New Volunteers Save Safety Walk

A last-minute surge of SafetyWalk student volunteers has headed off the expected demise of Harvard's student-run night-time walking escort service.

The service was up and running last night, according to its director Marco B. Simons '97, who said in a telephone interview yesterday that last week's postering campaign, a message on the harvard general newsgroup and a Crimson article provoked the sudden revival.

"I said hey--I'm against people getting beat up in the night," said new volunteer Stuart L. King '98.

King is one of approximately a dozen new student volunteers drawn to SafetyWalk's roster in the past week.

Julia M. Kim '98, another new volunteer, said she signed up when she heard SafetyWalk might fold.

"I figure I might as well help out enough to make people know it's there," she said.

Both King and Kim said they heard about SafetyWalk's imminent collapse through Simons's newsgroup posting. Simons said the service now has a staff of 32.

According to Simons, SafetyWalk will have to work around budget cuts, which have reduced its funding from $6,000 to $1,000 this year.

The program will cut two shifts per week and try to eliminate dispatcher positions by forwarding calls directly to walkers' cellular phones, Simons said.

He said that no walkers will be available from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. on Monday and Wednesday mornings.

But SafetyWalk also suffers from low student usage.

Most students who want to travel at night use the Harvard Evening Van Shuttle Service. The van service replaced the escort service the Harvard Police had run until this fall.

The walking service was originally intended to supplement the vehicular service, Simons said in a telephone interview last week.

Susan M. Groppi '98, another new volunteer, said most people she knows who use SafetyWalk turn to it when the van service is busy.

Simons said the October 13 attack on Mather House senior James L. Tierney '96 might have helped to rekindle interest.

Simons said he hopes to improve SafetyWalk's publicity with posters and stickers.

"[Reviving student interest] will be at least as hard as it was to get SafetyWalk up and running," Simons said. "Hopefully by next semester it will be a much healthier program."