Betsy Carreño
Copy Editor
It comes as no surprise that most of the students at Dominican are commuters. Recently, however, a new proposition has been initiated by Seminar professor Christine Wilson, visiting instructor, to start a commuter student transportation pool.
What this proposed program aims to achieve is to help students that commute on campus to have a reliable ride, while also helping the environment at the same time. Since most of the students at DU are commuters, a big portion of pollution is being passed into the environment.
In the past, Dominican had a direct connection to the U-Pass for students. The U-Pass is a Ventra card that grants unlimited rides for university students that want to ride the CTA buses and trains. Presently, DU stopped offering a direct connection between commuter students and the U-Pass but has instead integrated the shuttle bus that helps students get to areas that access the CTA.
While DU has a shuttle bus, other universities have taken the initiative to have a carpool system between their campus for students.
When speaking with Wilson about the goal she has for the students involved in the project, she mentioned, “The main idea is for students to be part of the climate solution … My personal goal is for students to feel empowered and not removed.”
As of now, there are two directions in which the project can head into. Wilson and the students working on this project hope to have the project integrated with a free parking pass and a reserved spot for students volunteering to drive others to campus, along with reintegrating the U-Pass.
While the idea was initiated by Wilson, she aims for this project to be a student-driven solution.
Alyssa Brewer, one of the students leading this project, explains more about the decision to focus on commuters.
“Commuters have to deal with a lot of factors when coming to campus including traffic, construction, weather and finding an available parking space. Our goal is to help alleviate these problems with an effective and sustainable solution students will want to use,” Brewer said.
The Student Government and Commuter Student Association have both been recently contacted about this project, and the team is waiting for a response.
For anyone interested in supporting the project, this idea will be presented at the SI Expo on April 12. Students can help by signing the petition at the Expo and bringing more awareness to this problem.
“Our goal for the University is [for them] to recognize this as an ongoing issue that will only get worse if we don’t take the necessary steps to fix it. We also hope students will be excited about our solution and be in favor of it,” Brewer said.
