Matthew McConaughey gives University of Texas students a safe ride home
Students at the University of Texas were “alright, alright, alright” with getting a lift home from surprise safe ride driver Matthew McConaughey on Monday night.
The Oscar winning actor volunteered to take the wheel as part of the student government’s SURE Walk program, which offers volunteer companionship for students walking home from campus late at night.
“Don’t forget to use SURE Walk when traveling home late at night,” the student government posted on its Facebook page, along with a photo of McConaughey and a group of smiling students. “You never know who might pick you up!”
Krishan Sachdev, agency director of SURE Walk, told CBS News that the program had contacted the famous Texas alumn weeks prior to see if he would be interested.
“This has just been our biggest effort through student government that we’ve been pushing — safety is the biggest issue on campus,” Sachdev said. “We felt that this was something great to do, and [McConaughey] jumped at the opportunity to promote an agency that he believed in.”
The safety ride service has been around at the University of Texas for the past 20 years, but it has never seen as much success as it has in the past few weeks.
Students are able to get a safe walk or ride home any time between 7 p.m. and 2 a.m., Sachdev said. The program also acquired a golf cart about six weeks ago to help transport students around campus.
“[SURE Walk] is now amongst one of the hottest topics on campus,” Sachdev said. “It seems as if this week will be much higher than previous weeks.”
Call it the McConaughey effect.
Without warning, the actor picked up students from spots all over campus to offer them a ride. He drove the SURE Walk golf cart for a little more than an hour.
“Never feel the need to walk home alone at night. SURE Walk is a service that was designed to help YOU feel more safe on your campus,” student Isaiah Carter posted on Facebook Tuesday. “Plus, sometimes we get some pretty cool drivers.”
It’s unclear whether McConaughey will return as a SAFE Walk driver any time soon, but Sachdev said the actor is always welcome.
“We haven’t spoken to him about future plans at all, but would love the opportunity to do. We’re open to him participating again. Based based on all the [positive] feedback we got it would definitely be something we’d love to do in the future,” he said.