Does anyone even use Penn State’s late night safety services?
Between 150 and 175 people use the walking service a year…who are they?
After a long night of parties and other late night festivities walking home can be quite the adventure. While some people travel in packs sometimes this cannot always be the easiest. Even though, Happy Valley is known as a relatively safe place sometimes finding your way home can be quite the adventure.
You might call a late night Uber or grab a White Loop but sometimes when it’s 4am and the night escaped you it may be more difficult to walk home.
Some college campuses provide services that will give students free rides home with their ID cards. Other campuses will also have services to alert campus police with the press of a button.
State College already provides some of these services such as the CATA Bus or Safe Walk. Here’s an overview of what those systems do:
Safe Walk
“Safe Walk is designed to escort student to a location in a certain geographical distance,” said Jason Zajac, the Auxiliary Police coordinator at Penn State.
Students can use this service to get a walk home from a location downtown or on campus. These officers are students.
Zajac said they have about 150 to 175 people use Safe Walk per year.
Sometimes however, it can take time for this service which may deter students from using this service.
Douglas Hiban, an RA in East Halls and a Senior in Chemical Engineering, said that students might also have a stigma against these services but the most important thing is education.
Once more students know about this program they may be more likely to use it, he said.
CATA Buses and Taxis
Whenever your apartment seems too far away after a long night, there is always the White Loop and Blue Loop.
Sometimes when you’re further away from campus an Uber or taxi might be a better option.
However, sometimes these services aren’t always available.
Freshman Ellie Benko said it would be better if Penn State provided more Blue Loops and White Loops during the night to make students safer.
Penn State University Police Chief Tyrone Parham said the CATA Buses could run an hour later and extend their routes to ensure student safety.
Zajac said that there may need to be more adjustments to CATA to run on a “student schedule.”
He also discussed that the campus may be looking into a SafeRide program similar to other college campuses to add another transportation option for students late at night.
How we can improve…
Although there are options are available and students believe that Penn State is a relatively safe campus there could improvements to our current system.
Zajac said he would like to see better lighting around campus. They also would like to look into the funding for a safe ride program.
Other students said it would be good to have alert systems on streets to alert campus police when students are in danger. There is of course the Blue Light System found throughout campus which students can use whenever they feel unsafe.
The best way to get these improvements known is education about these sources said Hiban.
Students can also encourage walking in groups and making sure to use the buddy system added Parham.
Safety comes first even at night so make sure to have a fun night but look out for you friends.