Cal Lutheran Student’s Safe-Ride Program Is Big Van on Campus

THOUSAND OAKS â€”  Too many times during her first two years at Cal Lutheran University, student Julie DiFatta saw her peers leaving bars and parties and driving back to campus drunk.

Then a friend she grew up with died driving drunk recently. She doesn’t like to talk about her friend’s death, but it was the catalyst that got DiFatta thinking that she had to do something.

By last spring, DiFatta had seen enough. She began planning a safe-ride program to ensure Cal Lutheran students could make it back to campus.

“Every college campus needs one,� said the 20-year-old junior. “Just watching so many people drive drunk or call taxis--this ride’s free.�

The safe-ride program was launched earlier this month and is run by volunteers. It offers student rides from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday and during special off-campus events within a 20-mile radius of campus.

Although most request a ride because they have been drinking, students may also get a ride for other reasons; for example, if friends left them stranded or their vehicle broke down. All calls are confidential and volunteers ask only for a first name and description of the clothes the person is wearing.

The program has proved popular. More than 40 students accepted rides back to campus during the kickoff of the Saving Our Students program last week, including 24 during inaugural night Sept. 11 at the Yucatan Cantina in Westlake Village.

“We had to make four trips and we still didn’t cover everybody,� DiFatta said. “When we got there, people just swarmed the van.�

Each Thursday, about 300 students attend “college night� festivities at the bar, which lures students with free admission and $1 drink specials.

Tim Meacham, a Cal Lutheran sophomore and a bouncer at the bar, said he drove five people home on the first night because there was not enough room in the van.

“There are so many people who would drive drunk if it wasn’t for this program,� he said.

Kari Gravrock, a Cal Lutheran senior, said she and three friends accepted a ride back to campus recently because they were stranded at a party in Thousand Oaks.

“I think it’s a really good program,� she said. “It’s not just for people who are drinking. It gives you peace of mind because you know if you couldn’t go pick up friends at a party, they still have another option so they don’t have to drive home drunk.�

Each SOS night, one student takes calls in the student center while a male and female use a Cal Lutheran van to pick up students. Cal Lutheran policy prohibits anyone under 21 from driving its vehicles, so underage volunteers must ride in the passenger seat.

Having a male and female in the van reduces the potential for drunk students to behave inappropriately, DiFatta said.

So far, 90 students, mostly undergraduates, have volunteered to work one night this semester, including some who have already requested a ride.

“A lot of people are using the program,� DiFatta said. “So they figure they can give back one night a semester.�

Cal Lutheran has always had a no-alcohol policy on campus.

This has not prevented students from drinking there. About 200 of the campus’ 1,300-plus undergraduates are found to be in violation of the policy each year, according to Bill Rosser, dean of students.

The policy prohibits possession of alcohol, behaving in a drunken, disorderly manner or attending a gathering where alcohol is served. Violations are carried over from one academic year to the next.

“There’s a lot of alcohol on this campus,� Rosser said. “We know that. But we don’t want to be the alcohol police and check everybody’s room.�

Penalties range from three hours of on-campus labor for the first offense to a $75 fine and up to 50 hours of work for the fourth offense, Rosser said. Students caught a fifth time must move off campus, he said.

Although the no-alcohol policy is designed to discourage drinking, many students go off campus to drink, said Mark Knutson, campus pastor.

He said the SOS program and a weeklong alcohol awareness program the student activities office hosts each fall reduce drunk driving among students.

“I think it heightens awareness in relation to being responsible about the use of alcohol,� he said. “That certainly is the hope.�

Last spring, the student senate appropriated $4,500 for the program to cover gasoline, overhead and the $25 nightly fee to rent the van from the university fleet. DiFatta said she hopes some business or individual will donate another van so the program can transport twice as many students back to campus.

SOS volunteers distributed hundreds of free bottle openers with the program’s phone number, a move some have questioned.

But DiFatta stressed she is not promoting alcohol abuse, but simply trying to ensure that students will have the number handy when they go to parties.

“If that’s the only way people will carry that number, then we’ll do it,� she said.

DiFatta hopes the program becomes an institution on campus.

“I’m looking for an enthusiastic, focused freshman to take my place when I leave,� she said.

School of Education professor James Mahler said his son, Matthew, a 19-year-old Cal Lutheran sophomore, plays on the soccer team and does not drink a lot. Still, Mahler said it’s comforting to know the program exists, should Matthew ever need it.

“As a parent, I hope I have a son that makes some reasonably good decisions and maybe one of those decisions means taking a safe ride at some point,� he said.