When I returned to Iowa State this fall, I was slightly disturbed by the redesign of some campus sidewalks. I understand attempts have been made to place sidewalks in more logical and well-used locations, but other attempts seem to have been made as well. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m beginning to feel like a caged animal when I walk to class.

You’ve all seen them, and as the years go by they seem to be multiplying. Those little two-chain fences that line more and more campus sidewalks. When I was a freshman there were a few here and there to protect seedlings and to cut off shortcuts through the grass. Now they line both sides of almost every sidewalk I walk on! In a few more years they may as well start connecting them all together for a campus-wide, limited-access sidewalk system.

Now that fall has come around, the “snow fences” arrive. These wooden beauties will grace campus from now until April. Are these really necessary for keeping snow from blowing between Gilman and Physics and across Central Campus?

The true purpose of these “snow fences” has become so apparent by their locations and by how long they are up that there’s really no point in pretending they’re snow fences — they’re just more crowd control for those of us who prefer to walk a straight line between buildings instead of through some ill-designed figure eight.

Kurt Beyer

Senior

Agronomy