UW-Madison's SAFE program coordinators said they are fully staffed and ready to provide students safe late-night transportation amid employee resignations and reports of employee dissatisfaction.
According to a statement released Wednesday, The SAFE program is in the process of completing a staff transition in order to be more efficient and responsive to students.""
Although 11 staff members have recently resigned, the SAFE program has replaced all of them, the statement said.
SAFEcabs will be available for extended hours during finals week - until 6 a.m. May 11 through May 15. An additional SAFEwalk team will also be available and a dispatcher will begin taking calls at 8 p.m.
""We absolutely encourage every student to call us if they need a walk or ride during finals - no one will be turned away,"" Gordon Graham, UW-Madison Transportation Services administrator, said in a statement.
Dana DeMet, one of the 11 employees to resign from SAFE, said he is frustrated with the recent statement because he said it does not indicate the truth about the organization. He said implementing another SAFEwalk team for exam week is nothing new.
""We used to always have four teams on a night and most recently they reduced us to three per night,"" DeMet said.
""It offends me that after a UW student gets murdered in her home they don't feel that its necessary to up the teams to four teams a night, yet in finals week they decide to move it up to four.""
According to the statement, demand for escorts temporarily increased after Zimmermann's death but have since declined to less than 10 walks and about 70 cab rides per night.
Graham said SAFEwalk staff has always been able to meet the demand, but DeMet still emphasized a lack of SAFEwalk administration communication with employees and a general frustration with SAFEwalk student escorts.
DeMet said he and other employees resigned because of dissatisfaction with management.
SAFE services will continue to run during finals week. For more information or to arrange a walk, call 262-5000 or visit www.wisc.edu/trans.
As of press time, Graham did not return calls for additional comment.
