Lack of available parking at Brandeis has caused grief among commuter students, who are either forced to park illegally in undesignated areas or in distant lots.Eugenia Shlimovich '04, a commuter student, said she attempted to park in T-Lot, where she has a permit, but there are no available spots. She said she could either park in J Lot and be late for class or park illegally in a different lot and risk being ticketed.

"This is my third year holding a permit for T lot, but I have never seen such over crowding,and such over-zealous cops giving so many parking tickets," Shlimovich said.

Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan attributes lack of parking spaces to a number of reasons.

"There has been an increase in student enrollment and the construction on the Sachar Center," Callahan said.

Callahan said he officers checks parking lots daily and tickets illegally parked cars.

Shlimovich said construction is part of the parking problem. Shlimovich said that construction occurred last year too and spaces still seemed available.

"Last year, there was the same construction of the new Lemberg center and just as many students, yet there was always a place if not in T lot, in X lot, and I never had any problems finding a space on any day of the week, at any time," Shlimovich said.

T-Lot is a shared lot for faculty and commuter students. According to Callahan, when T- Lot is full, those with T-Lot parking permits are supposed to park in J Lot, which he says usually has 60-100 available spaces.

Shlimovich and others remain concerned about being late to class when having a to find another parking spot outside of their designated lot..

"One has to practically fist-fight someone for a space, unless you want to drive to J-lot and be late for class," Shlimovich said. "I feel I am involved in a Darwinian struggle for such a mundane thing as parking, which it seems is a problem easily solved by the always incompetent administration."

Other students agree and point to the hassle of parking in distant lots when closer parking is not available.

"It's a pain," graduate student Dan Greisokh said. "If you park in T-Lot, you really end up having to park in X-Lot and by the time you find a spot, you miss class. And for special events, T-Lot fills up and you have to park at the gym. In the winter it is even more of a pain."

Although Greisokh '03 had a parking permit when he was an undergraduate student at Brandeis.

He recalls receiving a lot of tickets as an undergraduate because he did not want to park far away. Greisokh agrees with some of Callahan's reasoning for why there are less spaces, but believes there are some others.

"It's nice to have a car because Brandeis is a nice, cozy place, but without a car it can be claustrophobic," Greisokh said. "People are also into having cars these days."

Callahan said when parking spots are unavailable, there are other available lots.

"I just think people don't want to park far away," Callahan said. "And I understand that, but there is a shuttle that runs from lots."

Shlimovich and Greisokh offer solutions to students' parking difficulties.

"Commuters need to park in T-lot because many of us live further away than walking distance," Shlimovich said. "Granted, building a parking garage is out of the question, but making X-lot a commuter lot certainly is not. There is no reason Ziv, Ridgewood and Village residents need such immediate access to their cars. They can park in J-Lot, and commuters can have enough space to park at any time of the day. "

Shlimovich also has advice for the administration.

"As long as Brandeis continues to brazenly allow people arriving for events like Brandeis Adult Learning Institute and Open House to park in T-lot instead of J-lot, students are being deprived of their valuable time looking for parking." Shlimovich said. "We shouldn't have to worry about parking when coming to Brandeis, it is the least of our concerns, yet it seems the administration doesn't care, and only aggravates the problem by viciously ticketing everyone parked illegally - maybe they need the extra revenue from parking tickets- or pleasantly telling someone at 9:55 a.m, who has class in Rabb at 10:10 a.m, to go park in J-lot"

Greisokh said he has one idea that he believes will solve parking problems he and other students have ever experienced.

"Make parking free and first-come-first-serve," Greisokh said. "This would solve the problem, which is the epitome of capitalism, and it would be like in regular cities, except without the meters. Basically, a Brandeis utopia.