Outside of publicity, one walker admits he and his colleagues don’t actively seek escorts as much as they should.

“There is a trend of people taking breaks that are longer than they should be,” says the anonymous walker. “Some people take more than others. I think people who have been doing it for a while, since they’ve been doing it for so long, they don’t take it as seriously as the younger ones do.”

This issue is of particular concern to HUPD, considering that, according to Catalano, there are roughly twice as many escorts initiated in the field as there are by phone request.

He says HUPD does not believe walkers take unnecessarily long breaks. Nevertheless, HUPD is taking that criticism seriously.

“We bring it up during orientation when they’re first hired and we also reiterate it every so often through the police department. It does concern us because the majority of our walks are not called in,” Catalano says. “Obviously, during inclement weather, that’s a different story, but we still expect them to be out walking and to have a visible presence on campus. We will address this issue again.”

As for back-alley talk of the program’s possible termination, Kidd, McLoughlin, and Catalano all emphatically deny any such consideration.

Although budget constraints may force a re-evaluation of every University-administered program, HUCEP is definitely not on the short list for cuts, according to Kidd.

“It’s always going to be a question of resources and where you place them, and if you place them for a small number of students or if you place them for a larger number of students,” Kidd says. “That’s what happens when you look at HUCEP.”

—Staff writer Eduardo E. Santacana can be reached at esantac@fas.harvard.edu.