Word: escorters
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...fact, nothing is wrong with the basic concept of a door-to-door escort service. Properly run, it provides transportation for students exactly when they need it, without forcing them to walk long distances...
INSTEAD of extending the shuttle system, what the University ought to do is revamp the escort service. Here are a few suggestions...
Take the service out of the hands of the police. Make it run all night, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Equip it with enough cars and drivers to accommodate the number of students who want to use it. And most important, write the following sentence into the escort service rules: "No persons holding a valid Harvard ID shall be denied transportation to their place of residence or to or from any Harvard building on the Cambridge or Allston campuses." Obviously, a certain, fixed distance, preferably encompassing Cambridge and the nearby outlying areas, should be established so that the escort...
Harvard also needs to make students aware of the escort service's existence. Council members have argued that many students are "embarrassed" to use the service, but it is equally likely that people just don't know about it. The University puts up signs telling students to lock their doors. It could just as easily post more notices urging them not to walk home alone. Phone numbers for police and University Health Services are listed on the back of ID cards--why not the number for the escort service...
...despite years of criticism, the University has made no substantive changes in the escort service. Harvard could make the system work if it really wanted to make the effort and spend the money. The need for improvements grows more clear with each attack on a student. Harvard's failure to address the problem indicates the low priority the University gives to what should be one of its foremost concerns: the safety of its students...