The 27 new spots, which are west of the intersection Bellows and East Campus Drive, were always intended to be back-in spots, but it was not made as clear as Central Michigan University Police wanted.

“When it was first completed, the signs had not arrived yet,” said Police Chief Bill Yeagley. “Last week, the signs were put in.”

Police did not start enforcing immediately after the signs arrived to give drivers time to notice. Yeagley said he thought people would still assume it was pull-in parking.

The penalty for improperly parking in the back-in spots is a $25 ticket. They are also metered, which has its own penalty if expired.

There are two signs informing drivers of the back-in protocol, with one on each side of the lot. East Jordan senior Sierra Roberts said she parks in the new spots three days a week for her class at the Health Professions Building.

“I’ve never even seen that sign,” she said. “I totally would have gotten a ticket every time.”

The lot’s design causes problems for her when she drives westbound on Bellows and can’t back in from that side of the street, Roberts said. She is prepared to circle the block to park there.

The lot is just to the west of the Carlin Alumni House. It was built over the summer, along with the new mini-circle on Bellows.

Rochester Hills senior Stephen Martin said he thinks the lot is inefficient, regardless of the directions cars are accessing it.

“How are people going to park there when there’s a high amount of traffic?” Martin said. “There’s a car behind you. I think the whole lot’s misplanned.”

The grace period ends today and Yeagley said he hopes drivers back in to the spots as intended.

“My hope is they do that,” Yeagley said, “and life is good.”

Walrath works as a senior specialist clerk for annual giving and works with Phone-a-thon to raise money.

She came in one Saturday by herself about three years ago to work on a project.

During off-hours, the alarm is set and will go off within 30 seconds of a person entering.

Therefore, whoever enters the building must shut the alarm off manually within 30 seconds of coming in.

Walrath had just entered the building and was preparing to shut off the alarm when she heard a faint conversation between and man and a
woman.

“The exact second I shut off the alarm, the conversation immediately stopped,” she said. “The alarm wouldn’t have been set if someone was
here.”

Walrath said she checked all over the building and nobody was there. She said the conversation may have ended because the ghosts knew someone was in the building.

Walrath said about eight years ago two Phone-A-Thon supervisors saw a “floating white thing” drift through the air in the back of the building during off-hours.

“They got out of there as quick as they could,” she said.

Two other supervisors said they were getting ready to leave a night shift and were turning on the alarm when they heard a man’s voice chuckling right next to them, Walrath said.

Walrath also remembers a Saturday morning years ago when she came in to work on a project by herself and heard a toilet flush loudly from the basement.

She ran up the stairs, looked around, made several phone calls and can only conclude that she was alone. She asked maintenance workers if the toilet could flush by itself and they said it was unlikely.

Walrath said she believes paranormal activity can exist and that it would be interesting to bring a psychic to the Carlin Alumni House and see what they have to say about it.

“I think the toilet is the only possible thing that could be debunked,” she said.