Escort service to assist in rape prevention at SCU

This news story was originally published in The Santa Clara on Nov. 16, 1978. It marks the start of an escort service similar to the Safe Walk program Santa Clara started this school year

By Maureen Walsh

Volume 57 No. 8, Nov. 16, 1978

Because of the rising crime rate in the San Jose-Santa Clara area, it is becoming increasingly more dangerous for women to walk alone at night. To help combat this problem, especially around the Santa Clara campus, senior Molly Mahaney has started an escort service.

Mahaney, a resident assistant on first floor Campisi, said that she had heard of such a service existing in the past, but could not remember one being in effect in recent years.

When asked what moved her to personally reorganize the escort service, Mahaney cited an incident early fall quarter where the friend of one of her first floor Campisi residents had planned to walk to her apartment a few blocks from campus, and to telephone back that she had gotten home safely. Because no one received word from the girl, the residents called both Campus Security and the Santa Clara police. It was learned that the "missing person" had simply stopped to talk to other friends on campus, and finally did reach her destination unharmed.

The incident did, however, cause "three hours of turmoil," and spurred Mahaney to mention it at the next floor meeting. She asked the residents from the men's wing to volunteer as "escorts" for the girls on that wing. Their duty would be to see that the girls got back to their rooms safely at night. "The response was tremen-dous," states Mahaney. "The guys were very responsive." Twenty-two names and room numbers are now listed on her door. "It's neat the way the guys jumped right in. They deserve a lot of credit."

The service has only been used a few times to date. Mahaney feels that this is partly due to an "It'll never happen to me" attitude about being bothered while walking alone at night. She also emphasizes that the girls should not feel that they are imposing, that most guys would welcome a chance to get away from their studies for a few minutes."

Volunteer escort Steve Kiehn, a sophomore resident of first floor Campisi, thinks that the service is a good idea. He was called one evening to walk a girl to her apartment behind Safeway. He said that the girl felt safe, ' and that it was "a great way to meet people if nothing else."

First floor Campisi RA Peter Quinn I also served as an escort when a Swig resident had to walk back to her room from the other side of campus. "The guys razzed me a little," says Quinn, "but I felt good about doing it."