BOD considers skipping Night Walk this year

Due to a lack of volunteer participation, there may not be a campus Night Walk this year, according to representatives at last night's ASUW Board of Director's (BOD) meeting.

The file containing contact information from last year's volunteers was accidentally deleted in the ASUW offices, said Jenni Backes, director of publicity and programming. Additionally, ASUW has had a hard time getting people involved this year.

"Most of our volunteer information got erased, but if we can still find people that are interested, I'm going to go all out," Backes said.

Facilitated by the BOD's Crime Prevention Committee, the Night Walk program, first in 1999, has been made into an annual event by students and faculty.

Last February, more than 50 volunteers gathered in Red Square at dusk, armed with flashlights, warm jackets and clipboards. Teams of students and faculty walked around the lower traffic paths on campus looking for spots that are not well lit or overgrown.

Some students said they found the paths bothersome during the day, but treacherous after the sun went down, inviting peril as students walked home or to bus stops.

"Code blue" light posts are set up in especially dark areas, and emergency phones stationed in locations deemed problematic.

While existing emergency phones and lights are maintained by UW campus security, Backes stressed the annual Night Walk is important for student protection.

"This event is good because it makes people think more about their safety on campus," she said.

BOD members also discussed adding the IMA to Night Ride routes, which would offer tired students frantically getting in their half hour of cardio before bed a safe ride home.

Night Ride, a free service provided by the UW Transportation Office, offers faculty, staff and students rides to various stops around and within a mile of campus, not including the IMA or Montlake.

"I've had a discussion with the major players doing Night Rides and they discussed there wasn't enough funding for an extra route to go to the IMA because it's so far away from the other stops," Backes said. "We're hoping to find a happy medium to increase funding and make the service more available to students."

A senate resolution was passed to expand the program to the IMA last May. Jon Lee, senate membership coordinator, said he was happy the initiative was brought back to the board this year.

"Student opinion stands year to year, there's still a definite need for it now but we haven't had time to look at it," Lee said.

Kelsey Knowles, ASUW president and Night Ride user, said she knows students are still interested in the event as well as having safe and convenient transportation on Montlake Boulevard Northeast.

"We know students are very interested [in Night Walk and Night Ride]," Knowles said. "We're doing a lot of investigative work to see if it's a feasible option this year."