Correction Appended
As recently highlighted by The Eagle, parking has become a financial burden for the AU community. Many have resorted to creative measures, going extra lengths to find secret hiding spots to avoid ticketing. However, few of these tactics have proven successful.
AU’s subcontracted employees find the parking issue equally frustrating, if not more so. In frequent tutoring sessions with Aramark workers, the exorbitant price of parking has been a prevalent topic of discussion. Many complained specifically about the high costs of on-campus parking and mentioned their dismay at finding tickets on their windows when they parked in the neighborhoods. Some even obtained permission to park at nearby churches, but were ticketed anyway under AU’s “Good Neighbor Policy.”
AU’s Good Neighbor Policy states that “all members of the University Community including students, faculty, staff, visitors and guests – are required to park on campus and obtain a parking permit, purchase hourly/daily parking using the Pay-As-You-Go machines, or to use public transportation. Compliance with the Good Neighbor Policy is a condition of enrollment and/or employment at American University.”
Certainly, this policy has some merits, as it should come as no surprise that AU finds it necessary to get along with its neighbors. However, this policy is not known to all workers. In fact, the policy brochures available have not yet been fully translated into Spanish.
Clearly, AU is enforcing policies and prices that are too burdensome for the workers’ paychecks. A majority of the Aramark employees have been with the University for 20 years. During their two decades of service they have watched the prices of parking permits more than double. Currently, the purchase of on-campus parking permits would account for 6 percent of their salaries. The evasive behavior of these workers, their ensuing ticketing under the Good Neighbor Policy, and the ever-increasing rates demonstrate the neoliberal nature of AU as an institution.
Stated simply, neoliberal institutions tax the workers, not the profiteers. Under neoliberal policies, corporations thrive through deregulation. More significantly, neoliberalism criminalizes its victims, individualizing responsibility and blame. AU taxes its workers for working.
Unfortunately, public transportation is simply not feasible for many of these employees. To make the commute from their affordable neighborhoods, contracted employees must pay the same prices for parking as permanent faculty and staff whose salaries are more proportional to the rates. Because the institution is deregulated, prices will continue to go up. In 2002, the yearly price for faculty and staff was $835 Now, it is $1,440. It is unreasonable to expect the workers to be responsible for rates so variable and disproportional to their income, yet they are the ones punished with an incessant flow of ticketing.
On the “Discover AU” page of our website, AU proclaims that “Our academic strengths are grounded in social responsibility and a commitment to cultural and intellectual diversity.” Although it is unlikely that AU will cease its operation as a business seeking profit any time soon, as students we must force our University to be more than a business. It is socially irresponsible for us to continue to promote “social justice” while exploiting our workers who represent a wealth of other cultures. We are not promoting them in any regard. Therefore, AU should consider it a professional and ethical responsibility to alter the parking policy and offer progressive, affordable rates.
Catholic University offers progressive rates for its contracted employees so why can’t we?
Emily Norton is a junior in the School of International Service.
Correction: An earlier version of this letter misstated the yearly cost for faculty/staff parking in 2002. It cost $835.
