It’s officially Mardi Gras season: a time for parades, costumes and unreliable transportation.
From Napoleon Avenue to Canal Street, there is a multiple-block-long area known as “the box,” which blocks cars from entering in and out. Due to the road closures, nobody can enter or exit the box by car, and even if one does manage, Uber prices are astronomically high. During Mardi Gras, Tulane University students have a solution: U-Haul trucks sponsored by fraternities. Students can buy a fraternity’s band for extremely questionable transportation that shuttles drunk college students to and from the parades.
Tulane has begun to offer its own form of shuttle transportation in the hopes of discouraging the practice of U-Hauls and pickup trucks filled with intoxicated students. Despite their best efforts to put an end to the arguably dangerous, unclean and undoubtedly strange practice, U-Haul transportation seems to be routinely preferred over legitimate shuttles.
The most glaring objection is safety. The U-Haul drivers are usually fraternity pledges — freshman boys who have been given the task of staying sober and driving dozens of inebriated sorority girls to and from the parades. In doing this, riders miss the majority of the parades while the U-Hauls are stuck in traffic or attempting to park.
The key assumption, regrettably not always true, is that these pledges are sober. However, there is no enforcement of pledges being sober. The risks of drunk driving and overcrowded trucks should concern parents and students alike.
If fraternity U-Hauls were properly monitored, they would be a superior option to car sharing services like Uber and Lyft. Having a system of transportation to the parades run by students, for students reduces the need to ask strangers and non-Tulane community members for rides.
Furthermore, students in U-Hauls save money on Uber rides. While Tulane has introduced its own competing shuttle service, it is an obvious second option to the U-Hauls, due to its perceived lack of “fun.” Additionally, university-sponsored transportation is a less friendly environment for open consumption of illicit substances, which are part of the Mardi Gras experience for some.
Students have shown continued support for U-Haul transportation even when offered safer, university-sponsored methods. So, what is there to do? If many students have already picked their poison and chosen an unpredictable and unsafe form of transportation in the name of having more “fun,” the best option lies in regulation.
Tulane and the Interfraternity Council cannot guarantee that fraternity members are not consuming illicit substances. What they can do, however, is guarantee that the U-Haul drivers are registered and documented beforehand and have performed sobriety tests to ensure they are not under the influence. Also, the university should set strict regulations on the number of passengers in the U-Haul trucks and implement consequences such as suspension or termination of organizations that do not adhere to these rules.
The university must adapt and listen to both those who oppose U-Haul transportation and students who endorse it. The fraternity U-Hauls are dangerous and unregulated, but they don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. Tulane and the IFC should accept that while this practice cannot be stopped, it can be regulated to make Mardi Gras a fun and safe experience.
