Editor’s note: This story was revised for accuracy at 12:31 a.m. Feb. 3.
A proposal for a resolution to extend the hours of security escort service Froggie Five-0 has been postponed until next week, a House of Student Representatives official said.
Saman Sadeghi, a freshman AddRan College representative, presented his resolution last night to give the House’s support for later Froggie Five-0 service hours. After much discussion from the representatives, the resolution was postponed until the next meeting with plans for review by the Campus Advancement committee this Friday.
“I think that everyone really wants to support this resolution,” Speaker of the House Merillat Pittman said. “I think it’s important and good (and) I think that everyone feels that, but they want to make sure that it goes through properly so that it can be actually something that’s realistically implemented.”
Current Froggie Five-0 hours are from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. The bill proposes lengthening these hours as late as possible on Friday and Saturday, relevant to the student demand.
Sadeghi said that he did not ask for a specific extension amount so that the times could be negotiated. He said he did not want to risk having the whole resolution thrown out because Froggie Five-0 drivers are unwilling to work until a specified later hour. He also said he did not want to ask for just a one-hour extension and limit the potential for negotiation.
“Any time past 1 a.m. is better than 1 a.m.,” Sadeghi said.
Discussion of the resolution filled most of the meeting, including several time extensions to continue hearing questions. Many of the representatives had suggestions to include in the resolution.
Allie Barnes, a freshman College of Science and Engineering representative, asked if the resolution could be written to include Thursday nights as well.
Sadeghi said that it had been discussed by university police officers, but that the program is run by students who have classes to attend on the mornings after their Froggie shifts. He said that by extending only the hours on Friday and Saturday it would not interfere with drivers’ school schedules.
Other ideas proposed to make scheduling more agreeable to the drivers included starting the service later so each driver works the same amount of hours, creating different nightly shifts or recruiting volunteer drivers to work for community service hours.
Chase Bruton, student body treasurer and a driver for Froggie Five-0, said he thought it would be counterproductive to start the service later because early evening is when drivers receive the most calls. He also said he did not like the idea of having to work later hours in cold weather, especially on the weekends.
Bruton said the current staff is made up of 15 drivers. Although the program just hired two more, he said not many people apply for the job.
Sadeghi said he hoped to be able to motivate drivers by offering monetary stipends for working later hours.
After the discussion, representatives submitted amendments to the resolution, but they were held for discussion until the Campus Advancement committee meeting this Friday.
“Hopefully with a smaller group of people looking at it with just the resolution author, they’ll be able to come to a little bit more of a consensus,” Pittman said.