By Sean Maulding / Staff Writer

By Sean Maulding / Staff Writer

After walking down the stairs and through the parking structure to their cars, expecting to get in and leave, Riverside City College students notice a variety of flyers pinned to their windshield. After realizing the message isn’t worth reading, but before balling it up to throw onto the ground, or into a recycling can, many question why it is there and whether it has the right to be there.

The note is a message about a new club or a meeting to be held on campus, so it could pertain to RCC students, but should it be on the windshield? Just what are the regulations for posting flyers?

According to the flyer guidebook, anyone “may post, circulate, or distribute literature in those areas designated as public forums on the campus of the district in accordance with existing laws and regulations.”

Such regulations include asking for approval and signing in to post up to twelve flyers on campus for a pre-designated amount of time. Public forums are available at six locations around campus, but does that include the parking lot or even your car? When asked if flyers were allowed to be posted on cars, Angela Lee, an administrative assistant from Student Services, said they were not. Dany Wilson, student activities assistant from the Student Services office, said that that practice is against the flyer posting regulations.

Other students who drive to school and use the parking structure, Dave Rogers and Kristopher Taylor, have concerns about flyers being posted on their vehicles. Taylor was concerned with people looking through windows, or possibly breaking windshield wipers. Rogers said that “most people don’t have any business touching the cars.”

The Student Services Center, which oversees the approval process for the school flyer posting, receives complaints from people like Taylor and Rogers, who don’t like flyers on their windshields.

So what is done about it? Rebecca Faircloth, a counseling clerk in the Student Services Office, pointed out that if enough information can be obtained from violating flyers, they are reported to campus police.

While this is not always the case, a group of students working through this office, know the regulations, and takes down flyers around the school if the flyers violate any policies.

“I sit them on my seat and they sit there for a long time,” said Leilani Lumer, one RCC student.

Not all people make this effort, and many papers end up on the ground around campus or the parking structure. And as Wilson pointed out, it is unfortunately up to the facilities employees to clean up these discarded flyers.

So what can be done to help ensure the regulations are upheld and the papers don’t become a mess? One of the problems is that not all students know that there are regulations. RCC student, Nick Chase suggested that before the start of the semester, teachers could give a notice to all of the students to inform them of the posting guidelines. Or, as D. Iwais, another RCC student, said we could add more places around campus for posting papers. Perhaps then there won’t be a need for vehicle posting.