A rash of vandalism last week in Parking Lot 83 North left some students wondering what can be done to improve security in one of the most distant on-campus locations to leave cars.

Police and transportation officials recognize the problems the lot sometimes poses, but say efforts such as increased lighting are being made to prevent future disturbances.

Twenty-five cars sustained break-ins and one car was set on fire during the early morning hours of March 15 in the area commonly known as the flower gardens.

Matthew Seton (sophomore-chemical engineering) owned one of the cars that was vandalized in the lot located off of Bigler Road, beyond Park Avenue. He received a call from the police about the situation that Thursday morning.

While the damage was not exorbitantly expensive, he said it was frustrating and wondered why the perpetrator decided to steal an old sleeping bag he kept in the car.

"I actually brought my car into the closer student park lot — Lot 80," Seton said, adding that he thought the police seemed to patrol the area more. "I'm not going to stop parking up there, but it's going to make me a little more wary."

Heather Calaman (junior–biology) was shocked to read about the recent vandalism, because she often parks her car in Lot 83 North. Calaman said she rarely, if ever, sees police patrolling the lot when she is coming or going to the area.

"Four and a half hours is a long time for these incidents to go unnoticed," she wrote in a letter to the editor. "I feel that my $160-a-year fee to park in an area as unmonitored as Lot 83 (North) is unreasonable. What is it going to take for Penn State to beef up the security?"

Despite regular patrols of all the parking lots, some random incidents, such as the series of break-ins last week, go unreported or unnoticed long enough to cause damage, Penn State Police Services said.

With about 31 miles of campus throughways to monitor, officers and resources may be more tied up in one area than another, police said.

Teresa Davis, director of transportation services, said the university has been able to increase lighting in Parking Lot 44 — next to The Bryce Jordan Center — but she said her staff ran into ordinance issues in their push to increase lighting around the flower gardens.

Davis said the community has deemed the current lighting situation to be adequate.

"We wanted it more than adequate," she said. "I think it's because it's close to College Heights and a residential neighborhood."

Nonetheless, Davis said she is redoubling her efforts to add more lights to Lot 83 North.

The Undergraduate Student Government Senate passed a resolution Tuesday night to investigate a better means of protecting student vehicles throughout campus parking lots, but especially near the flower gardens, said Town Sen. Mike Fedor.

USG will now look into "whether or not the university can do anything else besides what they already do" to curtail crime in parking lots around the periphery of campus, he said.