Escorts ease fears on campus
By Randy Mircheff
Special to the
Summer Forty-Niner
Walking alone at
night through the campus of Cal State Long Beach can be ìpretty scary,î
said Catherine Rojo, a 19-year-old Cal State Long Beach student. Thatís
why she, and many like her, have turned to an escort service for security.
CSULBís campus escort
service provides fearful students with transportation or companionship
as they walk to their car or dorm from their classroom, according to Community
Service Officers, which offers the service. The program has helped hundreds
of students like Rojo feel safer on campus.
Students can call
University Police to request a CSO escort from emergency phones located
on campus. Students can also call from any phone that has a digital display
and a public safety button.
Faculty members can
request an escort for students as well, CSO officials said.
The CSO will send
an escort to meet the student wherever he or she is on campus.
Service hours are
from 6:30 p.m. to midnight. If the CSO is unable to provide escorts, University
Police will respond with back-up, University Police Cpl. Richard Goodwin
said.
Currently 40 students
are working for the CSO. It responds to 300 to 400 calls a night from Monday
to Thursday, said University Police Sgt. Bonnie Myers, who has been in
charge of this program for five years. Most students use the escort service
on a regular basis, Myers said. About 98 percent of its customers are women.
The escort service
was established by two criminal justice majors in 1993. University Police
began managing the service in 1994, Myers said. |
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