A banner advertising Zipcar can now be seen hanging over the front stairs of the Mary Graydon Center. Reading "We're in your neighborhood," the sign has attracted attention for being the only off-campus business advertised on campus that is not directly affiliated with the school or with a student group.
AU and Zipcar have a service contract and to promote this program Zipcar gets this advertisement for free, according to the Auxiliary Services Office.
Zipcar is a car-sharing service available in eight U.S. cities. It provides AU students access to two cars in the Nebraska parking lot and one in Tenleytown at the Berkshire apartments.
According to the Zipcar Web site, fees range from $9 to $11 an hour, or $65 a day to rent the various vehicles. Since a person only needs to be 21 years old, rather than the normal 23 for rented vehicles, Zipcar is accessible to college students, but limits their clients primarily to juniors and seniors because of the age limit.
As of 12:45 on Feb. 16, the sign had been removed.
Anya Arthur, contracts manager of the Auxiliary Services office, said the advertisement followed the same rules as any other on campus group and is only advertised in approved locations on campus.
Zipcar advertises by the same guidelines as the student and school groups who have posters hanging inside Mary Graydon Center, Arthur said.
Jake Fitzpatrick, a freshman in the School of International Service, said he feels AU should sell advertising space to private businesses on campus.
"We get brainwashed by ads enough today as it is," Fitzpatrick said. "It wouldn't matter."
Kathleen O'Connell, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she hoped that by selling advertisements the school could lower the cost of tuition, which is now over $29,000 a year, according to the university admissions office Web site.
"If it's as easy as putting up a poster, then sure," O'Connell said. "The school already costs too much"
