A student initiative would provide safe, sober rides back to campus for students unable to drive.

The resolution was first voted on and passed by the Student Union Senate and then approved by the executive branch of Student Union.

“The purpose of the Designated Bears Sober Driver Program is to facilitate a safe and accessible commuting environment by providing free nonjudgmental rides to Washington University students who lack a safe method of transportation home,” the program’s mission statement stated.

Currently, the program is scheduled to run on Tuesday and Thursday nights, which according to David Schlichter, D-Bears founder, traditionally are popular nights for students to go off campus. However, he said he is open to expanding or changing the offered nights.

According to Student Union President Neil Patel, the program will initially cost $60,000.

“It definitely is a lot of money, but I don’t think the idea is for Student Union to fund the entire amount, but instead to seek outside sponsorship,” said Patel.

Schlichter, a senior, said he is working with the Office of Alumni and Development to contact St. Louis companies for donations. He hopes to get companies like Anheuser-Busch and Enterprise Rent-a-Car involved in the program.

“I see no reason why Enterprise would not want to support this program when it supports similar programs in other cities, and this is their home city,” said Schlichter. “Everyone can do their part to help out.”

According to Schlichter, this initiative requires many necessary costly items. As of now, the estimated basic operating budget includes five rented cars, seven cell phones, insurance and other related costs and supplies.

Although D-Bears would cost more than other student programs, Schlichter said that he thinks it would be worth the money.

“Some may say the cost of this program is a lot of money, but it’s worth it if it saves a life,” said Schlichter.

D-Bears has already garnered community-wide support.

“Now more than ever this program is a necessity for our campus,” stated Rachel Fitz, president of Women’s Panhellenic Association, in a letter of support. “Since safety issues have inflated, women especially have been less willing to walk alone at night. [This] creates new problems. How are students who live in Greenway going to get home on a Friday night if they have no one with whom to walk?”

Both Patel and Student Union Vice-President Rebecca Forman said Student Union supports the creation of D-Bears at the University.

“As a whole we completely and absolutely support it. If we didn’t support this, it wouldn’t have gone to another level [in Student Union],” said Forman.

However, Patel said that some individuals within Student Union think this service could send the wrong message to students. With the security of a designated driver, the program may unintentionally encourage students to drink more.

“Some people are worried that it could provide more of an incentive to drink and drive, but the majority of people were for it,” said Patel.

“This is a program where young students can set up and take initiative and determine what it’s going to be,” said Schlichter.

Popularity: 1% [?]

 Print This Post

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 at 12:00 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.