{"id":6931,"date":"2024-11-21T20:54:59","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T02:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/?p=6931"},"modified":"2024-11-21T20:54:59","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T02:54:59","slug":"e-scooters-no-longer-allowed-on-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/?p=6931","title":{"rendered":"E-Scooters No Longer Allowed On Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the banning of electric scooters on campus, Concordia students will now have one less way of getting from class to class.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

The accident was brought to the attention of David Witken, the director of public safety. <\/span>It was not the first time that there had been an incident involving a student and their scooter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was early in the semester, and we had already gotten reports about students riding scooters inside buildings and down hallways, and almost hitting bystanders,\u201d said Witken.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo 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,\u201d Gebhardt said in the email.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe came to this decision within a few weeks,\u201d said Gebhardt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe did some research related to scooter policies on other college campuses, and how they are dealing with scooters,\u201d said Gebhardt.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

In their decision-making process, the committee looked at the ways CUC is different from other colleges that have banned e-scooters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe also considered the unique aspects of our campus, such as the small size, to assess the necessity of having scooters here at CUC,\u201d Gebhardt said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The committee also asked the Department of Public Safety for their input and advice as to what to do about the scooters.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey came to me for my input, and I gave it to them,\u201d said Witken. \u201cThey took my point of view as head of campus security into account and used that to help them reach their decision.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Witken said that most of the investigation was handled by Alexandrea Miceli, the lieutenant-patrol Supervisor for DPS.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI typically start backwards from the time the incident was reported,\u201d said Miceli. \u201cFor 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Going back to the cameras allowed her to identify the student who backed their e-scooter into the KCC glass.\u00a0 <\/span>After that, it was out of DPS’s hands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom there, it\u2019s just sending over the information to Student Services,\u201d said Miceli. \u201cThey handle the disciplinary process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The student reportedly had to pay a fine, as well as the costs of fixing the broken glass and the labor that was required.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the incident, the area around the broken glass was blocked off with caution tape, until repairs could be made a few weeks ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Going forward, Witken hopes that the ban on e-scooters will ultimately lead to fewer safety concerns around the campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe just want to keep our students and faculty safe,\u201d said Witken.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the banning of electric scooters on campus, Concordia students will now have one less way of getting from class to class.\u00a0 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":6937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-concordia-news","category-showcase"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6931\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}