Finish the Job

Almost, but not quite. Finally, each one of the House Masters has agreed to extend universal keycard access to their Houses between the hours of 8 a.m. and 1 a.m., starting next semester. Though we congratulate those House committees, Masters and members of the Undergraduate Council Committee on House Life that made this important change possible, we urge these same groups to fill the vital gap to make universal keycard access available 24 hours a day.

The current plan, which the Masters said they will try on a trial basis, will allow students easy entrance to all the Houses for meetings or simply to visit friends, as well as the chance to duck into a dry and well-lit hallway if weather or--more importantly--a strange character on the street makes a quick escape necessary. During the universal keycard hours, holding the door open will be a thing of the past.

Universal keycard access will help protect students and their belongings from outsiders who ask to be swiped in and then swipe students' stuff.

However, the hours currently excluded are a major restraint to the full safety benefits of universal keycard access. 1 a.m. to 8 a.m., what might in non-college contexts be considered the no-man's depth of the night, are probably the hours when students most need universal keycard access on the street, to avoid suspicious characters prowling about.

It is troubling that Leverett House Master Howard Georgi '68 said that his students saw universal keycard access as a threat to their safety. This issue deserves more careful study, but we feel students see universal keycard access as the path to safety and, therefore, the Masters should make the Houses accessible to all Harvard students 24 hours a day.

The Master's agreement is a step in the right direction, but only when all of the Harvard Houses are accessible to Harvard students 24 hours a day, as a place collectively to call home, can we rest assured that Masters are doing the most they can for their students' safety and convenience.