UI student leaders committed to safety

Gazette Editorial Board

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Kudos to University of Iowa Student Government leaders for their efforts to provide more safe transportation options for students.

Their proposal - to partner with a local cab company to offer free emergency cab rides for UI students - looks like a positive way to promote student safety and help make sure students get home safely, especially late at night.

It's a compliment to the existing Nite Ride service already offered to university women and a sign of student leaders' commitment to make the UI a safer place for all students.

Student government leaders recently announced they'd like to arrange for as many as two free emergency cab rides each semester to any UI student needing a ride home or to the hospital.

They plan to keep detailed records to make sure the service is not abused.

The idea is part of the “Wingman Safety Campaign” - an initiative designed to increase public safety and awareness among UI students that student leaders have been developing for months.

Student government Vice President Brittany Caplin told a Gazette reporter she doesn't yet know what it will cost to run the free ride program - which student leaders plan to finance out of UISG's own funds.

Right now, they're looking for a company partner, and are working with university officials to collect bids from local taxi services.

There is a substantial demand in the campus community for safe transportation alternatives. Last month alone, 1,778 women used the UI Department of Public Safety's Nite Ride shuttle service, created several years ago in response to a long series of sexual harassment incidents targeting women.

But men also can be victims of violence and crime, as evidenced by the periodic assaults, robberies and other incidents reported to Iowa City and campus police.

Expanding ride alternatives to students of both genders is a worthy use of student government funds.

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