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Show Editorials Hansen Bomb Not All Roses State Attorney General Phil Hansen, as is his wont, dropped a small bomb on the University yesterday by declaring in a legal opinion that while the University can control traffic, it cannot operate a court system and collect fines. The opinion is hardly surprising. In several cases given national coverage within the last year, students have successfully appealed the actions of collegiate courts to state courts. While some of these cases have involved discipline and even grades, most have been related to the problems of traffic enforcement. On the face of it, the opinion appears to be manna from heaven. No more tickets ! No more having registration regis-tration held up! No more three dollars to the vicious campus cops ! But a bit of reflection will show we're not in much better condition. In the first place, the opinion does not say campus traffic regulations cannot be enforced. It says they cannot be enforced through a University court system. We will continue to get tickets, but they'll be issued by officers of either the city or county courts. It's true a ticket downtovn costs only a dollar while a ticket on campus costs three. But if one collects 30 tickets on campus during a quarter, at the end of the quarter he faces a total of $90 in fines. But if one collects the same tickets downtown and waits nine weeks to pay the fines he'll find himself facing a very angry judge and quite possibly a term in jail. The whole matter is very much up in the air at this point. Some sources in the administration say we will continue with the present system until the attorney general brings a case against the University. But Pres. Fletcher says if the legal opinion of Hansen is sound, the University will take immediate steps to comply. Whichever course is followed, it seems certain weekly or quarterly 'trips to the traffic bureau with cash in hand will be replaced with more frequent trips to the Metropolitan Hall of Justice. Many will lose as a result of the opinion. People who have heretofore ignored tickets until the last minute min-ute will suffer most. Those who have considered parking park-ing tickets a weekly three-dollar parking fee will also suffer. The University will suffer, perhaps justifiably so, from the loss of revenue from tickets. The uncommon uncom-mon campus speeder or runner-of-red-lights will find his drivers license in jeopardy as points are added to his record whereas he now suffers only a small fine and a slap on the hand. The only winners will be those who have in the past actually been unjustly accused by the Traffic Bureau Bur-eau those whose mothers really "borrowed the car that clay and parked it in front of the Library for two hours." Now, rather than fighting the red tape of an appeal from the decision of Officer Farnsworth, they will be afforded a hearing in open court. But remember, not even Mr. Hansen can get a ticket fixed in the Salt Lake City Traffic Court. |