Column by Zac Kiser

For the past couple weeks, I have been debating on what campus or national issue to write my first column of the semester about. During the many failed attempts and many late nights staring at a blank word document, I slowly began to come to a shocking conclusion about the atmosphere and state of affairs here at UK. Oddly enough, the river of controversy that usually winds its way through our campus has gone dry; the water is all gone for now. But instead of sitting back to enjoy this time of peace, harmony and general quiet that has settled over the campus, I figured it was my duty to preview three upcoming controversies that will be coming to a UK campus near you in the coming weeks and months.

Leading off the fall season will be UK Parking and Transportation Services enforcing the new bike permit ordinance/rule/law. If you’re a freshman or an upper classman who was under a rock last semester, let me bring you up to speed on what I am talking about.

Early last spring, Parking and Transportation proposed implementing a mandatory bike permit rule. The permit would be a lifetime permit and cost a one-time fee of around $15 or $20. Many students on campus saw this as another desperate attempt by the university to squeeze even more pennies out of our empty purses and wallets.

After a few weeks of student protest and uproar, Parking and Transportation announced that the permit system would be put into action, sans the fee. So, in essence, UK is forcing you to participate in a free bike identification system that forces you to surrender information such as color and the serial number of your bike to be used in the event that your bike is ever “lost or stolen.” Failure to affix the permit to your bike may result in your bike being ticketed or possibly impounded, which would then require a fee to retrieve your bike. Look for this issue to jump back onto the burner after the first round of mass impoundments happen on campus.

If you’re new to this campus, you have probably heard several references to the upcoming campuswide ban on all forms of tobacco. Starting in mid November, UK will follow suit with the medical center next door and ban all forms of tobacco (including snuff, and other smokeless tobacco products) on UK grounds. With all the talk we have heard about this, there has never been any mention of a concrete system that the university plans to use to enforce this policy. Though it may be easy to enforce the ban on smoking, it will be a logistical nightmare to enforce the policy as it applies to smokeless tobacco. Look for tobacco users to fill the pages of the Kernel this October and November with nicotine-stained letters and e-mails voicing their distaste for this new “progressive” policy. I foresee this policy to assume the rank among the same policy that supposedly bans alcohol on campus, which is hardly ever enforced in and around Commonwealth Stadium on football game days.

The final preview is not a specific upcoming controversial issue, but a collage of issues and sources that could become controversial. It could be the revival of the library hours/budget debate, an issue I predicted last year would rear its head again. Student Government, a usual plethora of controversy and debacle, is sure to provide a few logs to throw on the fire of controversy here on campus. Let’s hope that newly-elected SG President Ryan Smith will break with tradition and run a relatively controversy-free government that truly looks out for the best needs of the students. But if that happened, what would I have to write about? My hope for positive progress is always in constant competition with my desire to write a good opinion column.

Look for these and other attractions coming to your university in the coming weeks and months.