Escort growth pushed

With a growing number of graduate students moving further into Center City, Escort may have a longer ride some time in the future. Many graduate students say they hope that Escort will extend its boundaries from 20th Street on the east side of Rittenhouse Square west to 18th Street. A committee to study further expansion of Escort Service met last December. The group "looked at Escort and . . . tried to reorganize and make it more effective," said John Gustafson, supervisor of Escort Service. And while meetings were curtailed because of vacation, they are expected to resume soon. Allen Orsi, chairperson of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, said he expects a decision to be reached soon. "They shouldn't talk about it . . . ," said Orsi. "All they have to do is look at the statistics." In addition to graduate students, the committee has representatives from several departments at the University, including business services, the office of the Vice Provost for University Life and University Police. Graduate student leaders said they expect that Escort will satisfy their demands. "[The committee] did discuss it as a legitimate concern and we're moving toward making that extension possible," said Cheryl Butler, a Graduate Student Associations Council board member. According to Orsi, between two and three thousand graduate students live in Center City. "Approximately 20 to 25 percent of the ridership of existing Escort Service is to and from Center City," said Steven Murray, vice president of business services. "It would be nice to be able to go further . . . [into the city] to get to some of the activities [held by graduate students]," said Social Work graduate student Beth Nulty. The change in Escort would involve hiring more drivers, buying new vans, and restructuring the routes, Gustafson said. "[We] would have to put more vehicles on our fleet," said Gustafson. "I would have to retrain current drivers for that area of the city." Gustafson said that "what pushed" graduate students' interest in Escort was the shooting of two University students during the summer of 1991.

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