The Blair Fence
Robert Proudfoot
Issue date: 10/26/05 Section: features
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Versus Magazine Online [Image based format]
"Chancellor Gee, take down this fence," has recently been a repeated phrase from the Blair student body this year. This September, the Office of Traffic and Parking (OTAP) and the Vanderbilt University Police Department (VUPD) installed a three and half foot tall steel fence on Children's Way Street, separating Blair and Highland Quad.
"It is the biggest inconvenience I have found at Vanderbilt," sophomore Daniel Jansen said.
The new fence forces Blair students, who usually cross in the middle of Children's Way St., to walk around the fence. A large number of students choose to climb the fence instead of walking to the end of the street.
"People have face planted," said sophomore Anna Glaser to describe students falling face first.
The fence was installed to decrease the likelihood that students would be hit by car traffic. On Children's Way St., there have been a number of close calls for Blair students, faculty and other pedestrians crossing with speeding oncoming traffic. Bill Wiggins, a Percussion Professor in Blair and a member of the OTAP committee, raised awareness about this dangerous situation. VUPD and OTAP responded by installing a fence to keep pedestrians from crossing in the middle of street to increase safety. Blair students have been opting to climb over the fence, regardless of potential health risks.
"I have not heard of any hospitalizations," said Jansen when referring to the fence climbing.
Even the Dean of Blair, Mark Wait, thought there was going to be cross walk through the middle of the fence and street. At the Dean Assembly, where Blair students and Dean Wait openly had dialogue about pressing issues, he voiced this concern while listening to discussion solely about the much-disliked fence.
"Dean Wait does not know why the fence was chosen over the other options," confirmed Glaser when discussing the Dean's Assembly.
John Ballard, a junior in Blair, summarizes the overwhelming student opinion, "What they need to do is find an effective way to slow down car traffic instead of penalizing us. It just created another problem by solving it the wrong way."