Proposed Beer Bike parade changes fail

By Seth Brown     2/4/10 6:00pm

Come March 20, students sober and inebriated alike will accompany a caravan of trucks around the Inner Loop toward the Beer Bike track, water balloons at the ready. Because recent changes proposed to the parade route were voted down, most of the participants will be familiar with the route, as this year's Beer Bike parade will hold the same format as last year's.The college Beer Bike coordinators voted Monday against the proposed changes, the majority electing to maintain the current parade format. The result of the vote matched the results from a recent poll conducted by the Student Association, which showed student support for maintaining the parade's current format.

The college vote, held by secret ballot among the Beer Bike coordinators, yielded a 10-1 majority to keep the current format of the parade. A second vote to research alternatives for the future produced a 7-2 majority, with two abstentions.

While some colleges saw differing degrees of merit in the proposals, others were staunchly opposed to altering the current format.

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"People were overwhelmingly against the changes - Sid was definitely very against," said Sid Richardson College Beer Bike Coordinator Chris McClure.

The changes would have reverted the parade to a format similar to that of the late 1970s and the 1980s, with various floats for each college, and moved the water balloon fight to the football practice field. The parade first began to include water balloons in 1991, while earlier parades focused on making the most impressive or bizarre entry to the race, according to the Rice Program Council Web site.

Campus-wide Beer Bike Coordinator Brian Henderson said he was not surprised by the results, though he had hoped for the proposed changes to succeed.

"It's encouraging that people have said they will consider future plans," Henderson, a Jones College senior, said.

He noted that although previous coordinators had discussed changes, they had never made any concrete proposals.

"This year we actually got something talked about," Henderson said. "I think that's some progress."

According to some college Beer Bike coordinators, some students felt the proposed changes emerged too late to be implemented this year.

"Logistically, there isn't enough time," Brown College Beer Bike Coordinator Philip Tarpley said. "Changes need to be made, but they need to be gradual while keeping safety a concern."

Assistant Dean of Students Boyd Beckwith said he had concerns about the safety of the current format.

"The proposed changes were a reaction to the concerns of those involved: the drivers of the vehicles," Beckwith said, explaining that many masters and resident associates have expressed safety concerns after driving the trucks during the parade.

The SA poll, which had nearly 500 responses, suggests about one-third of students were concerned about the safety of the current parade format, whereas about half of those polled were not.

"After 15 years, there's no rational fear for safety," Tarpley, a Brown sophomore, said, adding that although the truck format in place now is relatively new, the previous formats were similar enough to be comparable.

Current safety measures include the fine system. Beckwith said $7,000 in fines were collected last year, despite a system that forgives 50 percent of a college's fines should they clean up after themselves and 20 percent should they pay on time. The most common violations in 2009 were hitting officials with water balloons (51 instances) and passing between moving vehicles (16 instances).

Henderson said one thing that will change this year is the number of caregivers present. The increase raises the number of volunteers requested from each college to 25, and the role of security will be more focused on keeping students away from trucks as opposed to tallying fines, he said.

Another concern prompting the proposals centered on the colleges' ability to procure enough trucks. Although colleges reserve trucks in advance, the rental companies sometimes do not receive the reserved vehicles on the day they are needed. A backup system in which each college reserves an extra truck is in place. If a truck reservation was canceled last minute, as Hanszen College's truck was last year, the back-up trucks reserved by other colleges suffice.

Baker College Beer Bike Coordinator Diana Cahill said she hoped to introduce an amendment to the SA constitution that put major changes to the format of Beer Bike to a student referendum. Under the current system, campus-wide coordinators could make changes without having to put them to any sort of vote or poll, as was done last year when the number of trucks per college was limited to just one.

"There aren't constraints to hold campus-wide coordinators to referendum," Cahill said. "They aren't going to steamroll student opinion, but this is an amendment that says changes have to pass by students."

The amendment also specifies deadlines to submit proposed changes. Henderson said he was worried the amendment would limit the ability of future campus-wide coordinators to make quick decisions on smaller issues.

"Hopefully this initiative doesn't get too far overblown," Henderson said. "I want people to very carefully consider it. Part of Beer Bike could become difficult if the coordinators aren't allowed sufficient freedom."

For many students, the most important thing is simply to preserve tradition.

"One of the best parts is doing [the balloon fight] where classes are," Jones College junior Maria Failla said. "Part of the tradition is going around the Inner Loop, like an epic journey.

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