here & now
Senior Eric Pfaff used a Sustainability Fellowship Grant to start a bicycle co-op on campus.
Campus bike co-op gets rolling
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t is not just PLU employees who are seeking better, more sustainable and less expensive ways of getting to and from campus. Students are thinking about this too. And one student, with a few abandoned bikes, is doing something about it. Senior Eric Pfaff opened PLU’s first bike co-op this fall, an opportunity for students to run errands, commute to work or school, or otherwise get around without having to fill up a gas tank. And, it’s healthy. The program was kick-started with 4 PLU SCENE WINTER 2008 > HERE & NOW
the donation of nine bicycles that had been sitting unused in Harstad Hall’s basement for more than two years – presumably abandoned by former students. Pfaff and his team started fixing up the bicycles for use by the co-op. After working out the fee structure and liability issues, Pfaff said most of the bikes were rented out on a per-semester basis, at a fee of no more than $20 a semester. The goal, after all, is to get people bicycling – not make money. The co-op will be more than just rentals. “The ultimate goal of the co-op is to develop more of a bicycle culture on campus,” said Pfaff.
PLU and the postAmerican world
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LU President Loren J. Anderson told an audience of academics and university staff in September that PLU is right on point in educating our students for a changing world. It’s a world, he added, that faces higher oil prices and a lower standard of living as a crowded globe tries to survive on fewer resources. “It’s been a shocking year for the global village,” Anderson said, marking his 17th State of the University address titled “PLU and the Post-American World.”