OPINION & EDITORIAL
Cut SAFEwalk loose
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Related Stories:
- SAFEwalk should take a hike (October 9, 2001)
- SAFE walk serves important function (October 14, 2005)
- UnSAFE (September 15, 2003)
- Ticket to ride (December 6, 2005)
- SAFEwalk cuts necessary for balance (October 20, 2005)
by Badger Herald Editorial Board
Wednesday, October 23, 2002
Have you been SAFEwalked? Given that SAFEwalk walked only 819 students safely to their destinations last year, chances are that you haven’t.
SAFEwalk is one piece of the SAFE Nighttime Services puzzle that includes SAFEride cabs, which provides students with free cab rides each month, and SAFEride buses, which zoom around campus ‘til the wee hours of the morning.
SAFE has requested that the Student Service Finance Committee “look at SAFE Nighttime Services as an entire program and to consider supporting all three services,” and to help the committee do this, they have submitted one of the least informative budgets in SSFC history.
Last year, the return on investment of SAFEwalk was questioned. Rather than demonstrate better returns, they have opted to hide behind the undeniable services their SAFE counterparts provide. No wonder when you consider the facts:
SAFEwalks cost approximately $120 per walk, not counting overhead and administrative expenses.
SAFEwalkers spend 57 percent of their time sitting in the office, not walking.
SAFEwalk’s popularity has gone down each of the last three years.
SAFEwalkers spend their evenings stationed at the library, the unions, and even State Street restaurants. ?
Many of SAFEwalk’s escorts are unsolicited, just students they pass by when they are out on rounds.
SAFE Nighttime Services are not a single entity. They are made up of two growing and effective services and one group that is simply eating up student resources and tuition checks. The university needs to infuse resources into campus safety, but this is best done by hiring more police officers and installing better lighting. We don’t need a group of seg-fee-suckling students hanging out on State Street.
Last year’s SSFC was unable to look into the eyes of the SAFEwalk lobby and tell them to find new jobs. The charade must end this year. It is time to take away all seg-fee monies from SAFEwalk and use them to further promote the effective SAFEride services. Loosen the restrictions on cab rides and increase advertising. SSFC must stand strong and demand that SAFEwalk cease its existence in any form, regardless of where its funding may come from.
