College Should Improve Safety

The recent rise in crime on campus is alarming. A theft in Eliot House and attacks near Mather House and Adams House are signs that something must be done to improve safety around the River Houses, not to mention in the Quad area. In contrast, the Yard seems to be a pretty safe place. Blue-light emergency phones dot the Yard, a Harvard University Police substation occupies the basement of Weld Hall and many gates of the Yard are locked every evening to protect first-years from the criminals of Cambridge. The knowledge that, as upperclass students, we are far less safe is disturbing. Does the administration think that since we are older we are just better at defending ourselves? The University should be taking steps to improve campus security but has chosen not to.

One measure it should take is universal card key access for all undergraduates to all Houses 24 hours a day. The current system is ridiculously unsafe and places students in dangerous situations. The card key access system for entering dorms is supposed to be for students' safety. We certainly do not want strangers off the street to be able to pass through our doors. We need some mechanism of restricting access. Card keys are advantageous over regular ones in that they cannot be copied and are completely controlled by the University, so they can be deactivated if lost. The card key system is supposed to keep us safe but in reality does not.

The recent move to implement universal card key access from noon to 8 p.m. is a step in the right direction. However, it falls pathetically short. Our lives do not end at 8 p.m., and we should be able to enter all dorms at all times. The current system forces students who wish to visit another house to wait by the locked entrance for admittance. They must either call a friend from a Centrex phone to ask to be let in or wait idly for a resident of the House to walk by and open the door. This wait for access places students in a potentially dangerous situation.

If I want to study late at night--after universal card key access has been turned off--with a classmate who lives in Mather House, I will be forced to wait outside, alone, until someone lets me in. This might take mere seconds, or it could take minutes if I have to call up and wait for my friend to come down and open the door. Regardless of how long it takes, while I wait for entrance to the dorm, I am not safe at all. It is a perfect opportunity for a criminal to prey on a young female.

Earlier this year, one of my room-mates was visiting a friend in Dunster House and left to walk home to Quincy by herself around 3 a.m. When she began to walk home, she realized a car was following her. The car had been driving in the opposite direction but turned around and began trailing her closely. She walked back to Quincy as quickly as she could. When she turned into the courtyard, the car pulled over and stopped, and a man got out of the car. Luckily, she was able to sprint into the dorm before he was able to catch up with her.

Had it been the other way around, had she been going to visit her friend in Dunster at 3 a.m. and the same scenario took place, she would not have been able to race to safety by quickly entering the dorm. She would have had to wait by herself in the dark for someone to let her in, and the stranger following her in the car would have been able to catch up with her. Whether she would have had time to use the Centrex phone to reach Harvard police is questionable. Even if she had been able to call for help, I doubt that Harvard Police would have been able to respond to the scene before the stranger forced her into his car. These dangerous situations are real.

There is another reason why the current card key system is so irresponsible. Students realize that only residents of their own house have card key access, and so they often use their card keys to open doors for anyone who asks them to, without checking for a Harvard ID. Opening doors for people has become a common courtesy. We trust that the individual we are letting in is a Harvard student. Why should we think otherwise? There are about 6,000 students who do not have card key access to our House, and only about 400 who do.

If 24-hour universal card key access were in place, students would definitely think twice before opening the door for anyone. They would check to see that people asking for access to their House possessed a Harvard ID card, and our campus would be safer. As it stands now, it is not difficult for criminals to enter a Harvard dorm. All they have to do is ask.

On a related topic, the lack of blue-light emergency phones outside the Yard is appalling. True, there is an emergency button on every Centrex phone, but these phones are only located near house entrances. What does a student who is walking home to the Quad do if she needs help near the Cambridge Commons? Harvard should install blue-light phones all over campus.

The current state of campus safety outside the Yard is unnerving and unacceptable. The administration should not ignore students' voices any longer. The bottom line is that students do not feel safe.