Brave Students Dodge Golf Carts, Scooters on Campus

Marist students commute on foot all the time; however, utility vehicles and electric scooters are proving as dangerous and unhelpful additions to the student experience.

Golf carts often take up the majority of walking paths on campus. Photo by Owen Whelan '27

The uniform is AirPods and sneakers, and the goal is getting to class — each day, Marist College students leave their dorms and townhouses to embark on their missions to class on foot, some with disabilities or impairments. These walkers stand in the face of an epidemic on campus: scooters, golf carts and mopeds fly by these brave souls, and yet they beat on, dodging or walking aside from these wheeled devils.

Marist’s transportation department supplies vehicles such as Club Car’s Carryall models, which can gain top speeds of 25 miles per hour, about ten times as fast as our student heroes walk. Choke points on campus, like the one near the Steel Plant at the passenger bridge, mean that golf carts and people have no choice but to duke it out. Some students with aids like rollators may have difficulty swerving and ducking out of the way of golf carts, especially with the narrow paths of campus prevalent. At these choke points, it may be impossible.

Some students have gone as far as to betray their walking comrades, purchasing electric scooters and similar vehicles. GOTRAX scooters are a popular pick, with options under $1,000, allowing for speeds of anywhere from 20 to 28 miles per hour. 

Understandably, some students may not be able to bear some of Marist’s commutes, such as the grueling four-tenths of a mile from Upper Fulton to the Dyson Center or the exhausting three-tenths of a mile from Midrise to Fontaine Hall. GOTRAX also offers sit-down options for students who feel like emulating Mario Kart on the Marist campus and whizzing by plebeian pedestrians.

These brave foot soldiers have reported that their adversaries can be frustrating, saying that they may “spawn out of nowhere.” 

Golf carts also get stolen, meaning that you can’t always be sure the person behind the wheel is Marist-approved. Marist banned e-scooters in all buildings during the last academic year, eliminating the threat of getting hit while trying to pick up food from the Cabaret.

Some students decide to use headphones or earbuds to listen to music to make their commute more pleasant. This only increases the risk of being hit by a campus vehicle, especially with the popularization of active noise canceling. 

Many students on electric scooters also wear earbuds or headphones themselves; while it’s not prohibited, taking away your hearing on a vehicle can be considered distracting and inhibit one’s ability to operate a vehicle.

Fortunately, not every golf cart is to be greatly feared. The Student Nighttime Auxiliary Patrol is a student-run safety organization on campus that uses utility vehicles to safely transport students on campus. If a student feels unsafe at night, this service helps them get home with peace of mind. Having golf carts available for emergencies on campus, where quick access across different areas is crucial, would make stepping aside for them more reassuring.

How can we thwart this campus threat of utility vehicles and pedestrians sharing sidewalk space? Something they won’t expect from us is going off the sidewalk, walking across fields on campus and taking shortcuts because it is faster and safer for the students. You can turn off noise canceling on your headphones to hear vehicles coming and walk on the sides of paths to leave room for wheeled menaces to take the center.

It could be worth considering limiting the number of wheels on campus. Reserving golf cart usage to programs such as SNAP or for emergencies could keep them used for important reasons and make walking on campus safer. In the meantime, the resilience of those who continue to bravely navigate campus on foot will just have to do.