Former student senator Marquise McMiller Wednesday pushed Florida A&M’s SGA to fund a late-night shuttle service to off-campus apartment complexes for students.
McMiller,19, a second-year political science student from Gary, Ind., defended the merits of the “Rattler’s Venom Guard” before the crowded senate chambers, a feat, he said, showed the willingness of students to get involved. The “Venom Guard” would cost $42,000 and include buying a van and paying a driver this semester to shuttle students from “The Set” to distant apartments from 11p.m. to 4 a.m. The bill is supposed to take effect Feb. 1.
“Seeing that we have a 24-hour Commons area; we have legislation to now come forth for a 24-hour library; shouldn’t we make sure and ensure that our students can get home safely?” McMiller asked student senators. “You’re sitting on $752,700; the student body is asking you to spend $42,000 to provide this service for the rest of the semester for them. They elected you to represent them.”
Michael Jefferson, 20, a third-year environmental science student from Indianapolis, who also serves as the chief of staff for SGA said that although he is not opposed to the bill, there are things that people aren’t factoring in.
“A lot of the different apartment complexes already have those shuttles, so it’s a very risky thing,” said Jefferson. “One of the things a lot of people don’t factor into this is insurance, the different risks that the university and student government would have to assume and just how heady and unsustainable the cost would be.”
Attorney General for SGA Darryl Gordon said that students must give student government time to get the job done.
“Everything is a process… but you guys have to give us time. We are people and we can only do so much,” said Gordon, 20, a third-year political science student from Sanford, Fla.
McMiller said that he would be leaving for the military, and would be disappointed if the bill didn’t pass but he is sure the student body will step in. “They better pass that bill because if they don’t vote the right way, the students are going to vote the right way,” said McMiller.