What do you do to put a positive spin on a potentially controversial action? Break out a brush and paint yourself a pretty shade of environmentally friendly green. That's what the University of Miami did when it banned all resident freshmen from keeping cars on campus. To appease the daddy's Mercedes drivers, they invited car-sharing service Zipcar on campus, and started selling green and orange bikes for $59 a piece.
But UM doesn't want you to think this is about planning or a lack of parking spots. They hope to convince you they're Captain Planet.
"This is about changing student and faculty habits, and ultimately changing and saving the planet,'' said UM's vice president for business services Alan Fish to The Herald. Really is that what it's about? Because earlier reports by the campus paper, The Miami Hurricane, quotes school officials giving another reason.
"Parking on the interior of the Coral Gables campus is very limited," said Richard Sobaram, director of parking and transportation services. "Restricting first-year resident students from parking on campus is only one part of an overall strategic plan to ease the parking crunch on campus."
Don't get Riptide wrong, the end result is eco-friendly. But we hate spin. And these guys are making us dizzy.
