Electric scooters are an epidemic plaguing our campus. I have seen them on Middle Path, in front of Peirce Hall and beside practically every bike rack on campus. Although these scooters are probably a safety risk when weaving among pedestrians on campus or when parked right in front of building exits (like on Tuesday morning in front of Chalmers Library), mostly, I’m peeved because they are ugly. A bike rack full of old-school steel-frame bikes has a special aesthetic, featuring all the colors of the rainbow. Once you start interspersing matte black electric scooters, that beauty is lost.

In addition to being an unsightly hazard, these scooters destroy our campus’ covetable walking culture. Sure, the Office of Campus Safety may have cars, but I’m still not sure even that is okay. In addition to using our minds, those who are able should harness their locomotor skills to move between buildings. Campus culture is infinitely better when jocks have to walk to class instead of scootering. There is nothing more annoying than jumping out of the way on Middle Path when some Hells Angels wannabes go zipping by on their way to Intro to Microeconomics. Let’s keep campus pretty, safe and scooter-free. 

Charlie Menzel ’28 is a religious studies and biology major from Greencastle, IN. He can be reached at menzel1@kenyon.edu.