RIPON Wis.
A tiny liberal arts college here hopes it has found an answer to a nagging shortage of campus parking: a bicycle giveaway.
If incoming freshmen promise not to bring a car to campus for a full year, Ripon College will give them a Trek 820 mountain bike, a helmet and a lock a $400 value.
“We’re a residential college with a beautiful, historic campus in the middle of a small town,” said President David Joyce, an avid cyclist. “Paving it over was not an option I was willing to consider.”
He hopes the 1,000-student campus’ “Velorution Program” will protect it from building more parking lots.
“We obviously live in a car culture. That’s not about to change,” Joyce said. “But if a significant number of students learn that a car isn’t a necessity at this stage of their lives, that’s good enough for me.”
Last fall, for the first time in Ripon College history, the number of parking permit applications exceeded the 400 permits available, Joyce said. The city approved a measure to close overnight street parking on every street through and adjacent to the campus.
