Kenyon Collegian

Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Opinion

Yesterday morning, a construction crew began the process of paving the two paths connecting Middle Path and College Road. Conversations across campus-and through all-student emails-turned quickly to the issue of whether Middle Path should be paved as well. It is our belief that it should be.

Middle Path is a large part of what defines Kenyon. The argument that paving Middle Path would somehow rob Kenyon of its uniqueness, or even meaningfully change the character of the path itself, represents a misunderstanding of what Middle Path does for Kenyon. What influences Kenyon's campus culture in a fundamental way is the fact that our campus is united by one practically unavoidable pedestrian highway. Middle Path isn't special because it's unpaved; it's special because it represents a guarantee that even on your busiest day at Kenyon, you'll be sure to see almost everyone you know at least once. As small a college town as Gambier may be, Middle Path makes it smaller. It would take much more than a cement truck to change that.

There are those who argue that such sweeping changes in the campus aesthetic, and the financial commitment they would represent, are disproportionate to the need of the two disabled members of next year's incoming class. To this we say that we hope the College's accessibility goals are not to make life in Gambier merely tolerable for the few individuals willing to brave less-than-ideal conditions. Instead of dismissing concerns about accessibility by arguing that disabled students who chose to attend Kenyon knew what they were signing up for, we should aim to inhabit a campus that gives more disabled students a reason to sign up.

On the aesthetic point, critics of plans to pave Middle Path should note that a paved Middle Path doesn't have to look like a New York City sidewalk. The path can be paved to look like gravel-more so, if desired, than the current stone paths leading to Olin Library and to the Science Quad.

It is not our opinion that Kenyon traditions are overrated. We simply believe that the tradition of Middle Path is not one that would be meaningfully compromised by making it more accessible to all present and future members of the Kenyon community.

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