Four days a week, three or more students spend five hours in a small room in the Main Library, waiting to accompany students who want to be walked home.
But in the last few years, not many students have come.
Alpha Phi Omega, a coed service fraternity, created StateWalk more than 15 years ago to offer a safe alternative to walking home alone late at night.
The fraternity regained control of StateWalk in 2002, after the program had spent more than a decade under the Residence Halls Association. Since Alpha Phi Omega started it back up, the program has had low demand, said Alex Smith, studio art junior and StateWalk chairman.
"This semester is all about getting our name out," Smith said.
Group members plan to start a Web site, send out fliers in the dorms and distribute rape whistle packages with StateWalk information, he said.
At least three people at a time work in shifts on Monday through Thursday between 7 p.m. and midnight, with two who walk people home. One of the walk volunteers must be female in order to make the experience more comfortable for women who use the service. About 10 people each week use the service, Smith said.
Anyone, including faculty and staff, may use the service, but mostly female students use it, Smith said. Volunteers will walk anywhere on campus, but not off campus.
"It never feels like a waste of time because we're volunteering to come here and we believe in what we're doing," Smith said.
Hospitality business sophomore Stacey Campbell got a walk home from StateWalk volunteers last week. She said she heard about the program through word of mouth.
"Last year in the paper, there were so many rapes and sexual assaults and stuff, so I figured, 'OK, I might as well use it. It wouldn't hurt,'" Campbell said. "It was really useful. I think it's a good thing to have around campus."
StateWalk is an underutilized service, said Emily Ketterer, social relations junior and co-director of MSU's Women's Council.
"A lot of people don't understand the importance of having someone to walk home with late at night and probably underestimate the amount of bad things that can happen," Ketterer said. "Maybe it's a factor of shyness. It's kind of an awkward situation to have people you don't know to walk home with you."
Although he has heard of people getting mugged, philosophy senior Broc Wodzien hasn't used StateWalk.
"I've studied at the library until late on a great many occasions and I've never felt the need to have a walk home," Wodzien said, adding that he'd feel more comfortable knowing the service is available to his younger sisters.
