A student-funded program that gives free rides to intoxicated students has been put on probation and is under investigation for having alcohol in its office for the second time in five months.
Student government has placed the student-run Designated Driver Shuttle on probation for the next year so the group’s practices, hiring techniques and general operation can be closely monitored.
A custodial worker found alcohol containers in the trash while cleaning on Thursday, Sept. 22, and reported the findings to the Department of Public Safety.
Five months ago, a student from Assault Prevention Shuttle reported seeing two dispatchers drinking beer in the DDS office. The student said employees may have been drinking for an hour to an hour and a half because they were not answering the phones.
“I believe that the people from last year were removed. It’s not the same ones; I know that,” Student Judicial Affairs Director Chris Loschiavo said. “The issue that needs to be addressed is that there was alcohol in the office for the second time in five months.”
To monitor DDS, the ASUO will be calling the office regularly to make sure it is operating and will sit in the vans to ensure they are not being overloaded, which are problems DDS has had in the past, ASUO Programs Administrator David Goward said.
DPS did not file a report this time because no one was caught drinking, but University officials are investigating.
Loschiavo said the students who were drinking didn’t work for DDS; they were asked by an employed driver to help with dispatching. Loschiavo said if the driver cooperates with investigators he probably won’t be fired.
“My understanding is that he said, ‘You all are helping me out; there can’t be any drinking here; you’re just dispatching me to wherever people need a ride,’” Loschiavo said.
DDS Director Travis Edwards said he has “absolutely no comment,” but he later told the Emerald “nobody knows exactly what’s going on right now.”
As of Tuesday evening, Loschiavo said Edwards had not yet contacted Student Judicial Affairs, which is handling the punishments.
Last year, DDS Co-Director Katy Lang, who stepped down not long after the incident in May, met with Student Judicial Affairs to find a solution to the problem.
“The first steps need to be taken within a group to reconcile whatever problems they have,” ASUO President Adam Walsh said.
The University administration, Student Judicial Affairs, ASUO and the EMU are involved in the investigation, Goward said.
He said the ASUO will monitor DDS for the next year to ensure it is following ASUO guidelines, state law and “just basic common sense.”
“If they are not abiding by the Green Tape Notebook, not abiding by their mission statement or bringing bad press to either the ASUO, that program or the University, we will be stepping in this year to prevent that from happening,” Goward said.
If DDS is not cooperative or if the problem arises again in the next year, the DDS director will be asked to step down and the ASUO will hire an interim director to determine the organization’s problems and find solutions, Goward said.
“This is a new step on how we will handle programs this year,” he said. “Basically after one strike, you’re on probation. Two strikes: Things are going to change,” he said.
Walsh said because he wasn’t ASUO president last year, he will handle only offenses that occur this year. Given the history of DDS, the ASUO will be stepping in immediately, he said.
“Once a group stops functioning in the way they’re supposed to, it gives us authority to manage that group,” he said.
To assist the ASUO in monitoring DDS, Goward said, students who have a complaints should notify him by calling 346-0627 or e-mailing [email protected].
“I recommend any time that a student feels they have not been served adequately, treated respectfully and served in a consistent manner by any ASUO program … that they do come in and talk to me,” Goward said.
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