The AUSA Senate debated at its meeting last week possible policy changes involving DU SafeRide, voting for student government positions and setting caps on political campaigning for an AUSA seat.

New concerns about the safety of the DU campus surfaced in response to recent muggings and car break-ins near and on campus.

The AUSA Senate is working with Campus Safety officers to make SafeRide more student friendly and accessible.

These changes are directed toward urging students to utilize SafeRide more.

On-campus Sen. Terrel Love said, “We don’t want anyone walking home alone at night.”

Changes include making the shuttle more available to students by having students be able to call SafeRide for immediate pick up instead of just having the van stop every 15 minutes.

“We would like to change the system so if a student calls, they have to be picked up right away. The safety of the students needs to be cared about,” said on-campus Sen. Anna Sun.

In an attempt to make the program more user-friendly to students, the Senate is working to develop specific policies regarding intoxicated riders.

Intoxicated riders would be able to use SafeRide without being punished or turned in for being under the influence.

In other business, the senators debated replacing the current online voting process during Senate elections with voting at polls. Voting would be done at three kiosks located throughout the campus.

Advantages of the voting stations are that it would diminish the possibility for students to peer pressure others to vote for a specific candidate.

Cons of the new voting process involve required management of the kiosks and complications with voting by students that are abroad.

Apart from the way voting occurs, reforms in the campaigning process for student elected positions are also under debate by the Senate.

There may soon be a financial cap on how much students can spend on campaigning.

The caps would create more of an equal opportunity for students to become Senate members.

“Capping money spent on political campaigning is important to break the socio-economic barriers for running for the Senate,” said co-Chair of the Student Organization, Kelsey Yamasaki.