Spokespeople Gears Up for Fall in Spite of Challenges

Spokespeople, Conn’s campus bike share, has unwillingly cycled through three locations in as many months. This past spring, Physical Plant evicted Spokespeople from its then-headquarters in Winthrop Annex, an airy workshop with plenty of storage, with little warning. The Annex was converted into office space over the summer and Spokespeople relocated to their current home in the Prayer Room off the KB Graffiti Tunnel.
This location is less than ideal, as there isn’t enough space for a workshop and seventy bikes to coexist. Spokespeople’s first location in the basement of 360 House was an adequate, if cramped, collection of dimly lit rooms, the stairs to which made it difficult to transport bikes in and out of the shop. The current location faces similar problems, as patrons are required to haul their bikes down a staircase, a winding hall, the tunnel and into a tightly packed shop.
After fighting for a more suitable space than 360 and speaking with President Higdon, Jim Norton (Director of Physical Plant) and Vice President Ulysses Hammond, the group was briefly granted the Annex for about two months. This was with help from the group’s sustainability resource, Josh Stoffel, whom the group calls “their infinitely helpful administrative liaison.”
Since 2007, the club has had a history of terrific contributions to student life. The CC Cruisers program, a joint venture with Shain Library allowing patrons to borrow a bicycle in the same way one checks out a book, offers a low commitment rental option at no charge. The standard bike share program exchanges fixed up bikes (with locks and helmets) for deposits of $20, which are returned when each bike is brought back at the end of the year. Last year saw the successful raffle of a painted bicycle, the proceeds of which went to Bikes for Kids, a charity run out of Old Lyme. Spokespeople fan Mattie Barber-Bockelman ’16 said, “The convenience of Spokespeople is ridiculous. I have class in Palmer on Friday mornings and a bike is pretty essential to my timeliness.”
The club’s constitution outlines their goals to cut down on carbon emissions while connecting Conn to the greater New London community. Their materials are almost all used or recycled. Conn has every reason to brag about the organization’s good work, but these past few months have shown the Administration’s true estimation of the club’s value. “It’s really frustrating that the College so readily touts Spokespeople as this unique organization on campus but has no problem shuffling us around,” said treasurer Chris Giri ’15. President Bo Clay ’15 added, “Admissions loves us. The College advertises us but we don’t have adequate resources. How can we work out of a basement with poor ventilation and a lot of traffic through the space?”
Spokespeople has been featured heavily on Conn’s website and the ConnCollLive YouTube series as promotion for the College, yet they fail to reap any benefits. With 95% of Spokespeople’s bikes currently in use and 15 to 20% of campus supplied, the group is a huge part of Conn’s green initiative. “What would be ideal,” said Giri, “would be something like the Barn, with lots of rooms for storage and a shop. When we’re in season, we have plenty of space to use for the shop but none for storage.”
Steps are being made to rectify the situation, but the group requires more administrative attention than they are being granted. “Dean Arcelus has expressed a lot of interest in helping us find an adequate space where we can live permanently,” said Clay, “but nothing has been done yet and we’re still undersupplied. Our goal is to supply the whole campus and we don’t get a very big budget. Our equipment costs run much higher than [what we’ve got].”
The executive board, comprised of Giri, Clay and head mechanic Jules Tamagnan ’16, encourages anyone to join and promises that no experience in bike maintenance is required. Students can look forward to programming including bike-themed movie nights (featuring “Breaking Away” and “The Bicycle Thief”) and merchandise sales at HarvestFest. The team welcomes anyone to drop by shop hours (Sundays and Fridays from 2 to 3:30 p.m. with bike issues, questions, comments or for any reason at all.
I suggest that we, as a college, get serious about our dedication to sustainability and quit displacing important campus resources like Spokespeople. By treating our centers of sustainability as negligible or taking them for granted, the College sends a message that our dedication to environmental causes is of the same import. Rallying around the cause by donating spare parts, supporting the group’s need and participating in the bike share programs emphasizes the campus reliance to the Administration. Spokespeople is the students’ organization to protect.