I was very bothered when I read in The Skiff last week that the university is planning on setting aside parking spots in front of a building for those driving hybrid or electric cars. When I read on and saw that soon the same policy might be applied to student lots, I became highly unsettled. Surely the University must be aware that not all students are in the position to afford hybrid or electric vehicles, which run at a much higher cost than similar all-gas models. To put aside spots for those people close to the buildings would be a slap in the face of those who cannot afford these quasi-luxury vehicles.

In California, drivers of cleaner cars can get a pass which allows them to ride in the carpool lane, even if their car has only one passenger. While this seems a worthy goal, with the planet in mind, what one sees in downtown LA at rush hour is fancier cars racing along in one lane while the unwashed masses are at a standstill not meters away. For most of those in traffic, it is not a choice to opt out of a cleaner vehicle, it is simply reality.

I hope the university will take this into account; certainly there must be ways to get LEED certification and lessen the university’s environmental impact which do not entail discriminating against a part of the campus population.