With the banning of electric scooters on campus, Concordia students will now have one less way of getting from class to class.
The ban on e-scooters comes after a student accidentally backed their electric scooter into the glass on the main floor of the Koehnke Community Center in early September and shattered a section of it.
The accident was brought to the attention of David Witken, the director of public safety. It was not the first time that there had been an incident involving a student and their scooter.
“It was early in the semester, and we had already gotten reports about students riding scooters inside buildings and down hallways, and almost hitting bystanders,” said Witken.
After the crash inside the KCC, a committee was put together to decide what to do about e-scooters and other types of personal transportation on campus, led by Kathy Gebhardt, the dean of students. On Sept. 25 the committee announced their decision via a mass email sent to CUC students, faculty, and staff.
“To maintain the safety and comfort of all individuals on campus, CUC prohibits the use of e-scooters and other motorized personal transportation devices on university premises and in university facilities,” Gebhardt said in the email.
The email also said that while bikes, skateboards, and self-propelled scooters were still allowed on campus, they were not permitted inside buildings or the parking structure.
“We came to this decision within a few weeks,” said Gebhardt.
While it only took a few weeks for the committee to do their investigation and debate what to do, they did take the time to look at other schools for inspiration.
“We did some research related to scooter policies on other college campuses, and how they are dealing with scooters,” said Gebhardt.
While students may not necessarily need transportation to get from class to class, students who commute may need vehicles to travel. According to the CUC website, roughly 37% of students live on campus, which means that 63% of students need a way to get from their homes to campus and back.
In the last few years, colleges such as Yale University and Boston College have announced the ban of e-scooters on their campuses. However, their concerns relate more to potential fires stemming from batteries in the e-scooters overheating, and not from students damaging school property.
In their decision-making process, the committee looked at the ways CUC is different from other colleges that have banned e-scooters.
“We also considered the unique aspects of our campus, such as the small size, to assess the necessity of having scooters here at CUC,” Gebhardt said.
The committee also asked the Department of Public Safety for their input and advice as to what to do about the scooters.
“They came to me for my input, and I gave it to them,” said Witken. “They took my point of view as head of campus security into account and used that to help them reach their decision.”
Witken said that most of the investigation was handled by Alexandrea Miceli, the lieutenant-patrol Supervisor for DPS.
“I typically start backwards from the time the incident was reported,” said Miceli. “For this incident, everything I had to do was primarily on the cameras. I watch the cameras, no matter how long it takes, and from different angles if I can. I take note of what happens and who is involved.”
Going back to the cameras allowed her to identify the student who backed their e-scooter into the KCC glass. After that, it was out of DPS’s hands.
“From there, it’s just sending over the information to Student Services,” said Miceli. “They handle the disciplinary process.”
The student reportedly had to pay a fine, as well as the costs of fixing the broken glass and the labor that was required.
After the incident, the area around the broken glass was blocked off with caution tape, until repairs could be made a few weeks ago.
Going forward, Witken hopes that the ban on e-scooters will ultimately lead to fewer safety concerns around the campus.
“We just want to keep our students and faculty safe,” said Witken.
