Spin scooters have left Athens

from January 27, 2022

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Spin scooters removed from Athens, OU

SOPHIA YOUNG STAFF WRITER

The ever-visible Spin scooters, which have become fxtures littering the sidewalks and walkways of Athens and Ohio University, will not be returning to the area in the spring due to termination of the company’s partnership with the city.

Spin scooters launched on OU’s campus in the spring of 2020, offering transportation to students and local residents for a $1 fee per ride and $0.29 charge per minute. Some students found the scooters a fun and accessible way to travel in the area.

“I thought they were really fun,” Evie Henderson, a junior studying psychology pre-med, said. “They’re just kind of nice to be able to go around to class and stuff, or if you’re in a hurry.”

Dylan DeMonte, a sophomore studying political science, said he frequently spotted students using the scooters during warm weather. However, DeMonte thinks students can fnd other modes of transportation, like bikes, to use in the scooters’ absence.

Though the scooters will no longer be an option for local transportation, OU Director of VPFA Auxiliary Services Tia Hysell said university students and workers can still travel for free via other modes of transportation, including CATCAB, daily campus shuttles and Athens Public Transit.

“While we are disappointed that the e-scooters won’t be a micro-mobility option this spring, we continue to offer a variety of ways for students, faculty and staff to get around campus and the surrounding Athens community if they’d rather not walk,” Hysell said in a university news release.

According to an announcement on the company’s website, Spin is restructuring its global business model and exiting nearly all open-permit markets, including Athens. The decision was informed by the uncertainty of the “free-for-all” market, characterized by no feet caps, frequent competitive changes and low pricing sacrifcing quality.

Moving forward, the company plans to prioritize proftable growth and focus on operational standards in sole vendor or limited vendor markets, Spin Spokesperson Sara Dodrill said. Operations will begin to dwindle in countries such as Spain and Portugal as early as Feb. 2022.

“By gaining the regulatory certainty that cities provide us via limited vendor permits, Spin will be able to continue investing in the infrastructure, technological, and operational innovations needed to make high quality shared micro-mobility services a permanent part of the transportation ecosystem,” Ben Bear, CEO of Spin, said in the announcement.

The decision will affect Spin employees, with an estimated 25% impacted by the shift. The company is attempting to mitigate impact by offering severance packages, additional stipends for outplacement services and allowing employees to keep their company-issued laptops.

In recent years, micromobility, such as e-scooters, have increased in popularity as an effcient and eco-friendly way to travel short distances. Typically found in larger cities and on college campuses, they operate via virtual payment and charge a bythe-minute rate for use.

However, the university still offers a shared mobility program that encourages city-licensed vendors interested in operating on campus to apply for a partnership.

The city plans to prioritize alternative transportation going forward as well.

“The City of Athens will continue to evaluate the best ways to create and promote alternative modes of transportation throughout the City, including e-scooters and shared bike programs,” Athens Service Safety Director Andy Stone said in a release.

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How high filtration masks slow spread of COVID-19, may impact pollution

PAIGE FISHER FOR THE POST

Ohio University recently announced its change to masking requirements, encouraging the use of surgical, KN95, N95 or KF94 masks to help slow the spread of COVID-19, but the decision comes with both pros and cons.

James Gaskell, health commissioner at the Athens City-County Health Department, said the N95 and KN95 are the “golden standard” for masks.

“With omicron circulating in addition to the delta variant and causing an unprecedented rise in cases, the COVID-19 environment is very different than it was for Fall Semester,” Gillian Ice, special assistant to the president for public health operations, said in an email. “The current environment necessitates a more rigorous approach to prevention.”

Surgical masks are not as effective as N95 and KN95 masks, but they are more preventative in curbing transmission compared to homemade or cloth masks, Gaskell said.

“Cloth masks … prevent you from delivering the virus but don’t protect you so much from receiving it,” Gaskell said. “They (cloth masks) are about 60% effective at blocking viral transmission.”

Surgical masks have a higher efficacy rate at 99%, and they prevent people from expelling droplets into the environment, Gaskell said. Research also suggests they are about only 75-80% effective in preventing reception of the virus, he said.

Sam Crowl, associate director of sustainability at OU, said as of right now, it is hard to determine how much of an impact disposable masks have had on the environment.

“The main thing for me is I make sure that I dispose of them (masks) properly,’’ Crowl said. “They cause a problem like any other plastic.”

Crowl also said when surgical masks are not disposed of properly, they are likely to break down into microplastics and end up in waterways, which is a major problem currently impacting the environment.

“The masks that I see that are litter that bother me are mostly surgical masks,” Crowl said. “When those are in the gutter, they’re most likely to end up in our stormwater system, putting down our drains, which just run to the Hocking River.”

