Charley Guptill: Cru’s Safe Rides program should avoid religious, service overlap

The post-party nighttime trek from the apartments to Hilgard Avenue is treacherous. It’s cold, difficult to navigate in heels and kind of scary.

Safe Rides, a service offered by Cru, an on-campus Christian organization, aims to eliminate the harrowing journey for homeward-bound women on Thursday nights. But while the leaders in Cru who oversee and execute Safe Rides are committed to providing a comfortable environment for its users, the religious nature of the program lends itself to creating uncomfortable situations. Women are sometimes subjected to unwanted or unexpected conversations about their religious beliefs.

Cru is dedicated to both allowing a space and community for worship, and to providing service for the surrounding community. Safe Rides leaders maintain that the program is separate from their work in worship or religious discussion.

Still, these missions are overlapping at times, and Cru needs to be more aware of when religion is discussed or when Safe Rides’ purpose becomes about spreading faith rather than providing transportation.

Additionally, Cru’s association with Safe Rides needs to be clearer to avoid any confusion with Strathmore Safe Rides, a secular program put on by the Undergraduate Students Association Council Internal Vice President’s office in 2011-2012. Students should always be aware of Cru’s Christian affiliation and its role in running Safe Rides.

I’m a huge fan of Safe Rides and admire the work that Cru does to transport women long distances. But every single ride needs to feel safe for the people who take them.

Lisa O’Brien, a second-year communication studies student, said that she took a trip with Safe Rides earlier this year and that the experience made her feel uncomfortable.

O’Brien said her driver began discussing religion very abruptly, which she said she felt was not appropriate for the situation.

“You are in a car with someone you’ve met for five minutes and then you are talking about these really deep and controversial topics,” she said. “It made me a little uncomfortable. I was taken aback.”

Even when Cru’s role in Safe Rides is known, problems can arise.

Laura Sermeno, a third-year Chicana/o studies and Spanish and linguistics student, said that when she was offered a ride, she understood the program’s Christian affiliation. After an evening of partying, Cru members offered Sermeno a ride and a walking escort home, both of which she refused, citing her atheism as a reason to be left alone.

“Someone forcefully walked me home even after I kept saying I didn’t want to be walked home,” Sermeno said.

While being walked home, Sermeno debated religious beliefs with a Safe Rides volunteer, an activity she said upset her given that she was intoxicated.

While Cru’s Safe Rides leaders work hard to provide comfortable experiences for the women who take rides, there is room for improvement.

“We don’t want people to feel judged or that we feel that we are somehow above them, we just want people to get home safe,” said Amanda Russell, a third-year environmental science student, a member of Cru and a leader of the Safe Rides program.

Russell, along with Nadia Jenkins, a second-year physiological science student, a member of Cru and a leader of the program, said that they have an open dialogue with their drivers throughout the night to make sure things run smoothly and comfortably. The leaders emphasize the community service aspect of Safe Rides and remind their drivers not to preach.

But it seems that despite the group’s efforts, the program facilitates unwanted and uncomfortable conversations about religion.

“It’s a nice idea but in practice it doesn’t end up working out,” Sermeno said.

Both O’Brien and Sermeno said they were open to speaking about their beliefs, just not in that context. If Cru looks to foster productive conversation about religion, it should allow students to approach the group at their own pace instead of holding an audience captive.

Safe Rides could make easy changes that would go a long way in eliminating awkward or upsetting interactions.

First and foremost, individual volunteers within Cru should examine their behavior. Their actions should reflect the safety of the program’s mission, and volunteers must understand that their role is as a transporter and not as a religious discussion partner.

Additionally, Cru needs to develop its recruitment and training process for volunteers. According to Russell, there are often new volunteer drivers every week that Safe Rides operates. While it’s nice to include all people who would like to help, drivers need to be more extensively trained to understand appropriate boundaries and behavior while performing their duties.

Both Cru leaders said they weren’t aware that incidents like those of O’Brien or Sermeno were occurring, but such encounters highlight the need for outreach to prevent similar events from happening in the future.

Cru should seek out feedback and hear from women like O’Brien or Sermeno who have had uncomfortable experiences in order to determine how its drivers are representing the organization and to find ways ensure they have the right intentions.

“I was uncomfortable because I felt like I was trading a ride for a sermon,” O’Brien said.

A safe ride shouldn’t have to come at a price.

Email Guptill at cguptill@media.ucla.edu or tweet him at @CharlesGuptill. Send general comments to opinion@media.ucla.edu or tweet us @DBOpinion.