Kroll says the focus this fall will be on incoming freshmen. He plans to have special Late Night programming during summer orientation to raise awareness and promote the program. Late Night will be the place to be on Friday and Saturday nights. In addition to Late Night, Off-Campus College Transport has expanded its bus schedule with later hours and more routes on the weekends, providing students with safe, free transportation to and from the campus. The new routes run through Vestal, Johnson City and Binghamton every 30-45 minutes, with the last bus returning to campus at 4 a.m.
Students can even get off at any point of the route to visit friends.
So far, nearly 180 students use the expanded service each weekend, said Brian Teta, OCCT's general services manager. He noted that the student run service hasn't encountered any problems with drunk or unruly passengers. Each bus is monitored by OCCT personnel trained in conflict resolution. In addition to expanded weekend activities, Johansen is looking at other initiatives that could have an effect on student drinking, including building community service into the general education requirements. He says statistics have shown that student involvement builds confidence, which in turn can lead to decreased dependency on substances such as alcohol.