Shrill Alarms Sell

Hsu, who heads the committee, said, "It is a very useful idea but I wish that the alarms were free. But the UC cannot fund that much. The UC paid a lot for the security whistles, and that was quite expensive."

The shrill sound emitted by the sirens is "ear busting," and can cause permanent deafness, Towne said, so they should not be used playfully.

She added that the recent spate of crime has had a definite effect on the sale of the alarms. "We might not have sold as many alarms if there had been not so much crime," she said.

The alarms are being distributed at the Harvard Police station, the Dean of Students' office, the Holyoke Center Information Office, the Radcliffe Dean's office and the Lyman Common Room.