By Laura Klotzkin, Managing Editor
Have you ever gone to your car only to have a flyer for a restaurant fall out of your door? If you park a car in the Daemen parking lots, you probably have.
“It is not uncommon for external advertisers to want to advertise to our campus community,” Dr. Kerry Spicer, Vice President for Student Affairs, said.
Daemen sometimes has problems with members of the Amherst community advertising things by leaving pamphlets near apartment entrances and stuck in car doors. What many students may not know is that advertising in this way is explicitly against Daemen rules.
“Leaflets or flyers may not be distributed inside or outside the parking areas or placed on vehicles,” is stated in the Daemen flyer, poster, and Chalking policy written by Spicer in 2024.
Despite this, Daemen students still regularly find pamphlets and advertisements around campus in prohibited areas.
“We have flyers and advertisements pop up often,” Dominic Hannon, Assistant Director for Student Center Operations, said. “It is an ongoing occurrence that we deal with as it comes up.”
One of the more recent occurrences is when pamphlets from the “Yings” Chinese restaurant were found between car doors. Kristen Mruk, the assistant Dean for Campus Safety and Operations, and is the overseer of parking. She has seen these pamphlets come to her desk on multiple occasions.
“It is my understanding that Yings is a ‘frequent flyer’ of these flyers, if you will,” Mruk said.
In addition to the Yings flyers, Mruk notes that religious pamphlets have also been a recurring issue.
“I don’t really mind the flyers, but sometimes if it’s like on the windshield, which I don’t think it has been yet, it kind of startles me…” Said Gabriel Molak, a junior animation major. “I can see it going two ways. Last year the religious pamphlets were going out and those were kind of annoying. I don’t think it should be allowed.”
Student Operations has various ways of dealing with the issue when it comes up.
“With Yings in particular, I have called and emailed to let them know that their distribution of flyers is not permitted on our campus, so hopefully that has made an impact,” said Mruk. “But, as far as other flyers and postings go, if they come to my desk, it’s just me informing the individuals that are placing them that it’s against our policy.”
Daemen has specific policies regarding the placement of pamphlets and other advertisements on campus. Aside from leaving pamphlets in cars, there are other actions that are prohibited regarding advertisements.
“Posting on University property is a privilege extended for the purpose of communicating information about events, activities, programs, or services related to educational, social, research, professional, or volunteer opportunities relevant to the University community,” Daemen University’s Flyer, Posting and Chalking policy states.
Community advertisements are not permitted if they do not have a direct relevance to Daemen’s campus. Additionally, advertising materials are restricted to designated areas.
“Posting on hallway/public area doors, machinery, vending machines, receptacles, elevators, restrooms, painted or masonry walls, ceilings, street lamps, emergency phones, directional and street signage, or floors is not permitted,” the policy states.
If the issue continues, administration will take other courses of action to ensure the policy is followed.
“Certainly the first time they might not know it’s a Daemen policy, so informing them of what the policies are and ensuring that they understand,” Mruk said. “We can certainly use our off-campus resources like Amherst police and things like that if it becomes a really pervasive issue; it sort of just depends on the severity of it.”
Students can also take action when they encounter flyers.
“They can report that to campus safety,” Mruk said, “If they have a copy of the flyer, it’s helpful for us to have contact information for us to go and let them know that it is against our policy for them to be doing that.”