Quad Residents React with Worries About Safety, House Life

Quad living will get a little tougher next year, according to many residents.

Quadlings cited concerns about safety and an anticipated decline in the quality of residential life due to budget cuts announced on Monday by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The reductions are geared towards helping FAS close a $220 million annual deficit.

In particular, the plan to terminate shuttle service to the Quad next year at 1:30 a.m. from Sunday to Wednesday—when it has previously ended at 3:45—sparked anger among Quad students.

Many said that this cut, along with the end of service at the Quad library, will force many to do work at Lamont Library and face an inconvenient and unsafe commute back from the Yard.

“This isn’t an issue of Quad kids whining, it’s really an issue of safety,” said Tessa K. Lyons-Laing ’11. “Student safety should never be a bullet point on a list of ways to save money.”

Anna Raginskaya ’11, a Pforzheimer resident, stressed that the situation was especially dangerous for female students.

“It really puts you in a situation where sexual violence could occur simply because you don’t have the option to go home,” she said. “If Harvard was concerned about the safety of its women, Harvard should make it so that if a girl feels uncomfortable in a situation, she can get out of it.”

Scott M. Elfenbein ’11 said that he also believed the cuts to the shuttle service will be a safety concern, but added that he thought they exacerbated the more important issue of the House budget cuts.

“Our entire social lives cannot exist in the river and then they still expect us to live in the Quad,” said Elfenbein, who added that House activities and events were the main highlights of Quad life.

Although many students said they felt Quad residents were being disproportionately affected, most said they understood that the extra impact was incidental.

“I don’t think they’re out to target the Quad,” said Manny J. Antunes ’11. “The Quad is disenfranchised because it’s far away. When you take away a service across the board it will seem to affect the Quad more because we’re already disenfranchised.”

Still, several students said they were dissatisfied with the timing of the announcement.

“It’s very worrisome that the students are only being asked for input very late in the process,” said Sarah E. Esty ’11. She added that she believed reading period was a difficult time for students who might have wanted to organize a response.

“That gives [the administration] a lot of power,” she said.

George J.J. Hayward ’11, a UC rep for Currier, said that there has been an overwhelming response to an e-mail that he sent out on Monday night requesting Quad residents to submit their thoughts on the issue.

“When you’ve got one out of every four students who are willing to type up a paragraph or two regarding their feelings about the Quad cuts during reading period, you know it’s touched something,” he said.

—Staff writer Michelle L. Quach can be reached at mquach@fas.harvard.edu.