Publicity and Demand

Students say they have become increasingly concerned for their safety after several women were groped in Cambridge Common earlier this semester and particularly after last week’s sexual assault.

“I find the recent assaults very unnerving because we operate in a place that we think is safe,” said Stephanie G. Nieto ’06. “But Cambridge is a city, and we can’t take our safety for granted.”

And in the past week, SafetyWalk’s disappearance has frustrated some.

At a Thursday night meeting of the Graduate Student Council of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, one representative recounted the experiences of grad students who had spent as long as three hours trying to reach SafetyWalk.

Such demand for SafetyWalk stands in marked contrast to the service’s use in previous years.

Former SafetyWalk staffer Andrew J. Miller ’04 said that when he worked for the organization, it received few calls.

“During the course of the year, three people called during my shift,” Miller said. “[Staffing the phones] seemed like a waste of an evening.”

Miller said that he did not know the current status of the organization.

SafetyWalk’s services are currently advertised to students on fire doors and blue light security phones as well as in HUPD’s Guide for Keeping Safe at Harvard and in the Guide for the Class of 2007 published by the Freshman Dean’s Office.

Much of the information provided about SafetyWalk in these resources is conflicting, inaccurate or long out of date.

For example, the Guide for the Class of 2007 provides long outdated information about SafetyWalk’s location and hours of operation.

Some resources—including some stickers on House fire doors—list the wrong number for SafetyWalk. The number listed reaches an office at the Semitic Museum.