University Expands Campus Safety Escort Program After Student Petition
Photo: Unsplash/@meredithspencer22
A state university campus has tripled the staffing of its evening walking escort program following a student-led petition that circulated last semester, citing long wait times for escorts and inadequate lighting along several paths connecting dormitories to academic buildings and parking areas.
Student government representatives who organized the petition said wait times for an escort had stretched past thirty minutes during peak demand hours, discouraging some students from using the service at all and instead walking alone after dark.
"A safety program that people stop using because it's too slow isn't really serving its purpose," said the student government's safety committee chair.
The university has added lighting along two previously flagged pathways and hired additional part-time student escort staff, funded through a reallocation of the campus public safety department's existing budget rather than new appropriations. Campus officials say average wait times have dropped significantly since the changes took effect, based on internal service data shared with student government. The university plans to survey students again at the end of the academic year to assess whether usage rates have increased alongside the expanded staffing.
