F/S lots during snowstorms created unsafe and unmanageable conditions, preventing facilities services from plowing effectively. These situations often create hazards for community members if ice and snow are not removed effectively.”
This year there has already been a significant amount of parking violations.
“Between August 28 and October 9, Campus Safety officers issued 676 tickets to faculty, staff, and student vehicles,” Menice wrote in the statement, “This prevents them from engaging with the community in other ways.”
The high volume of parking violations on campus prompted the increase in fines, with Menice noting, “This is the first fine increase in several years…we’ve made the difficult decision to increase fines in the hope that it will encourage better compliance and help keep our shared spaces safe and accessible for everyone.”
Fines for students using faculty/staff parking during the academic day increased from $30 to $50.
According to the same statement, “The money from parking fines goes toward college operations.”
The policy changes are not entirely punitive, however. The new 2025-2026 policy did see a continuation of the new parking option in the “St. Mary’s Lot” located behind Cuttenden Maintenance Center, easing the stress placed on student parking spaces.
Menice added in his statement that “The St. Mary’s lot is now available for use by any vehicle with a valid Bates parking permit. This offers approximately 100 parking spaces.”
