Flashback
52 years ago
Parking fee generates more damage than dimes
Students arriving on campus in fall 1957 were greeted with a new 10-cent fee, payable each time they parked in a campus lot. Claude E. Puffer, then vice chancellor for business affairs, explained that the number of student cars was increasing faster than the university could afford to build more parking lots. He hoped the fee would encourage carpooling and use of public transportation.
Automatic gates were installed at lot entrances; however, to avoid traffic jams on main arteries, students deposited their dimes in the gates in order to leave, rather than enter, the parking lots. Faculty members were exempt from the parking fee and received keys to open the gate in a selected lot.
By January 1958, the administration threatened to increase the fee to 15 cents due to the “disappearance of gate arms.” On Jan. 10, Puffer announced that “all 17 campus parking gates were smashed early Wednesday morning.”
Students quickly banded together for “gate-pooling,” recognizing that at least two cars could exit each time a gate rose. Winter brought another problem: Gates frequently were disabled when snow got into the coin box slots. Students who had to use more than one dime to exit a lot could report to the Bursar’s Office and be “reimbursed immediately” with “no questions asked.”
By March, students could purchase parking permits for $12.50.
—Judith Adams-Volpe, University Libraries
Reader Comments