Expand the Escort Service

I would like to register a complaint (or two) about Harvard's escort service.

I called the escort service two weeks ago at 2:40 a.m. and was told that I couldn't get a ride because they had enough calls to keep them occupied until they closed at 3 a.m.

The next night my roommate called to ask for an escort. She was told that there was a waiting list and that they would call her when a car was available. Half an hour later she called a taxi. Another half-hour later the escort called to say they would pick her up in 15 minutes.

And even on the less-busy nights, if you ask them how long it will be until the car arrives, the response is almost always "Five to 20 minutes, wait outside."

I would walk if I wanted to be alone outside.

DESPITE incidents like these, the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) persistently claims that a two-car escort service satisfies the needs of the Harvard community. And the University continues to claim that an escort service run between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. is all the protection its students need.

My roommate and I are undergraduates. When we decided to live off campus we seriously considered safety issues--particularly in light of Harvard's seeming inability to respond adequately to a rape and persistent assaults on campus. One of the main reasons we chose Harvard-affiliated housing--although it is more expensive than other housing--is because the escort service does run between campus and our apartment building.

Sometimes.

I don't really fault the police department for most of the problem. They have enough things to deal with. If Harvard saw the security of its community as a priority, the administration would establish some other office to be responsible for the escort service.

People argue that it gives students a feeling of security to have bona fide police officers running the service. But police officers don't drive the cars.

People argue that Harvard's bureaucracy is big enough already and that creating another office would be a mistake. But the escort service could easily be handled by the Facilities and Maintenance Department--whose name is already on the sides of the cars. And, anyway, as long as there is a situation like this, Harvard's bureaucracy is not big enough to provide for its students needs. That, in the end, has to be the scale on which the system is judged.

HUPD Chief Paul Johnson has said that he has done studies which show that there is not a serious need for more than two cars in the service. I would be interested in how that study was conducted.

It definitely wasn't done by using the service--anyone who tries that can attest to the fact that more cars are needed. By the same token, it can't have been done by talking to the drivers--I have taken a random poll of the drivers on different nights and each one of them feels that the service would benefit from more cars.

It seems almost ridiculous to address the question of whether an escort service which ends at 3 a.m. is adequate. As one of Harvard's many students who has to work late into the night on an activity, I have to question the University's rhetoric in support of extracurricular development. If Harvard expects us to get involved in these activities, it should provide us with some way of getting home safely.

And the Undergraduate Council's call for an all-night Shuttle Bus Service--while perhaps misguided--is at the least an indication that students perceive a need for rides home after 3 a.m.

I hope it won't take another rape--or any more assaults--on Harvard's campus to make the much-needed changes in the escort service. But I fear that it might.

And as long as the police are running a 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. escort service they have a responsibility to provide what they say they will provide. That means that someone who calls at 2:40 a.m.--or 2:59 a.m.--deserves a ride home. And "Five to 20 minutes, wait outside" is not an appropriate response.