Three weeks ago there was a mass bicycle- tire homicide on campus.
On Oct. 11 at 1:45 a.m., it became apparent to students and Public Safety that someone had popped the tires of almost every bicycle on the rack outside of Hege Library.
The incident at the library was just the beginning, as it was soon realized that tires had been popped on many of the bikes on racks all over campus.
Some were shown mercy and only had one of its tires popped, but nonetheless this act detrimentally affected the lives of many.
Many students were understandably upset, as bicycle upkeep can be expensive.
Junior Lyes Benarbane was one of the many students affected by the vandalism.
Benarbane lives about five miles off campus, and he, like many others, commutes to school by bicycle.
“It really annoyed me because they popped it right as the campus bike shop closed (for Fall Break) so it cost me $17, whereas at the bike shop it would have been $5,” Benarbane said.
This struck many involved as a strange occurrence for Guilford, as it violates the College’s core values.
“Incidents like these violate the trust and respect we have for our community and gives me concern for whether or not we are upholding our accountability to community values, each other and each other’s property,” said Lauren Schloss, ’12.
Although many would like to think this terrible incident is in the past, in the last week alone three more tire-popping incidents that The Guilfordian is aware of have occurred.
“We have a serial slasher on this campus, and a full scale investigation needs to be launched by Guilford College,” said senior Maria Barry, another victim of the calamity. “Someone is walking around with a knife, angry. They’re only doing bike tires right now, but that’s scary.”
Public Safety Officer David Gauldin was on duty at the time of the first bike tire slashing.
Gauldin said that Public Safety is dedicated to preventing bicycle tires from being popped in the future.
“It is Public Safety’s motto that we are committed to providing quality service and a safe and secure environment,” said Gauldin.
Though some find comfort in knowing that Public Safety is aware of the situation, it still concerns students to know that there is a person, or people, around campus that are causing intentional harm to people’s property.
“It is threatening to know that they could have enough time and intention to systematically go to every bike rack on campus,” said junior Kelsey Worthy. “If this was purely out of malice, then that is pretty frightening.”
It appears that the bicycle-tire slashings have been done at random and thus anyone who has a bicycle on campus needs to be aware of these occurrences.
“I hope the response will be taking strong action and awareness towards improving and acting on communal values, respecting each other’s space and our environment, and being aware of ways to develop an intentional community that focuses on integrity, trust, and support and a safe space,” said Schloss.
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