via campusreform:
- Students at Binghamton University are calling on the school to reinstate its Safe Ride program during late night to early morning hours.
- The students demanded the service’s return to help keep them safe.
- The calls come just two months after the university announced plans to defund the police.
Binghamton University announced in June that they are reallocating a portion of the campus police department’s budget to other campus services such as “mental health.” Just two months later, students are now petitioning the university to provide them with car rides home at night to make them “feel safe.”
Specifically, students at Binghamton are calling for the school to resume its “Safe Ride” program.
Safe Ride is a form of on-campus transportation provided by the university from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. during the school year. If students feel unsafe walking on the campus between these hours, they can call this service and be driven to their destination.
The program is run by the Binghamton’s Transportation and Parking Services, but it was not scheduled to operate this fall because of coronavirus safety concerns. The university stated that “the size of the vehicles does not allow for social distancing, creating a risk to student drivers.”