Increased Security, Walking Escorts At Other Colleges

Prompted by recent violence on campuses nation-wide, many universities have begun to beef up campus security by expanding vehicle escort services or buy trying a system of walking escorts.

Campus security become such an important campus concern, that the MIT shuttle program will give twice the number of rides this year as it did last year, campus police Chief Anne P. Glavin estimated.

Similar programs have flourished at other institutions such as McGill University, the University of Pennsylvania, Wesleyan and Brown University.

McGill's Wall Safe program, established just last year, has the 300 volunteer walkers on a total of 1,300 walks this fall, according to first-year volunteer Sara R. Grose.

In the absence of shuttle se4vice or vehicle escort program, walk Safe is the only option for students who do not fell safe walking alone at night in downtown Montreal.

Teams of walkers wearing red jackers and walkie-talkies patrol the McGill cmapus from 4:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. each week night and until 2:30 a.m. on weekends.

According to Grose, WalkSafe has increased awareness within the past year to such a degree that friends make sure their friends don't leave home without it.

"The student ghetto is the most dangerous area for women in Canada," Gross said. "It is socially incorrect to walk by yourself, People ask you if you're going with WalkSafe."

Less Success

Walking programs at other universities, like past attempts at Harvard, have been less popular than shuttle services.

Last year escorts at brown did over 1,000 walks while the university' shuttle and vehicle escort services gave 38,000 rides last year, according to Brown's Associate Director of Public Safety Mary-Ann G. Dexter.

Tufts University tried a walking escort, but shut down the service after two years because students preferred to ride the shuttles.

"It just didn't work. [Students] just didn't use it," Tufts police Captain Donald L. Perault said. "The walking people weren't getting any calls."