We Could Hitchhike?

Your mother always told you not to walk home alone late at night. But at Harvard, students often don't have much choice--especially if they want to get home late at night. The University's remedy, the escort service, is completely inadequate in providing secure transportation and is in need of an overhaul.

The escort service, which is run by the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD), has only one car. Because the police often delay sending the car until several telephone requests have been received, the wait for a ride can be as much as 45 minutes or one hour. That wait not only discourages students from using the service--it can also be dangerous.

A recent rash of local crimes, including four armed robberies in the vicinity of Peabody Terrace, has given Harvard students ample reason to avoid walking home alone late at night. Muggings and incidents of harassment regularly occur right in front of the houses and in the Yard--crimes that could be reduced with improved campus security.

But the College and police have done little to step up service for students. Instead, the police went so far as to deny one woman graduate student a ride after dark because, according to chief of Harvard's police, Paul E. Johnson, she was "abusing" the service. Her offense had been to take rides with the escort service six times from Larson Hall to Peabody Terrace after her Wednesday evening class. This denial of protection is an abdication of the police responsibility to protect students, and it must be condemned.

At most other universities, such poor security and lack of concern for students' safety is unheard of. Unlike Harvard, twenty-four-hour walking and driving escort services are standard at campuses across the country. The lack of such measures contradicts the reputation for safety about which admissions officers boast to prospective freshmen.

The College's Committee on Security is considering a recommendation that HUPD purchase a second car for the escort service. A more extensive security system, including improved lighting and prompt police patrols--not just a better escort service--is clearly in order. However, HUPD claims that it doesn't even receive enough money to pay for one more escort car. When the safety and well-being of the student body are at stake, it is hard to believe that the University can't find a little extra in its pocket for campus security.