http://www.statenews.com On May 21, I rode my bike to the MSU Veterinary Medical Center. After a long day, I walked outside to discover that someone had stolen my bike! I walked inside the clinic to get the number of the campus police from the receptionist, only to find out that she had seen an MSU truck with numerous bikes on a trailer pass by. en-us Gryphon 2.2.3b-tsn (woodward)/Foundry5 Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:45:54 -0400 webmaster@statenews.com http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40613 Your such a whiner Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:31:52 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40613 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40622 Actually Wah, that sounds like it pretty much sucks. I’d be pretty upset if i had just parked outside for the day and they’d taken my bike too. Did they break the lock? Are they going to replace it? You need to contact higher ups at the university Jenna, this is completely unacceptable and you should be reimbursed for this immediately. If that doesnt happen, contact ASMSU or other student representatives and they can talk to even higher ups who will make those below wish they’d handled it properly in the first place. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:38:19 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40622 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40623 simple solution: Register Your Bike Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:50:55 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40623 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40628 Instead of publicly whining in the school newspaper, perhaps your efforts would be better served by finding an alternate way to register your bike? Maybe a friend or relative could go for you? The process is simple and fair for the majority of students. It is well documented in various university literature. Your ignorance of university regulations (which one would assume you might have read after four years on campus!) is no justification for waging war on the system and wasting the time of University trustees with your petty concerns. “In the 2007 police division report, I found only about 5,000 bikes were registered. How many people are on this campus? I once read that more than 45,000 people are on campus every day. Compliance with the bike registration ordinance is obviously not happening.” Are vet students no longer required to take statistics? Do you really think all 45,000 university students ride a bike? You do realize that the 45K number includes commuters and people who – gasp – walk to class. Another news flash for you, slick – if you leave your car in an area that it’s not cleared to be in, you’ll get a ticket. And eventually it will be impounded. Your bike is no different. Register. Find the time to do it. Or leave your bike at home. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:19:18 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40628 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40629 here are the regs for you to read. http://www.police.msu.edu/bikeinfo.asp Note that you can register with other organizations as well. Note also the bikes.msu website: http://www.bikes.msu.edu/register/index.html Both of these say you should be register online. If that’s not working for you, then you have a reasonable gripe. Regardless, you violated the regulations and the impound is still your own fault. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:24:31 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40629 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40655 This whole thing is rediculous,(sp) what you had to go through to get your bike, absolutely rediculous. They should make it easier for you to register your bike. Glad to see you are speaking out, I really hope that it helps yourself and others. Good luck in Veterinary School. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:34:44 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40655 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40656 Very good advice Zeke, hope everyone is listening. It could save people from going through the same hassel that the author went through, thank you. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:41:26 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40656 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40659 You’re a fourth year vet med student? You should have known better, quit your whining. If you are truly not available from 7AM to 6PM, you must have never taken a lunch break in your life. I find it very hard to believe that you are constantly doing something for 11 hours straight that you don’t have 15 minutes to spare in your day. Quit your whining, it’s your fault. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:52:23 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40659 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40660 I know what you mean about not having much time in your day to do all the things one needs to do. My life is busy too, but so far I have been able to do the things I want to do. Sadly my life will be much busier and I won’t always have the time I need. ;( So I can relate to the author and I know how hard that it has to be. Especially when you CAN’T be where you want to be. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:59:25 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40660 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40674 Personally, I never registered my bike on campus because I have a really sweet bike and didn’t want to ruin the aesthetics with a sticker. (Seriously.) The trick is just to make sure you know when they’re doing bike sweeps and keep your wheels off campus during those times, or in your office if you have one. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:53:11 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40674 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40713 1) You have been in college for 9 years (really?), I assume you must be resourceful enough to figure out how to get this accomplished, or maybe we just figured out why you been there for NINE YEARS!! 2) You found the time in your busy schedule to go down there during their normal business hours to get your bike back. If you had taken this initiative earlier, you wouldn’t have had this problem in the first place. 3) If getting your bike impounded and having to walk a whole two miles home is the worst thing that’s ever happened to you, congratulations! 