University students may have the opportunity to submit designs for an artistic bike rack that could be built in the fall. The ASUO Senate Bike Rack Committee met Wednesday and discussed the future of a $2,500 artistic bike rack to be voted on in the fall. The five senators present decided to propose opening the design to students as a contest; the winning designer will have his or her name printed on a plaque near the bike rack if the Senate votes to construct it during a regular meeting.
The original design, a rack with a metal Oregon “O” in the middle, proved wildly unpopular with the senators.
Upon seeing the design, Senator Monica Irvin was disappointed.
“I’m not gonna pay some guy 400 dollars for that,” she said.
“Oh, it’s more than that,” Senator Athan Papailiou said.
The senators then scribbled possible designs on scrap paper including a rack in the shape of a duck and a tree before Senator Sara Hamilton suggested opening the design to submissions from the student body.
Irvin said the rack will be a gift from the Senate to the campus community; it will promote environmental sustainability and look nice.
The senators expressed enthusiasm at the possibility of putting the rack outside Chiles Business Center because it is a highly populated area.
Hamilton said designing the rack can help students build a portfolio for art schools.
“There’s so many good art students here,” Hamilton said.
Papailiou said anyone can submit a design to his box in EMU suite 4.