With thousands of Shelby County residents taking advantage ofearly voting, The University of Memphis College Democrats and PiSigma Alpha, the political science honor society, hoped to get onthe bus, literally. Both organizations hope to sponsor an earlyvoting shuttle for students this Tuesday through Thursday.
The organizations plan to offer free transportation to thenearest early voting location, White Station Church of Christ,located on Colonial Road.
Amber McMillian, sophomore graphic design major, said thecaravan atmosphere of the shuttle is "more motivation to go out andvote."
But their effort has hit some speed bumps.
Jim Vandiveer, president of College Democrats received a callfrom the Dean of Students, William Porter, stating that he had"concerns" about the shuttle service and requested a meeting withVandiveer.
What happened at that meeting still shocks him.
"The school has basically tried to rain on our parade," hesaid.
At press time, Vandiveer still didn't know the status of theshuttle service because of the dean's concerns. The primary reasonfor Porter's concerns was the issue of liability.
According to Vandiveer, Porter's worries stem from what couldhappen.
"His point was that if there was an accident The Universitycould be sued," Vandiveer said.
So, Vandiveer asked Porter if all passengers could sign waiversrelinquishing The University of all liability claims if an accidentdid occur. He said he was told "no."
When Stephen Mulroy, assistant law professor at the Cecil C.Humphreys School of Law, was told of the circumstances surroundingthe shuttle service, he said he was "not sure what the liabilitywould be."
He added that a waiver would "help immensely with respect to thestudents" and the only aspect that wouldn't be covered would be"third parties."
"If the student's rear-ended someone else, theoretically TheUniversity could be sued but that's iffy," he said.
Mulroy said liability would also be an issue with registeredstudent organizations traveling for long distances and receivetravel funds to do so.
Ashley Bonds, a member of Pi Sigma Alpha and organizer of theshuttle service, calls this a follow-up to weeks of registeringstudents to vote and feels the dean is just being careful andthorough.
"We registered a lot of students to vote using their campusaddress and we wanted to make sure that they would havetransportation to the polls," she said. "It's just a matter ofjumping through all the hoops and we just didn't fulfill ourpart."
Bond also said that Nov. 2 could be confusing for everyone,especially first time voters.
"We wanted to try to avoid the chaos, minimize voter fraud andthe confusion,=" she said.
Other concerns of Porter's were, according to Vandiveer, theinterruption of traffic and the location of the service.
"The dean also said he was concerned with parking," Vandiveersaid.
The shuttle will be located at the corner of Innovation Driveand Veterans and will begin board from noon to five as needed.
Some students said they see a pattern in the dean's decisionmaking.
"First 'Rock the Vote,' now this. That makes me mad. It seemslike another wasted opportunity for students," said Erin Loucks,sophomore international business major. "It seems like they'rediscouraging early voting."
But others feel that The University is justified.
"They're just trying to cover their backs. The waiver stilldoesn�t make it safe," said Kashunda Hill, senior journalismmajor.
Porter did not immediately respond to a phone call by The DailyHelmsman.
Vandiveer and Bonds were working on a waiver to release TheUniversity of all liability. Shuttle service was postponed untilWednesday, awaiting Porter's final decision.
"We're trying to give him time to figure out what they're havinga problem with," Vandiveer said.
Bonds said that it was just a matter of going through all theproper channels and that everyone's goal was the same - to getpeople to the polls.
