Because ‘most of [the drivers] are black’
Attendees at a meeting of the George Washington University’s Black Student Union recently claimed that an article reporting on criticism directed at the campus ride service was unfair, chiefly because most of the drivers of that service are reportedly black.
The student newspaper The GW Hatchet reported that, at a Black Student Union town hall addressing the university’s campus culture, attendees directed criticism at the newspaper for a previous article “detailing 31 students’ concerns about 4-RIDE,” the school’s safe ride service.
That article featured a litany of complaints against the service, including “long wait times, no-show rides and allegedly unwelcoming drivers.” One rider said that her driver contacted her repeatedly on email and Facebook after giving her a ride. Another said her driver was sarcastic and rude to her. Another student said she “has often decided to walk home by herself because of the long wait times” for the service. At least one student claimed that drivers “have watched TV while driving.”
According to The Hatchet, students at the recent Black Student Union meeting said the article “did not fairly portray 4-RIDE drivers, most of whom are black.”
One student at the meeting claimed that those who were complaining about the long wait times, rudeness and unsolicited contact from drivers were “invalidating those drivers” and “invalidating their work.”
Another student said of the rider who had felt her driver was unpleasantly sarcastic: “She might not have intended to say something racist, but that’s what we felt, that’s what the population in this room felt, and we were offended and that’s what matters.”
Campus spokeswoman Maralee Csellar told The Hatchet that the school “continues to make enhancements to the 4-RIDE program to ensure that its operation is most efficient for students in need of safe escort and regularly assesses its performance to ensure program optimization.”
Read the article about the ride service here, and the article about the town hall here.
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