In addition to oncoming traffic, pedestrians crossing West Wisconsin Avenue also have to keep an eye out for police officers.

Alicia Stone-Zipse, a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences, learned this lesson the hard way.

Stone-Zipse was crossing Wisconsin Avenue via North 12th Street Sept. 7 when two Milwaukee Police Department officers on the north side of West Wisconsin Avenue, toward which Stone-Zipse was walking, beckoned her and wrote her a ticket for jaywalking, she said.

"I wasn't crossing in the midst of traffic," she said. "It was a 'don't walk' (signal) but there weren't any cars close."

Third District Police Capt. Richard Oliva said police will not hesitate to issue students jaywalking tickets.

Students should be particularly careful during the beginning of the school year, he said.

"Especially in the beginning of the year we try to enforce (jaywalking laws) as much as possible to send a message," Oliva said.

Data regarding the number of jaywalking violations issued in past years was not available, Oliva said.

If a person is caught crossing against a light, the officer may decide whether to issue a warning or a ticket, Oliva said.

Stone-Zipse's ticket, for a 'pedestrian signal violation by a pedestrian,' cost $52.40, she said. According to her, officers took down her driver's license number, sex, race, height and other personal information.

Stone-Zipse said MPD officers told her they were going to be cracking down on jaywalking. Still, she feels the ticket was unnecessary.

"I thought it was very excessive," she said. "I was expecting it to just be a warning but they just wrote me up."

While officers will be strictly enforcing jaywalking regulations, Oliva said recent patrol of Wisconsin Avenue is nothing new.

"There's always been a concern regarding the pedestrian traffic around Marquette," he said. "It's always been our goal to promote pedestrian safety."

Marquette has taken precautions to prevent students from haphazardly crossing the street, according to Toby Peters, associate vice president in the Office of Administration.

One measure taken by the university was to install medians down Wisconsin Avenue through campus. The medians were designed primarily for campus identity and beautification, but also to promote crosswalk usage and prevent future injuries, Peters said.

"We want to direct our students properly in the safest way possible," he said. "We're trying to be proactive."

In light of heavy traffic and construction around campus, Peters said administrators have been meeting this fall to discuss other methods of ensuring student safety.

Regardless of the steps Marquette takes to prevent pedestrian problems, Oliva said the best way to avoid tickets and injuries is to follow the law.

"You have to obey traffic laws and not cross against lights and be more safety-conscious," he said.

Stone-Zipse said she will be among the "safety-conscious" crowd when she crosses Wisconsin Avenue.