This past week, SGA held a “Campus Crossfire” event to debate UTM’s supposed parking woes. We salute SGA for looking for topics that concern students, but believe that they were misguided in choosing this particular topic.

For future events, why not tackle lighting on the fitness trail, overcrowding in the dorms, rampant false alarms in Cooper, dangerous crosswalks, academic honesty, or a host of other issues?

Public Safety stood by its assessment that 1) parking at UTM is not a problem and 2) it could be a great deal worse.

Enforcement is the first step toward alleviating the problem. Residents of Grove and Cooper know all too well the effects of commuters parking in non-commuter spaces. The situation is reversed in other lots, such as the UC lot or in front of Humanities. If everyone “played by the rules,” many of our problems would be nonexistent.

So, here are a few tips for satisfactory parking on campus:

The weather is getting colder (cold enough to possibly snow by Thursday), so wear adequate layers for the hike.

Arrive 30 minutes before class starts. There’s a novel concept: be on time for classes. In the same time you spend driving all around campus, you could have easily parked your car in the Elam Center lot, and already be sitting in your 9 a.m. English class.

We can’t figure out why people bother to move their cars between classes. We figure these are the same people who ride the elevator one floor.

The best tip? Ride a bike.