Even though disposable surgical masks may contribute to increased pollution since the pandemic started, they are also easily accessible to the general public.

Gaskell said the health department is not using N95 masks due to the availability and necessity for them in hospitals. Rather, the health department is using surgical masks and supplying them to individuals who enter the department with a cloth mask on.

“The N95s are more expensive, they’re harder to obtain because the hospitals are using them a lot,” Gaskell said. “In general, I’d advise surgical masks.”

According to a previous Post report, masks are available to students at the fourth-floor service desk in Baker University Center, on the second and fourth-floor service desks in Alden Library and at Ping Recreation Center.

Individuals with disabilities who do not have an approved exemption and are unable to adhere to the new facial covering requirements are able to request an accommodation through the Office for University Accessibility, Ice said.

“With omicron circulating in addition to the delta variant and causing an unprecedented rise in cases, the COVID-19 environment is very different than it was for Fall Semester.”

- Gillian Ice, special assistant to the president for public health operations, said in an email.

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Ohio University students wear N95 masks while going through Baker University Center on Wednesday, Jan. 17. (CLAY STARK | FOR THE POST)

Campus recovery resources provide support, advocate visibility

ISABEL NISSLEY

SLOT EDITOR

Ohio University’s Collegiate Recovery Community lounge, or CRC, is situated in the eastern corner of Baker University Center. The space is small, flled with tables, a television and pamphlets with titles like “Am I An Addict?” On its door, the CRC’s mission is written: “Recovery to inspire, share and empower.”

Though the CRC lounge, Baker 313, is distanced from open spaces and escalators where most university traffc occurs, it is a resource with potential to serve a large demographic impacted by substance use disorders: students.

Full-time college students are more likely to meet the criteria for having a substance use disorder than their peers not attending university but are less likely to seek out recovery services, according to a 2019 study led by Justine W. Welsh, director of Emory Healthcare Addiction Services.

Low alcohol prices, high concentrations of bars, academic stresses, desire for peer approval, availability of drugs, Greek life, the pandemic and fnancial issues create additional risk factors for students to encounter substance use disorders on college campuses. Simultaneously, university culture constructs overuse of addictive substances to be relatively acceptable, said Divya Warrier, graduate assistant for alcohol and other drugs programming at OU’s Offce of Health Promotion.

Use of drugs or alcohol is not inherently negative, Warrier said. However, repeated overuse of such substances can become harmful to students’ academic, health and behavioral wellbeing.

“A lot of times when people get addicted to something … they start losing things,” Ann Addington, coordinator of the CRC, said. “They start losing relationships, money, just trust in other people and things like that.”

OU houses a number of services aimed at addressing the needs of students with substance use disorders; the CRC hosts a weekly recovery support group called RISE, the Offce of Health Promotion presents recovery ally training to groups upon request and Counseling and Psychological Services facilitate an alcohol screening/intervention and offer some behavioral health options.

However, despite the prevalence of substance use disorders among college students, a relatively small number seek out recovery resources from OU, Addington said. Addington facilitates RISE meetings and sees between 10 and 15 students attend the support group weekly.

Both the CRC lounge and weekly support meetings provide recovering students with connections to their peers and aim to create a stigma-free atmosphere in a substance-heavy college town.

“I think the biggest thing that students get out of being in the CRC is their sense of belonging,” Addington said. “It’s really hard when you’re on a college campus and trying to stay sober or not do drugs. It’s almost as if you’re in a hostile environment.”

The hostility and stigma that surround addiction can contribute to students not seeking out recovery resources.

“I think things like the Health Promotion Offce and the Collegiate Recovery Community are almost hidden,” Warrier said. “We don’t want to promote that because we don’t want to admit that students have it here on our campus. And I think that kind of contributes to the stigma.”

Mental and behavioral health treatments for substance use disorders are also relatively limited at OU. For every one clinical staff member, intern, clinical graduate assistant or trainee employed by OU Counseling and Psychological Services, there are nearly 600 students that have the ability to seek out their services, according to 2021 Spring Semester enrollment data and the Counseling and Psychological Services online staff list.

“I know not only at our university, but at universities nationwide, that there is a greater demand for behavioral health care than universities can support or choose to support,” said Rebekah Crawford, visiting professor of social and public health. “The number I’ve heard anecdotally, for instance here at Ohio University, is that there’s a six week wait to get in to see anybody for behavioral health concerns here on campus.”

Substance use disorders are common within college communities, but stigma, as well as undersupported and underutilized resources, can create distinct challenges for students wanting to recover. Some students must even decide between recovery and education, with a number being forced to drop out.

