It was a memorial no one wanted to organize. Not one of the cycling students wanted to organize a bike memorial for one of their own, but they know they had to. And so on March 7th Jackson, Eve, Jordan and Jaragin organized a bike memorial to  show solidarity for a fallen cyclist. The victim was Ivan Arturo Aguilar, a active 21-year old communications major who was involved with Hermanos Unidos and the Poly Post, was ready to take on the world that lied ahead of him after graduation when his life was cut short on Thursday February 28th, when he was struck head on by a vehicle at 12:45pm. He was pronounced dead later that day at Pomona Valley Hospital.

Hermanos Unidos were invited to speak, raise funds for the family and install a ghost bike for Ivan near the crash site.  Hundreds of students, faculty and local residents gathered for the memorial of Ivan Aguilar and a silent bike ride was held along the site of the accident.

But the memorial was more then a time to gather respect for Ivan. It was also a time (and a chance ) to tell the University that now is the time to make roads safer for students of all mobility. Angered friends- not sure why this happened, why little has been done to calm the traffic on Kellogg Dr- expressed that something needs to happen, something needs to start today to make the campus a safer place for everyone.

Many students, faculty and alumni have stressed how important it is for Cal Poly to become more bike friendly campus and even a Cal Poly Professor and blogger wrote how the campus needs to create better bike infrastructure a week before the accident. In a region where hit-and-run incidents are happening at an alarming rate, a campus should be the last place for it. The City of Pomona might be slow to respond to the changes in the cycling community, but at least it’s in the process of adopting a Bike Master Plan and Cal Poly, a place of progress and growth,  should be the leading example of improving traffic infrastructure for all modes of transit. We look  towards Cal Poly anxiously watching their actions and what they will do to create a safer campus for cyclists, pedestrians and, yes even drivers. Because this campus is for everyone and everyone needs to be safe on any school campus.