Truck shortage should have been anticipated

By Staff Editorial     3/10/11 6:00pm

The long anticipated shortage of Beer Bike balloon fight trucks has finally come to fruition, and the campus Beer Bike Coordinating team has been caught much like a deer-in-headlights (see story, page 1). The success rate of colleges acquiring trucks has taken a distinct drop-off in the past few years as the true purpose of Beer Bike truck rentals became more apparent to local truck proprietors. Unfortunately, 2011 was the breaking point; many colleges are without trucks, and the university is without a solid backup plan. Although the blame for the truck shortage does not lie directly with the Beer Bike coordinators, they can be held culpable for a significant lack of foresight. When deciding on an alternate parade plan earlier this year, the coordinators should have noted the recent decline in truck availability and selected an alternative that minimizes the need for trucks.

As it stands, the colleges will be sharing the available trucks to move the balloons to the Founder's Court on the eve and morning of Beer Bike. This alternative plan poses the problem of overnight water balloon security for those colleges who move trash cans on Friday night. As the plan currently stands, colleges will be responsible for creating security shifts to guard the cans. These security shifts will detract from the overall Beer Bike experience for numerous students (most likely freshmen desperate for service hours). A preferable alternative would be to have the colleges purchase the security of two or three RUPD officers for the span of the night. The presence of just a few officers would deter any students from violating the sanctity of other colleges' balloons.

The location of the balloon fight has also been altered; the recreation center did not wish for its IM fields to be endangered the day before intramural matches had to be played. The new location of Founder's Court seems fitting and picturesque; however it is considerably less safe. The concrete path ways in the courtyard make it a less than ideal destination for this sort of inebriated battle. Quite frankly, the safety of Rice students at the university's biggest event should supercede the relatively insignificant desires of the Intramurals Staff.

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The Beer Bike coordinators have done a good job up until now planning for this event; however, more foresight could have prevented this last-minute scrambling to create a medicore plan to accommodate the lack of trucks. May this be a lesson for coordinators of the future.

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