Alternatives available to improve efforts toward student safety
By Sandy Stafford
Skiff Staff

Judging from recent letters, some people feel that I put my foot in my mouth last week while criticizing Froggie-Five-O procedures. If any of you are still reading, pass the shoehorn, and I will try to clarify the situation.

First off, the examples used in my column last week were, unfortunately, something that was either personally experienced or experienced by an acquaintance.

I have actually waited more than 20 minutes for an escort that never arrived. This is not a rumor that I pulled out of the sky. While realizing that Froggie-Five-O drivers are students who value other students’ safety, the fact remains that calls often take too long to be answered.

In fairness to dedicated Froggie-Five-O drivers, this may be a problem with the radio dispatcher or with handling a large number of calls at one time. Hopefully, drivers would never purposely fail to answer a call.

owever, something does need to be done to improve response time.
As for the lightning March 19, which was discussed in detail in my previous article and in letters to the editor Friday, I was, admittedly, unaware of the lightning policy that TCU Police handle Froggie-Five-O calls during times of severe lightning to prevent risk to student drivers (which could have been explained much sooner by a more helpful voice answering my calls to the TCU Police).

While it would be fairly surprising if lightning hit a golf cart before it struck a tree or a building, it’s understandable that this is a safety issue for the drivers not wanting anyone to be electrocuted. But sadly, average students remain on the short end of the stick when they need to traverse the campus in inclement weather.

On the other hand, last week’s column did generate some positive feedback from Dallas lawyer and 1981 TCU graduate John Sherwood.

Mr. Sherwood described his involvement at TCU in a “volunteer group of male students available to walk women anywhere they needed to go” as a “win-win” situation, a way both to meet people and keep TCU safer.

nterestingly, the group was founded after “a series of rapes on campus (in which) non-campus strangers (were) literally leaping from the bushes.”

This past situation sounds eerily familiar to the attacker who forced his way into a nearby apartment this semester.

Especially after the recent off-campus assault, students must be aware of their safety. A program like the one Mr. Sherwood describes would be a positive reinforcement to the safe environment that Froggie-Five-O works to create. Such a volunteer group could greatly reduce the strain on Froggie-Five-O by escorting students even short distances during the heaviest traffic hours.

Finally, someone has suggested an idea that would make both students and drivers happier.

Sandy Stafford is a sophomore theatre/TV major from Nederland.
She can be contacted at (s.a.stafford@student.tcu.edu).

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