Aiden Feltman
Contributing Writer
Every year, Sewanee teems with bikes. Whether the community owns or rents bicycles, they are a mainstay on campus. Students and faculty use them for a variety of different reasons, whether it be exploring the domain, or simply making it to class.
Just as it has become more of an everyday occurrence for bikes to be seen on campus, student bike owners have also been subject to a more disheartening trend. Students say now that bikes are being stolen or tampered with at a more substantial rate than ever before.
Every week, it seems as if a new student is missing their belongings. Yik Yak has been flooded with complaints about how a bike that was put in a shed has disappeared through the night.
Trezevant Hall resident Henry Kirtley (C ‘29), who dug his bike out of Trezevant Lake one Sunday morning, said, “I moved my bike into my room this past weekend” because he “didn’t feel comfortable leaving it out at night anymore.” Bikes being thrown in the lake is unfortunately nothing new. It’s a common topic of conversation among Trezevant residents that the lake is a dumping ground for bicycles and bike parts.
Even though Sewanee has an honor code that all students sign to abide by, some people seem to think bikes are beyond jurisdiction. The Honor Code states that “any adequate conception of honor demands that an honorable person shall not lie or cheat or steal.” This puts anyone who tampers with or steals a bike in direct violation of the Honor Code, making the action a punishable offense legally and scholastically. Kirtley said this was the most upsetting part about the entire situation. “It was simple enough for me to track it back down. It’s the idea that I even had to go looking for it that annoyed me.”
The Sewanee Police department has also seen an increase in bike and scooter theft this semester. Investigator Walter Jordan told The Sewanee Purple that so far this year, there have been 16 missing bike or scooter reports, the highest in the past three years. In one of these cases, police were able to find the identity of the perpetrators, and cooperated with local forces to arrest them.
Jordan added that most bike thefts on the Mountain are a “crime of opportunity.” This means that the culprits of bike theft often aren’t out for a specific person, but instead see bikes that are left vulnerable without proper safety measures.
Prevention can be as simple as registering bicycles so they can be tracked down more easily if they go missing, Jordan said. But above all, he added, “just put a lock on it.”