Many students complain about having to pay their parking tickets.  One UAF student is taking his case to the Alaska Superior Court.

Keane-Alexander Crawford has asked the court to hear his case concerning two UAF parking violations.  The first is for blocking a driveway, the second, for failing to display his decal.  The second citation, officially designated as "depriving the university of funds," carries a fine of $60.

He originally appealed to Parking Services; those appeals were denied. 

His latest appeal, filed March 18 before the 4th District of the Superior Court, alleged that Parking Services did not allow Crawford "reasonable due process."

"When you're given a ticket, that's it, you're guilty," Crawford said.  "It's really just bullying and scare tactics."

Crawford, who is in his first year at UAF, feels the system needs to be changed. 

"They should give you a hearing before an unbiased body.  They need to have a hearing where you can cross examine the witnesses against you."

Under the current system, once a parking citation is issued a person has 14 days to submit a written appeal to Parking Services.  Within 30 days, the Parking Services manager, or a designee, must return a decision.

"We get a lot of frivolous appeals," said Bill Childress, Parking Services manager, who was advised by University Counsel not to discuss the specifics of Crawford's case. 

Many appellants, Childress said, admit that the citation is valid but want an exception based on some technicality or other trivial excuse.  Those cases are generally denied.

Even so, Childress said, "we do grant many of those first-level appeals," dismissing the charges or changing the citation to a warning.

If denied, a person can appeal that decision to the Parking Appeals Committee, a three-person ad hoc panel which is supposed to be made up of one member each from UAF administration, UAF faculty, and the student body.  This committee, again, has 30 days to review the case.

Crawford's appeal to the Superior Court complains that the Parking Appeals Committee doesn't hold proper proceedings.  He sees the PAC as a faceless body that hides behind ambiguous letters and final decisions.

The letter he received from the PAC, denying his appeal, had no signature or even the names of the individuals who came to the decision.

"I don't even know if the Parking Appeals Committee exists," Crawford said.

"It's like this mythical group," said Thom Walker, president of the Associated Students of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

"We should know who's on the body that's judging our case," Walker said, "judges and juries don't hide."

Childress doesn't see the PAC as mysterious as all that.  The committee is made up of members from the Chancellor's Parking and Transportation Subcommittee.  The current members are Kevin Huddy, director of Residence Life; Shirish Patil, a professor of mineral engineering; and Timothy Bauer, the Business Office manager.

As an ad hoc committee, Childress said, the PAC does not hold regular meetings, but rather communicates electronically whenever an issue needs to be discussed.

There is currently no student on the committee.  Childress said this is because ASUAF hasn't filled the two student positions in the Parking and Transportation Subcommittee.  Bauer is temporarily sitting in as the student representative.

Crawford, who plans to attend law school in California next year, will be acting as his own attorney for this case. 

"It's really not that hard," Crawford said of the courtroom procedures.

This is not the first case Crawford has taken before the courts.  He won two small claims cases a few years ago. Currently he has two cases pending before the Alaska Supreme Court, another one pending before the Alaska Superior Court and a case in Federal Court against John Ashcroft and the department of defense.

Crawford's only goal, he said, is to create a more sensible appeals process.  He has offered the university an out-of-court settlement whereby the tickets will be dismissed in return for Crawford helping them rewrite their ticketing and appeals policies.

The university's General Counsel has not yet responded to Crawford's offer.

Crawford insists his case is not about the money, but rather changing what he sees as a flawed and biased system.

"That's how you fix the system," Crawford said, "if more people complain then it will eventually be fixed."

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