Halloween weekend can be one of the busiest of the year on a college campus. With all the parties and alcohol consumption happening in the area, it’s safe to say that many students would have taken advantage of our university’s Campus Safety escort service. But, unfortunately, students were unable to use the service Halloween night.
My roommate and I were a 20-minute walk from our house, hanging out with other friends at a local restaurant. It was nearing 1:30 a.m., and we didn’t feel too safe walking back to our house in the dark, cold and wet weather.
Thinking we could just take the Campus Safety escort service back to our house, we dialed the escort number only to be turned away, because of an issue with understaffing. My other friends tried to call, all ending with the same result: a walk home in the cold in our Halloween costumes.
The following week, my other friends in my group wanted to know why the escort service fell through for us on Halloween. While talking to supervisors, we were able to get a response back from Campus Safety about the understaffing issue on Halloween.
Campus Safety director Greg Premo informed Vice President of Student Life, Joanna Royce-Davis, that “it was a staffing error that resulted in lack of shuttle service on Halloween. The intention was for there to be service and it was miscommunication that resulted in the lack of service and lack of appropriate explanation to students who called in.”
While it’s unfortunate that a staffing error occurred on one of the busiest nights of the year for Campus Safety, I felt jilted. I know a problem with the shuttle service is people taking advantage of it, like asking for a shuttle service for a group of people. Groups of people should feel safe walking to their destination because there is strength in numbers.
I have never done this my entire four years at PLU. I’ve only used the shuttle service three times in my entire time at Pacific Lutheran University, and the one time I really needed it, and it was unfortunate that it wasn’t being offered.
Although Campus Safety admitted they made a mistake, I hope this error will result in no understaffing issues on other big party weekends throughout the year, such as LollaPLUza weekend.
As someone who uses the shuttle service only when I feel unsafe to walk home, it was a big let down to not have that service available to me on the night I felt like I needed it the most.