For fundraising purposes, the Sigma Lambda Alpha Sorority Inc. potential new members raffled a parking decal, and rose $50 for the benefit of the sorority. The price of the raffle tickets were $1 for one and $2 for three. The winner will be drawn on April 11.
“We decided to do it because we have a few members who participated in similar fundraising events,” Cindy Lam, a senior in Biology and PNM director of Sigma Lambda Alpha, said. “They raised good money. Plus we wanted to give people a chance to get a cheaper parking decal.”
In order to park in the parking lots of MSU, one must purchase a parking decal for $50 and place it on the back of their car. If one does not have a decal, they will be fined.
“I participated in the raffle because I wanted to reduce my chances of getting a ticket,” Saad Alhumaly, a sophomore in business administration said.
According to Chief of Police Dan Williams, if a student does not have a decal on his or her car they will get a ticket even if the person has purchased a decal and it is not displayed.
“The price of the tickets is $20,” Williams said. “The first ticket $50. It is the price of the parking decal. We do this to encourage the student to buy a parking decal.”
The PMNs received assistance from the MSU Police Department for the fundraiser.
“We went to the campus police and requested a decal,” Lam said. “We requested that they help us out, so the decal is a donation from the police department.”
Lam has her own opinion about parking on campus and how raffling a decal will help student parking.
“I feel like parking on campus is really crowded,” Lam said. “I know they tried to improve the parking by adding new parking lots, and I believe that it is going to improve parking a lot. By raffling a decal we want to encourage people to park on campus because we know a lot of people do not because it is so crowded.”
The prices of decals have doubled in the past few years.
“The parking decal cost $50, which is another reason we believe that people do not park on campus,” Lam said. “That is why we used a parking decal. Relatively speaking, compared to other campuses, it is actually a reasonable price.”
Sorority members who do not drive also understand why raffling a parking decal is important.
“I do not drive, and I know it can be hard to find parking sometimes,” Donnica James, a senior in chemistry and member of the Sigma Lambda Alpha sorority said. “I also do believe that the parking decals can be a lot cheaper.”
Other students said they do not think parking decals are too expensive.
“I do not think that the parking decals are too high,” Alhumaly said. “I just do not think that the school has enough parking.
