LETTER: Umbrella Policy

As the University meets to outlaw bicycles from campus walkways, I urge them to consider one other very important issue -- an open umbrella law. You see, I am a poncho wearer by choice and never use an umbrella; yet when it rains on Penn's beautiful walkways, I must contend with the risk of careless umbrella users. I feel that umbrella users disrupt an otherwise peaceful campus, and a lot of my colleagues and friends have gotten "zinged" by them. Perhaps like bicycles, umbrellas should be outlawed from Locust Walk. Another possibility that the Council should consider is the creation of special umbrella user lanes so that people who chose to enjoy a misty rain must not endure continual probes from careless umbrella users. On second thought, maybe umbrellas and bicycles are necessities for some people. Lots of people who go to class or work in College Hall might not want to get wet. Others may have no cars, choose to save energy and not pollute, try to commute through dangerous Philadelphia neighborhoods as quickly as possible, and have no safe place to lock bicycles (just ask the campus police for stats on bicycle theft). Instead of prohibiting them from our campus walkways, I advocate increased education and enforcement of safer use of umbrellas and bicycles. If I may, I would like to draw on my mother's wisdom for a slogan for the umbrella safety program, "Be careful, you'll poke someone's eye out with that thing." Bicycle riders, please slow down on the walkways; umbrella users, please be careful around other pedestrians; and University Council members, please & consider the needs of all members of our community. RICHARD NIESENBAUM Graduate School of Arts and Sciences '92