There are few things I hate more in life than being beat out for a parking spot. But when it’s 7:15 in the morning, and the spot in question in one of the best of the lot, I’m not a happy camper. It doesn’t help the situation when I see the kid in question as he gets out of his car, and realize something. He’s a junior. He just took one of the best spots in the parking lot. In senior parking.

Historically, the violation of senior parking has gone relatively unpunished. Be it because of the lack of enforcement, or humanity’s strange aversion to walking that extra 10 yards, juniors have violated senior parking frequently and blatantly, and it’s nothing that hasn’t happened before. But in a year when senior privileges are being revoked left and right for the sake of “instructional time,” the class is, as it should be, grabbing on to anything it can.

The ultimate issue isn’t the violations themselves, or the place in the parking lot juniors choose, it’s the number. Nearly a third of the cars in senior parking are driven by juniors. As more and more juniors get their license, and for many, the car that comes with it, the number only increases. By the end of the year, the number of juniors in senior parking equals the number of seniors.

Of course, I’m not saying you shouldn’t park close to the school on a day when the rain comes down in a violent torrent. But when it’s early August, on sunny mornings with the temperature in the mid 60’s, there isn’t any excuse under that brilliant morning sun that can excuse violators for parking where they do. I waited until I was a senior to park in the senior lot, and I expect the same common courtesy from everyone else.

In the end, this blatant violation of senior privileges will continue until the school administration actually chooses to do something about it. I can’t remember the last time I heard about someone getting a ticket for violating senior parking, and that’s probably because I haven’t ever heard of an instance where that’s happened. This clearly isn’t an issue that social pressure or general reminders can solve. It’s time to put a foot down, and teach students that if they want to park in the parking lot at all, they should do so in the appropriate place. The purchase of parking passes brings in thousands of dollars of revenue for the school each year. If only time was taken to enforce the rules behind one of the few rights seniors have left.