An OU Student Government Association bill will allow OU students to appeal campus parking citations by donating to the OU Food Pantry.
The program, “Donations for Citations,” allows OU students to donate to the OU Food Pantry to resolve a parking citation.
The parking citation must be $50 or less and no older than 14 days. Students can make a monetary donation to the pantry that is at least 80 percent of the value of the parking citation. Students must then appeal their parking ticket through the OU Parking and Transportation Services website. Then, they must email copies of the student’s donation and appeal confirmations to parkingappeals@ou.edu.
Students may only use the program twice per academic year.
In a message to OU Daily, Abby Halsey-Kraus, chair of the OU Undergraduate Student Congress, wrote the bill came to fruition because of efforts made by former Rep. Michael Williams and former Congress Chair Emeritus Crispin South. Halsey-Kraus wrote that one in three college students face food insecurity. She said donations from parking tickets will help the pantry operate and aid food insecurity prevention.
“With this procedure taking effect, students are able to feel as though their citation is making a difference on campus,” Halsey-Kraus wrote.
South wrote to OU Daily that writing the bill, working out the logistics with parking and getting it passed through SGA was not particularly difficult in April 2022.
“It required a lot of coordination and communication, but we were happy to spend that time working on a project that could help so many people,” South wrote.
South wrote students often feel powerless when receiving parking citations. He wanted to help students not feel this way and also see funds go toward an important issue like food insecurity.
“Hopefully, with ‘Donations for Citations’, students will feel more empowered while also helping the food pantry continue serving the community,” South wrote.
This story was edited by Alexia Aston, Karoline Leonard and Jazz Wolfe. Francisco Gutierrez and Grace Rhodes copy edited this story.
