Drivers lose dollars

The University should help provide safe rides home by funding WatchDawgs.

For the last eight years, University students who found themselves in dire need of a ride home from downtown at 1:30 on a Saturday morning knew a name they could rely on – WatchDawgs.

Unfortunately, the valuable service that so many Athenians have safely used to get home is going into hibernation. The loss of its main financial supporter and the apartment it operated from will keep WatchDawgs’ shuttles off the streets for the semester.

In 2007, a series of reported rapes by a man posing as an Athens cab driver made it clear students can never be too cautious when hopping into a taxi. Zingo, a service that uses clients’ cars to drive them home, is another alternative to drunk driving. But it’s also expensive and impractical to students without cars.

WatchDawgs has not officially closed up shop, but several needs should be met before its shuttles can begin running again.

The University should allow WatchDawgs to operate out of an office in the new Tate Student Center. Much of WatchDawgs’ funds were spent on the exorbitant fee of renting an off-campus apartment.

The University also should allow SGA to allocate funds to WatchDawgs. The administration’s prior refusal to do so is based on its reluctance to back a group that it says supports underage drinking.

However, underage drinkers are only a small portion of those who use WatchDawgs.

Kudos to WatchDawgs for refusing to kowtow to the University’s insistence on taking a position against underage drinking.

We also find a contradiction in the administration’s amnesty policy. If the University is willing to overlook an underage drinking violation if someone’s life is in danger, it should overlook the same violation if someone is choosing not to drive drunk.

We know how important it is to reduce our “party school” image. A more pressing matter, however, is the safety of our students. Anything that keeps drunk drivers off the road is worthy of University funds.

- Drew Wheatley for the editorial board