Fine, But Not Dandy

Like many another U.S. college campus, Mississippi State University in Starkville has long had its own private parking regulations. The school's uniformed patrolmen, in the manner of state or city cops, ticketed violators, who then paid their fines to university authorities. Not any longer. Thanks to a student-inspired lawsuit that went all the way to a federal district court, the only way that illegal parkers can now be prosecuted is through regularly constituted courts of law.

The challenge to M.S.U.'s ticketing system was raised last spring by 25-year-old Leslie Cohen, a student from Canada who also edited the campus newspaper, the Reflector. After accumulating $135 worth of tickets for illegal parking, Cohen was summoned before a faculty discipline committee. Much to the professors' surprise, he showed up with a lawyer in tow and announced that he was legally protesting the fines. Since he could not appeal the committee's decision to other courts and was denied the privilege of a jury trial, Cohen argued that his constitutional rights were being violated. When the case ultimately came before a three-judge federal panel this month, state attorneys, acting for the university, decided not to contest Cohen's contention that violators of M.S.U. parking rules should be prosecuted in local courts.

For student scofflaws, the Mississippi State concession represents a golden opportunity to challenge similar parking regulations that exist at other campuses. They may, however, be inhibited by the Pyrrhic outcome of the decision. Illegal parkers will henceforth be tried before local justices of the peace, whose minimum fine for tickets is $12, rather than the $2 previously imposed by university regulations.

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