Students gathered at the Volunteer Statue in spring 1987 to protest high UT parking permit costs and citation fees. Richard Pope, president of the Graduate Student Association, burned a parking ticket. The rally protested alleged misuse of funds by the Safety and Security Department by paying for police officers not associated with parking enforcement from parking revenues and alleged illegality of selling parking tags instead of decals without approval from the board of trustees. In response the Traffic and Parking Authority approved a revised budget that raised parking fees less than 9 percent instead of the 12 percent that had been proposed and kept citations at the current level.