T
THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF KEAN UNIVERSITY
CENTS
Page 2
APRIL IN PARIS
(well, March)
STOP ROLLING BAGS Page 8
Page 2
W ICK E D
FRESH!
Page 5
Page 4
HEALTH
Page 9
GOOD FASHION
W I T CH!
THE TOWER
Volume 9 • Issue 3 October 22, 2008
Kean Neighbors Want Parked Cars Out
By Carlos M. Reynosa
R
Customers checking out Kean’s Farmer’s Market, which is open on Fridays. See Page 4 for a student photographer’s interpretation of the green market. Photo: Ana Maria Silverman
DUI Checks Begun On Kean Campus By Kelly Pennisi
O
ctober 2nd was no ordinary Thursday night for Kean University students. Unlike most Thursday nights which usually means partying or some other type of gathering, this night included a small surprise, courtesy of the Kean Police Department. Kean Police were stationed on campus waiting for students to return to the dorms. This night, Kean University Police decided it would make sure those students under the influence would not get away so easily, and at midnight police went off to look for drunken drivers. Dorm students reported that the DUI checks seemed to be a new occurrence. Several said they had not seen or heard of the checks on campus in past semesters. According to Steven Hudik, Kean’s spokesman, during the checks by Kean University Police on October 2, if someone were under the influence while driving, the individual would have been charged. He said 78 summonses were issued for a variety of offenses, none for DUI. Safety checks began at 9 p.m. and ended at approximately midnight. The DUI check began at midnight and ended at approximately 5 a.m. There were no arrests for DUI. To make it easier to check people, campus police had closed off certain entrances so students were forced to go into the check spots, students said.
“They were only allowing you in from the Green Lane entrance. They stopped us and talked to us,” student Rachel Kaelblein said. “They asked us a couple of questions and then they let us go. I actually saw a couple of cars get pulled over.” Officers hung around waiting for students to speed by or come back from parties and other places. “When we were leaving the campus to go to a party, we tried to go out the entrance by the side but it was blocked off by cones so we had to leave by the Harwood Arena and the police were standing right there,” said Erica McNeil. “They weren’t checking
esidents in the neighborhoods around the newly opened East Campus have a problem that Kean University students know all too well: there’s no place to park. And now the local police are looking into the problem. With parking limited at the new campus, Kean University students have been parking in neighborhoods near the campus on streets such as Irvington Avenue and Wilder Street, causing an overflow of parked cars on the street in those areas and disrupting the neighborhood. Students feel that since neighborhoods are so near to the school, they can just park on the street and walk to school. The problem is that residents usually use the street to park too. As a result, residents are having a hard time themselves finding parking at their own homes. In some cases, residents report waiting for hours to get an open parking spot in front or near their own home because a student has not yet returned from school to their car. Quite a few have called the local Hillside Police about the problem, but there is little the police can do because there are no restrictions that allow them to ticket to discourage on-street parking. But all that might change. In response to the growing number of complaints, the police recently sent area residents a survey about the parking situation. The survey asks specific questions about parking in the neighborhoods. “We received many complaints from the residents of these neighborhoods so we sent out this survey to see what they think,” said an officer with the Hillside Police. The survey was given to the residents in order to determine whether or not Hillside should adopt an ordinance that permits parking only to residents and
guests of residents. “We would first have to get a majority of residents to agree to permitting the ordinance,” the officer said. “Then we approach the Hillside Township Council for approval, but mostly we just want to see if the residents are interested or not.” The problem is occurring now because the East Campus just opened fully this semester. The campus, which is a stately building that was formerly a private academy, has been under renovation and now houses some college departments and the Nathan Weiss Graduate School. A new re-
In some cases, residents report waiting for hours to get an open parking spot in front or near their own home cital hall is expected to open on the campus in Fall 09. One way residents say they have tried to deal with the new parking problem has been to leave their driveway empty and park their cars in front of their houses all day so the students won’t take the spot for an expected guest or a family member. That does not always work due to the fact that the residents have to eventually exit their space to go to work or run errands. This is not the first time the police said a school has created parking problems for area residents. In Elizabeth, residents near one school complained about students parking in their neighborhood as well. The residents agreed to a parking ordinance and now students can’t use those neighborhoods to park. If the Township of Hillside does pass the ordinance then Kean students will have to find another method of getting to school on time.
A finding of Driving under the Influence is no joke. when we were leaving but when we were coming back. They pulled you over and they asked the driver if we were drinking. They flashed lights through the car to check if the driver was drinking. They flashed the lights through the car to check if there was liquor in the car or to see if the other passenger had been drinking.” Another impromptu DUI check was made on the evening of Oct. 14, a Tuesday night. A finding of DUI is no joke. Anyone found under the influence under New Jersey state law (Continued on page 10)
Turn to the centerfold on pages 6 & 7 and enjoy Homecoming 2008 all over again in our special section devoted to the big event.
The Tower is now on the web! Find a PDF version of The Tower at: www.kean.edu/~thetower