The Hamline Safety and Security escort system has become a hot topic among the Hamline Undergraduate Student Congress. Some HUSC members are concerned that the Hamline students may be abusing the system by using it for grocery shopping and running other errands. Members of HUSC brought up this concern at its meeting on Feb. 18 in order to deal with the possible abuse.

Although HUSC members have expressed concern, there is still more to be discussed among Safety and Security and HUSC before any further action can be taken. Because most of the information HUSC has received at this point in time has been from secondhand sources, the members cannot confirm that the escort service is being abused, nor can they act on anything until they know for sure. “We’re finding out more information before we can commit,” President of HUSC Lucas Dolan said.

The current guidelines for the escort service are as follows: the student must call the office of Safety and Security to request an escort, and give his or her student I.D. and call back number. “The escort policy says that the campus is supposed to be involved in the escort,” Director of Safety and Security Jim Schumann said. In other words, Safety and Security can escort students to Target or other stores as long as the HU campus is involved in the trip.

According to Schumann, “[The escort system] is being used to its full potential.” On average Schumann said they give between thirty and forty escorts per day. The busiest time for the escorts is between the hours of 3 p.m. and 12 a.m. Monday through Friday because those are the times students are most busy. During weekends, the times for escorts vary. Also, being that Hamline is located in the Midway neighborhood, a majority of the escorts head down to the University Ave. area.

Jeremiah Osokpo, HUSC Board of Elected Representative Chair, said that HUSC wants Safety and Security escorts to deal mainly with emergencies and leave the errand running to another department on campus. One possible way to ensure this is to expand the radius of the escorts.

One of the concerns of HUSC is that there are a limited number of vehicles available to Safety and Security. Most days security has two vehicles available: a van and an electric car. When the weather is bad, there is a third vehicle for pick up because the electric car has limited heating and maneuverability.

According to Osokpo, members of HUSC had brought up the possibility of acquiring an additional student activities van in order for students to run errands. While trips to Target and other off-campus locations are not necessarily a part of the escort system’s policy, Schumann said he would prefer that students get an escort than be down on Midway by themselves. “It’s good for the campus,” he said.

While the addition of another student activities van would be a great help, students showed concern at the HUSC meeting. Director of Student Activities Wendy Burns pointed out that this addition would be an inconvenience, although there is a possibility of acquiring a new van in the near future. Another concern involving students driving the van are the safety issues involving the vehicle. The van is not particularly easy to drive. Students must be van certified in order to operate the vehicle, but even then that task can be quite difficult.

Another suggestion is to encourage more students to take a bus to their destinations. However, someone brought it to the members’ attention that many students are unaware of how the bus system works. A seminar on how to take the bus was suggested as a possible solution. Osokpo said, “It could be necessary. We do have a large amount of students that come from out of state or out of Ramsey County. They come without a vehicle or use their friend’s vehicle and haven’t been exposed to it.”

Dolan had a slightly different view on the matter of this particular issue. “It’s not something to invest a lot of money in,” he said. He did, however, say that it could be a good idea for a Piper Passages activity. The students could take the bus around the area during their activities rather than walk. In this subtle way they can become familiar with the system.

Although HUSC does not have all the information on this topic at the moment, the members do intend to pursue the issue in order to find more possible solutions.