4) QUIT WHINING!! The time it took you to write this letter could have probably been better spent on something else that will undoubtedly cause you to whine about something else in the near future. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:51:11 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40713 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40715 You might want to read the letter. She’s a vet med student. You realize that you have to get a bachelors before you can go to vet school, right?. Thus 9 years. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:35:11 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40715 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40722 Smile on this rainy day and find the Joy in your heart. Time is a precious thing. I need to get a bike. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:31:47 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40722 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40731 Thanks for the good advice. I just dont think most students have an office on campus, but I am glad to hear that your bike is sweet. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:03:45 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40731 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40736 Wow! It’s really good to know that so many people read this letter. I understand how it may come across whiney, but let me asure you that I am not usually one to complain. I am just so tired of the parking system at MSU. I have paid enormous tuition fees over the years and have also paid for parking on campus. The parking fees are outrageous! Now they decide that it is okay to take my bike without ticketing me first or at least communicating a day ahead of time?! Communication NEEDS to be better and the hours of the parking service need to change to be more student friendly. Mrs. Foreman NEVER EVEN WENT TO MSU… do you really think that she is the best person for the job? And, yes, I have been at MSU for over 9 years since I have earned a BS, a MS, and now a DVM, so making comments about my intelligence or education are sad attempts to make a point (but thanks for trying). Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:48:32 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40736 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40737 I think the point of this whole article is that the bike owner wasn’t even warned about having her bike taken. I think the university just needs to work on communication before confiscating students’ transportation. Perhaps some kind of warning signs around the bike racks?? I would be pretty upset if I rode to class then walked out to have my bike stolen. And she is right, MSU needs to set up some online registration!!!! Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:03:02 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40737 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40739 I wish you hadn’t written that you were a veterinary student. I appreciate that it is an attempt to ensure the validity of your educational excellence, but it ends up making us look stupid on the whole. I agree that our hours at the clinic on rotations are ridiculous, and it’s frowned upon by many if not most clinicians to take a bop out for anything short of posting your ill mother’s bail at the courthouse, and even eating in any hour near a lunchtime (if at all!) is not guaranteed. So hmmmm up there can just shut up. That or try being a veterinary student. Good luck using your tiny brain then. However, I also must side with the University on this one that most approved bicycle parking areas are denoted with a sign regarding the necessity of bicycle registration, which is after all, free, in stark contrast to the parking for cars on campus, and that somewhere along the line you should have registered or picked up on the fact that at finals week every year, bikes are mass-removed from the campus. We are all, in fact, lucky that the DPPS is too busy writing parking tickets for cars to take the time to impound bikes on all the other 364 days a year. Communication at a university this large will always be a problem, and it’s hard to get tangled in the red tape now and again, it’s true. The fact that the lady at the office wasn’t ever an MSU student, though, is silly. Sympathy for your situation doesn’t come from having been in your exact shoes as a Spartan, it comes from the individual person. So I’m sorry you had to deal with such a stoic and unsympathetic person behind the counter, but again, such is life. And next time, give one of your classmates a call. I’m sure we’d be more than willing to help you with a ride home. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:45:50 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40739 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40741 DVMe, why the annonymous comment? For your information, I was required to give my major in order to publish this letter… it wasn’t by choice. I think that you are missing the point of the letter. Feel free to confront me in the halls of the CVM, face-to-face, instead of on a public forum with a fake name. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:03:52 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40741 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40744 I suspect that you wrote your thoughts down while still in a rage against MSU because nowhere do I see a critical analysis of your own shortcomings that lead to this issue in the first place. You have produced an angry litany against everyone and everything you came into contact with that had even a small part to play throughout your search for a solution. In all the years that you have been an MSU student you never once thought to register your bike (since it is free) and let that be one extra step toward recovering it should it come up missing? Minimal compliance with the system you are referencing does not mean that the policies are wrong or poorly communicated. I suspect many people just do not care enough to pay attention to spring clean up trends or to take the time necessary to register their valuable personal property. Most of these students are not far removed from high school and it is reasonable to suggest they do not have accountability in mind when thinking of their own property, especially not when they lock it up and it seems safe enough. The conclusions you draw from the statistics mentioned are far too broad to be credible. I don’t know if you’re whining, but I identify a distinct lack of any responsibility being taken on your part for the situation you ended up in. The chances that you in no way contributed to your unfortunate circumstance are very low. Also, education and degrees should never be mistaken for pragmatism and wisdom earned through experience. Both are valid, but one does not equal the other. