By Henri Gendreau

Safe Rides, the transportation service provided by Greek organizations to help Kenyon students get home without injury, may not be safe from the tide of change.

Eleanor Ritchie ’14 reported that her co-chair of the Business and Finance Committee (BFC) Michael Marting ’14 had suggested making Safe rides a paid position, an idea she told council was “something long term to talk about in the future.” Marting estimated that making Safe Rides a paid position would cost roughly $3,000 a year.

“I don’t think many Greeks as a body like it. It’s not exactly the best community service thing,” Marting said.“I think it’s overwhelmingly [thought of as] a drunk taxi service that’s abused [by students],” he continued. “If you really can’t get back home you probably need to contact Safety, if you’re that far gone.”

Marting said at the Council meeting on Sunday that he would bring the matter up with representatives of the Greek community, and declined to comment further on the matter. President of Greek Council Chelsea Katzeman ’14 did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The issue came up during the BFC’s report on why it had denied the Greek Council’s request to subsidize the driver certification fees for Safe Rides. Ritchie said it was determined that granting the funds would set a precedent, putting pressure on the BFC to subsidize other clubs’ driver fees in the future.