University Residential Life increased Escort Service drivers’ starting wages from $7.50 to $9 an hour this weekend, after complaints from student employees and a brief walkout Nov. 6.
“I think (the increase in wages) is exciting and rewarding,” said Steve Knapp, an Escort Service worker and McCormick senior. “It’s something that we all deserve.”
Administrators also expanded the organization’s hours of operation and added a sixth vehicle to its fleet. Drivers will be available from 6 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. daily — starting two hours earlier than usual.
The service also now has access to three cars and three seven-passenger vans, doubling the Escort Service’s capacity in past weeks, said Virginia Koch, senior assistant director of Residential Life.
Both Koch and Knapp said they hope the changes will entice students to apply to be drivers.
“We want to attract more students to work at the Escort Service in this heightened-security situation,” Koch said.
These changes to the service came after problems arose between student drivers and administrators, as well as in response to the need to protect students’ safety on and near campus.
In the past several weeks, administrators also hired private security guards to supplement student drivers and installed a multiline phone in the Escort Service office in Allison Hall.
Heather Redding, the student coordinator who was asked to resign Nov. 10 following the student driver walkout, said she believes the changes will benefit the Escort Service because they were in response to student demands.
But Redding also expressed anger toward the administration for the way it handled the conflict.
“It upsets me incredibly,” said Redding, a Communication senior. “I had and needed this job. The administration used me as a scapegoat and now I’m out of the $4,000 or $5,000 I could have made.”
Other students who were agitated with the service said they are pleased to finally see results.
“The Escort Service has greatly improved in the last few weeks,” said Vickie Cook, Women’s Coalition’s Take Back the Night chairwoman and director of EmPower. “(The changes) are a very good beginning, but (the service) can be better.”
Cook, a Weinberg senior who lobbied to instigate changes, said she believes there should be more communication between the student drivers and the administration.
She also said she worries that too many students still are out after the service ends at 2:30 a.m., the time when attacks or robberies are most likely to take place.
“Safety issues don’t stop when the Escort Service does,” Cook said. “Northwestern University needs to look into some kind of option to make sure students aren’t walking home alone after 2:30 a.m.”
Cook suggested working with University Police or local taxi cab companies to ensure student safety. But Koch said the idea hasn’t been discussed within the administration. Residential Life’s top concern is increasing the Escort Service staff since there are not enough students currently trained and available, she added.
“Right now we need to get people to apply for (driving positions),” Koch said. “We’re looking for more employees to increase (the service’s) capacity.”
Applications are available in both the Residential Life office and the Escort Service office. A valid driver’s license and the completion of the Defensive Driving Course, a driving safety course, qualify students for the position.