Formal on-campus efforts such as the CRC or CPS provide concrete support networks for students who can access them. Warrier, Addington and Crawford also advocate the power interpersonal interactions can have in promoting health at OU, such as checking in on friends, talking about addiction in a nonjudgmental matter and promoting recovery resources.

“Even a small candle in a dark cave can make a lot of light,” Crawford said. “And so I think talking about it, defning it and helping people understand the social determinants that connect them to risks and vulnerability goes a really long way towards dispelling these ideas that a person only is on the hook for their own pain.”

If a student or someone they know is suffering from a substance abuse disorder, contact the OU Counseling and Psychological Services hotline at 740-593-1616 and press one, or the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration hotline at 1-800-662-4357.

The RISE (Recovery to Inspire, Share and Empower) Space in Baker Center. (RYAN GRZYBOWSKI | FOR THE POST)

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Baker Center Wednesday Acoustic shows feature local artists, Appalachian music

RILEY RUNNELLS CULTURE EDITOR

When walking through Baker University Center on a normal afternoon, students, faculty and members of the community are often met with monotonous escalator rides getting them from one place to another. Take a walk through Baker Center on Wednesday afternoons, however, and people are serenaded with music of the region.

The Wednesday Acoustic shows, sponsored by the Campus Involvement Center and OHIO Live and curated by Bruce Dalzell, feature local artists performing acoustic sets entirely free to anyone who wants to come and watch every Wednesday from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

The event started as an idea from Corbin Marsh, assistant director of programming, and Andrew Holzaepfel, senior associate director for student activities, when they were brainstorming how to improve some of the past, smaller Baker Center shows that were lacking in attendance.

“We thought that this would be a different approach to it … a fun way to add color to Baker Center,” Marsh said.

Rather than having people RSVP or sit in assigned seats, the Wednesday Acoustic shows are an open audience plan. People can sit down in the chairs if they want to, whether to watch the show or study while listening to the music, or they can hear the musicians throughout the building while walking to their next destination. Marsh’s fi rst thought was, because the show is during lunchtime, that people can enjoy their lunch while watching the show and just take a break from work or class. In that same vein, though not affi liated, Wednesday Acoustic shows are around the same time as the University Program Council’s “Flavor of the Week” event, where the group chooses a cooking style of a particular region and provides free food for anyone interested. Marsh encourages people to grab a plate and relax while watching the show.

However, the other appeal to the shows, apart from the lunchtime convenience, is the break in monotony from walking through Baker Center every day and seeing the same scenery.

“It adds some color and life to the building, and a fun thing to add to the building where people are either just passing through or working in their offi ces,” Marsh said.

Those who plan these shows not only got creative for the audience members but also provided a space for local artists to play their own music or covers of music they like.

One such artist is Megan Bee, a singer-songwriter in the Americana folk genre, who has performed at several of OU’s shows, including the Wednesday Acoustic.

“It’s just a unique opportunity to perform in the Baker Center in the middle of the day when people aren’t necessarily expecting there to be music,” Bee said. “It’s just nice – breaks up the regular week a little bit.”

Bee got involved with these shows through Dalzell, with whom she’s in a songwriters group. They connected through the group, and she had recorded a few songs at his studio, so he encouraged her to perform in the Wednesday Acoustic shows.

Though she takes every performance as an opportunity for connection between her and the audience, Bee thinks there’s something special about the Wednesday Acoustic shows.

“I think part of the fun of the Wednesday show is – some people come because they know it’s happening and other people are just passing by and don’t know what’s happening – to witness the surprise on their face as they’re passing by on the escalator or stopping on their way somewhere else,” Bee said.

One of the groups that performed at the Wednesday Acoustic show was the Corndoggers, a duo playing folk music. Two of the audience members felt a very particular connection with the music the Corndoggers played.

“I was just going to go buy a sweatshirt for my mom, and I heard the sound of Appalachia here and just thought I’d stop by and sit and watch it,” Logan Neal, a freshman studying aviation, said.

Neal sent a video of the performance to Ethan Scott, one of his friends at OU who he also went to high school with, and Scott decided to stop by and watch.

“We’re both from the outskirts of Athens,” Scott, a freshman studying integrated social studies, said. “We grew up with this – this is familiar stuff. It’s cool that it’s being brought to OU.”

Marsh, Bee, Neal and Scott all encourage people to come to the Wednesday Acoustic shows to get a taste of Appalachian music and support local artists.

“Hearing songs like this with a lot of soul makes you think you’re at a cookout with your whole family having a beer, dancing, eating some pulled pork sandwiches or something. It just makes you feel good,” Neal said.