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:54:37 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40744 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40754 DVMe is just pulling your leg. I know him and he likes to ruffle people’s feathers and sit back and laugh when he gets a reaction. He is not one of your fellow students that are becoming a Vet. But I think your response to him was well said. Good luck at all your studies. I enjoyed the letter you wrote, and I am glad that you took the time to write the paper. Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:31:10 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40754 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40783 Hundreds of bikes get left behind on campus every year by students. If people didn’t register them, the same way you register every vehicle at any institution, they wouldn’t know which ones to remove and there would be no room at any of the bike racks. Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:41:26 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40783 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40789 Wow. Last time I registered my bike with MSU, you could do it online. And other than their impounding clean-sweep time of the year, DPPS would put a fluorescent sticker on your bike warning you to get it registered or else. The reason I don’t bike on campus anymore is the lack of respect and safe driving from people operating deathly vehicles with no obvious skills. So maybe we should complain about people almost getting killed by careless drivers. A helmet won’t do much against them. We all hate DPPS. They know it. They have bad hours and drive trucks instead of smart cars or those other little parking-meter-checking go-kart things, and they refuse to change. Complain to the trustees about THAT abuse of tuition. Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:58:07 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/40789 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/41053 Actually, there are in fact warning signs on most bike racks telling you that you need to have your bike registered. Usually, you MUST do this online. I think the reason you ran into trouble registering online is because they ran out of permits to mail for a short time. Check online registry to see if it’s open again. Also, a campus-wide email is sent out before bike impoundment each spring. Perhaps it went to your junk mail folder? Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:42:07 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/41053 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/41064 Without trying to sound rude, Jenna…I think you’re an idiot. Why should you be above any rules and regulations the university has set? Nobody else is, what makes you so special? Your letter and couple responses to others comments are absurd! You’ve been there for 9 years and this is the first time you’ve EVER heard of anything like this happening? You KNEW your bike had to be registered, and this is the first time anything has happened? Consider yourself lucky! I’m wondering what the point of mentioning that Lynette isn’t a graduate of MSU is….what’s that got to do with ANYTHING? That’s like saying that you’re not qualified to work at any vet clinic other than MSU. I worked in the MSU Grounds Department one summer and remember seeing bright tags on bikes for WEEKS before any of them were removed from the racks, which….WEIRD….just so happened to have signs stating that Bicycles Must Be Registered! Get a life, you shoulda seen it coming! Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:23:59 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/41064 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/41140 If they didn’t do these bike sweep…which only happen TWICE a year, they would have thousands upon thousands of abandoned bikes. And how are they going to contact you, you didn’t register your bike?! Are they just going to stand at that spot all day until you get out and say, hey we just wanted to let you know we impounded your bike. Sorry but you are simply an idiot if…first a two mile walk, at MSU, is a terrible occurrence, second AFTER the clean sweep you wouldn’t just initially call anyways knowing or inquiring that they impounded it. And did you not ever wonder what those bright orange papers were that were put on EVERY single bike…even if you didn’t get one on yours, you didn’t look?? Well if you would have they are papers they put on every available bike warning them to register or they would be impounded. And I would say those are pretty damn good hours for the summer…and the past three years I’ve registered my bike I checked this fancy little box that said…send it to me! Hey look at that, they’ll send the FREE little sticker that prevents getting your bike impounded to your door. Quit being so damn lazy. Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:16:57 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/41140 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/41142 Ruffling Feathers….I know you love your bike. ;) Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:21:38 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/41142 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/41162 I have to ask, Jenna, if it is really necessary to exploit any of Mrs.Foreman’s personal life into this matter. What does it matter if she went to State or not? If State is producing minds such as your own, who can’t even manage to register your bike, for free, after 9 years at this University, than maybe it is a good thing she didn’t go to State. Regardless, this is your own personal issue, and clearly everyone at DPPS were simply DOING THEIR JOB, so why the personal attacks on them? What are you possibly going to do with those letters to the trustees? Are you going to attack this woman who provided a very “unproductive discussion” with a client who was unable to read a sign, or are you going to suck it up be responsible next time? Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:45:54 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/41162