On Aug. 20, Dean of Students Nicole Loyd emailed the Moravian University community with an important announcement: the university was banning the use of Personal Electric Vehicles (PEVs) on campus.
PEVs refer to electric scooters or other types of personal transportation in the same sense as, say, a Segway or hoverboard. At Moravian, they had become a quick solution for getting around campus, especially for student-athletes rushing between their courses, practices, and training sessions. Campus Police estimates there were fewer than 40 on campus pre-ban.
On Aug. 14, a malfunctioning scooter caught on fire outside the Steel Athletic Complex. Neither the rider nor the building were harmed, but the small fire did compel the university to institute a ban on the use of scooters on campus grounds for safety reasons.
This isn’t the first time concerns about PEVs have been raised. In an August 31, 2024, email, Loyd noted the increased number of scooters on campus and asked users to adhere to a list of responsible-use behaviors, to avoid having to ban scooters from campus entirely. Among them: registering vehicles with Campus Police, not riding vehicles inside buildings or on lawns and walkways, and not parking vehicles in ways that block entrances to buildings and sidewalks.
Two months later Loyd wrote that some scooter riders were ignoring the new expectations. “Every day, students ride scooters in campus buildings (residential and classroom) and on sidewalks which poses a danger for riders and pedestrians,” she said in an email to the campus. “In some locations, hallway carpets are purposefully destroyed by skidding.”
Despite the violations and property damage, the university still did institute a ban on PEVs. But in August, when the lithium-ion battery that powered an electric scooter caught fire while a student was riding it, the university felt it had to act. The potential of PEV batteries to catch fire endangers riders, bystanders, and buildings, Loyd wrote in a final email. “Our priority is the safety of this community. Effective immediately, PEVs will no longer be permitted for use, storage, or charging anywhere on campus.”
Not all Moravian students are celebrating the ban. Some, like public health major Jordan Maldonado, ‘29, admit the concern for safety is valid, but feel that the decision went a bit too far. “As much as I know it’s for my own safety, I’d want to get around quicker without relying on the shuttle,” he said.
Others echoed a similar mix of frustration and understanding for the ban. “It makes sense to ban them,” said English major Grace Calandra ’26. “But the reasoning behind them being about lithium batteries is silly when you think about them being dangerous when vapes exist.”
Some weren’t even aware a ban was a possibility. Finance major Chris Petit-Frere, ’28, said he relied on a scooter to get from his dorm to the Bahnson Center in minutes. While he admitted that he saw why the administration acted, he felt “it was a little unnecessary.”
Others, however, welcomed the change. For art major May Braun ’28, scooters were more a nuisance than anything. “I hated having to be on guard just to get to class,” she said, adding that the PEV’s unpredictable presence—sometimes even turning up on Comenius’ steps—made the concern valid.
For now, the PEV trend has come to a halt on Moravian’s campus, making students safer, but leaving some longing for another way to zip across North and South Campus.
