Our caring and compassionate university has recently been threatening one of students’ most coveted privileges: the Ibis Ride.
The Ibis Ride, also known as the “drunk bus,” got its nickname after busing angry and intoxicated students from Stanford Circle to Coconuts Grove on the weekends.
Some students are not only drunk and belligerent in the extremely packed quarters of the shuttle, but they have also shown a tendency to throw up or smuggle alcohol on several occasions.
The fact is that the Ibis Ride shuttle is a privilege. It is a way for students to get to the local night spot safely and in reasonable time. However, students have taken advantage of this privilege as if it is their right. The university does its students a great service by providing the shuttle to the Grove on weekend nights. If it were canceled, the negatives of some vomit on the floors would be greatly outweighed by potential harm caused to students.
The very reason the shuttle exists is to protect students, and canceling the shuttle would only heighten the risk for inebriated students.
That being said, it is not the university’s job to be students’ babysitters. Students must learn responsibility and courtesy in order to keep their Ibis Ride privilege.
Even with all of the shuttle’s issues and pitfalls, imagine if there were no shuttles and a student decided to drive to Coconut Grove instead of taking a cab in order to save some money. There’s absolutely no telling the dangers students would face.