The committee's report, announced recently, called for designated safe lighted pathways, more outdoor campus telephones and greater police visibility.

Even while the Radcliffe Union of Students amasses signatures on a petition asking for increased security measures, including a demand for more and better escort service, administrators tend to point out the difficulties with any proposed security measure.

Although Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 has said "we'll try to do what we can to make the buildings secure," citing a pilot summer electronic card-lock program as evidence, he said that in most instances there is little more the University can do to keep its students safe.

"There isn't anything that's obvious to do," Jewett says, laying some of the blame for campus crime on students who prop open or forget to lock doors and who walk alone at night without considering the risks. He said he considered the main challenge "getting people to change their mindsets."

Jewett says progress has been made since he was an undergraduate, when there was "no conception of having a shuttle bus."

Jewett says that while he is more careful about locking his own apartment now (he said there had been a serious burglary in his faculty row apartment two or three years ago), his behavior as a city walker now is not much different than it was 30 years ago.

President Derek C. Bok says he has seen no trend of increasing violence during his tenure in Cambridge, also pointing out problems with certain specific security measures.

"The security interest is paramount at a time like this, but at other times it's not so paramount, and one begins to talk about civil liberties and so forth."

Escort Answers?

In response to calls for improved escort services, Bok points out the costs involved, emphasizing the possibilities for student abuse of the service. "We want to be free and open, keep our tuition down, we want all these things, and at the same time, we want a car anytime we need it," Bok said.

"You know," Bok said, "we even get calls for the escort service when people want to go out and get an orange juice."

But while the escort service may not be in place to assist students with their late-night errands, the recent wave of crime has convinced many that violent crimes can occur at any time and any place--even in the midst of routine chores. Mary Joe Frug was killed on her way to a convenience store.

"Over 20 years, lighting and all those concerns have come up repeatedly and we've looked at them and where we see a need we will respond as indeed we should," Bok says.

"It's really not a simple matter," Bok says.

Maggie S. Tucker contributed to the reporting of this article.