Editorial: Van policy bad for students, advisers

‘ ‘ ‘ There aren’t a lot of college students 25 or older. They exist, sure, but they’re… ‘ ‘ ‘ There aren’t a lot of college students 25 or older. They exist, sure, but they’re certainly not numerous ‘mdash; at least, not numerous enough to drive all the student groups on campus to their destinations for trips and activities. But if one of those groups wants to take more than seven people in a single van, the driver has to be at least 25 to be in accordance with a new University Fleet Services policy. ‘ ‘ ‘ The new rules dictate that students must be at least 21 to drive seven-passenger minivans and 25 to drive 12-passenger vans, and that on round trips longer than 500 miles the students must have an adviser along for the ride. And, as you may have figured out on your own by now, this policy sucks for student groups. ‘ ‘ ‘ The 25-or-older rule is the primary concern of many groups, but arguing that point is moot because younger students can still drive the smaller vans. Students should really push the University to buy more minivans and sell off the old 12-passenger vehicles ‘mdash; which will probably get next to no use any longer ‘mdash; rather than to try and change the policy back. ‘ ‘ ‘ What’s of more concern is the rule that advisers must accompany students on longer trips. Not because the idea doesn’t make sense, because truthfully it would probably be beneficial to have older, experienced adults along on some of these long trips. This policy is concerning because Pitt’s advising system is not set up to cope with regulations like this. ‘ ‘ ‘ Although all student groups have an adviser, a large proportion of them don’t serve in close communion with their groups. Asking them to take their time to go on long trips with student groups is not only inconvenient to the professors who agree to do the job, it stretches their resources far thinner than is fair. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Because Student Government Board can’t reimburse advisers to go on these trips with students, they would have to pay out of pocket for their expenses. The vast majority of student group advisers are uncompensated, and asking them to pay for their own travel expenses in order to chaperone student driving ‘mdash; not the trip, only the driving ‘mdash; is ludicrous. ‘ ‘ ‘ Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey’s response to these problems is that she will find people who can drive for groups, but finding people is just a temporary solution to the problem ‘mdash; it alleviates the symptom, not the cause. ‘ ‘ ‘ Pitt’s reasons for changing the policy were assuredly well-intentioned, but this policy would make it nearly impossible for student groups to go on trips, and it would also sorely inconvenience group advisers both in terms of time and money. . ‘ ‘ ‘ If the University is going to continue to let students use vans for trips at all, administrators should realize that not every group can take along an adviser and that very few have enough 25-year-olds to drive the larger vans. If the school could fix these problems, though, it would at least allow most groups to continue to enjoy being able to go on a trip without aggravating the student members or the advisers unduly.