The bulk of this week’s Student Senate meeting focused on the acquisition of electric scooters for URI’s Kingston Campus and filling open Senate positions.
Campus Affairs Chair Michael Bentley began the meeting this week by introducing SPIN, a motorized scooter company.
“Last week, university leadership was contacted by a company called SPIN and they wanted to create a partnership with us,” Bentley said. “SPIN is an offshoot of Ford Motor Company, and they provide motorized scooters to areas for public use. Right now, they are the sole provider of scooters to Providence.”
According to Bentley, they are just like regular scooters but bulkier, heavier and powered by an electric battery. He also explained that these scooters would be accessible to all students across campus.
Bentley said that the scooters would not have to be parked in a specific area, as they are powered by a battery. Students would also use a mobile app to locate and pay for them. Maintenance of the scooters would not be a problem either.
“[SPIN] has a headquarters in Providence, and the maintenance would be 45 minutes away,” Bentley said. “Issues [with the scooters] would be fixed the same day.”
Bentley did also voice his concerns about the scooters. According to him, although they could help students get to classes faster and save them from going on the shuttles, there is the potential for irresponsibility.
“There’s a lot of room for misuse [of these scooters] that could be dangerous to the community,” he said. “We have to think about [the pros and cons] before [the Senate] makes any decisions.”
Other members of the Senate provided their own opinions on the matter.
“I think that the motorized scooters are a great idea,” Senator Kyra Shindler said. “As a commuter myself, it’s really frustrating having to get to campus at a specific time to take the shuttle and then you stand on a crowded shuttle bus, and those hills are brutal.”
Senator Rossvierlin Cajigas agreed that motorized scooters are a good idea, but also suggested regulating when they can be used.
“[The University] could get an understanding of traffic during the night and have [the scooters] only be available at certain times,” she said.
Bentley responded by saying that SPIN could turn the scooters off at certain times or could have maintenance teams move them.
Senator Emma North questioned whether the use of motorized scooters would adhere to social distancing and COVID guidelines on campus
“We can’t expect the student body to sanitize [the scooters] after each use,” she said. “Knowing how young adults are, they might not.”
Bentley acknowledged this and noted that maintenance teams would be able to clean the students, but that students would have to take responsibility for cleaning the scooters between uses.
Alongside the thoughts of the other senators, President Austyn Ramsay provided her insight.
“I know that for the past few years, [the idea of having motorized scooters on campus] has been considered,” she said. “I think that a pilot program to see the benefits of this program would be beneficial and something cool to see on campus.”
No financial information was provided on having motorized scooters on campus. The University’s Campus Affairs Committee will be creating a survey for the public to allow students to share their own opinions on this proposal.
Aside from the discussion of motorized scooters, there were numerous committee and representative elections.
Bentley and Ramsay were elected to the Elections Committee this week alongside Sarah Margolin, who was nominated by Chairwoman Grace Kiernan.
Ethan Bose was elected as a University College Representative, receiving the nomination from Senator Chris Hoover.
Chairwoman Bolu Taiwo nominated Evelyn Olvios as an at-large representative alongside Indy Silva, who received a nomination from Student Organizations Committee Chairwoman Katie Siegle.
The next Student Senate meeting will be on Feb. 10th at 6:30 p.m.