Student Affairs at the University of Northern Colorado met with the partnership chair of Spin on Oct. 23, Wednesday evening at the University Center.
The meeting entailed potential talks for a partnership between UNC and Spin, although nothing has officially been decided yet.
Spin is a bicycle-sharing and scooter sharing company that is owned by the Ford Motor Company.
Spin is located in over 53 cities and 17 college campuses in the United States, according to their official website.
Alexis McCowan, a junior at UNC and the director of campus relations, said nothing had been set in stone yet.
“We’ve absolutely made no agreements with anyone yet because I think that’s important to have focused groups of students, just regular students, not people who are involved necessarily within Senate to be able to vote and get their opinions on anything that’s changing this campus,” McCowan said.
McCowan said she hopes to have four focused groups of 10-20 students, so she can get their opinions on Spin and discuss how having scooters on campus would impact student life.
Most of student affairs agreed if they launched the partnership, it would be better to kick it off in the winter or fall opening of next year.
“I would want to do it as an opening so everyone is aware of the scooters, how to work them, the safety precautions and I would want Spin to be apart of our health and safety fair,” McCowan said. “I would want it to be something that is integrated in UNC’s opening life.”
John Lankford, who works as the university partnership chair at Spin, presented a PowerPoint to Student Senate members, with details about Spin’s upcoming plans and goals for the near future.
The PowerPoint consisted of potential free giveaways of helmets for students, if Spin and UNC were to team up.
Spin plans to potentially expand their scooters not only just to UNC, but to the city of Greeley as well.
“When I was talking to John it sounds like that they are trying to do a fell-swoop of UNC and Greeley, but I think they are working on us first because if we say yes, then it’s easier to get the town to say yes,” McCowan said.
Although no official decisions were made, a majority of student affairs agreed in the near future, they would move forward with the partnership.
Humanities and Social Science Senator Hunter Miller, encouraged the idea of UNC partnering up with Spin.
“I think as many ways as UNC can transition into a more functioning university that’s like cool and has fun stuff to do then, yeah I’m all for it,” Miller said.
When discussion about finances for the project came up, Student Senate members discussed potential alternatives for funds.
McCowan said she wants Spin to help sponsor the project in order to get UNC on track with the program.
When asked where most of the profit would go if the partnership is launched, McCowan said Spin would get a majority of the profit because UNC wouldn’t have to pay for the maintenance of the scooters, as well as the charging stations.
“I would like to see if they would be willing to do a Spin scholarship,” McCowan said. “Something that would reintegrate Spin back with the students.”
Senate members brought up the question of who would fix the scooter in case a battery died out and if a student was far from campus.
McCowan would like to have UNC student dispatch teams, specifically trained to fix the scooters, much like the student UNC security that patrols the campus at night.
Many different ideas for where the charging stations would go included being located at the Campus Commons and near central campus.
One council member said it would have been more preferable to put the charging stations near the Commons because of how little traffic occurs around the area surrounding the Commons.
The Campus Commons is located right in the center of UNC, between central and West campus.
If the partnership launched, the price to use a scooter would be $1 a ride and 15 cents per hour for students.
If Spin is adapted to UNC campus, Student Affairs would have to talk with administration on how this development would affect Outdoor Pursuits, according to McCowan.
Student senate meets at 5:30 p.m. every Wednesday and the meetings are free to the faculty and students on campus.
