A Smoldering Injustice

In an 11 day search and seizure, Harvard Yard Operations went through every first-year dorm to confiscate all incendiary appliances ranging from rice cookers to coffee-makers. Although the inspection wasn't entirely unannounced, it did catch many first-years by surprise. Some students recounted horror stories of waking up to find an inspector in the middle of their room. Other students who were out of their room returned to find items missing, without any note explaining what was taken or where to retrieve their items.

Although we wholeheartedly support Harvard's concerns about fire safety, the manner by which the Freshman Deans Office's (FDO) conducted these inspections raises serious privacy issues.

Whenever possible, inspections should be announced and conducted with students present. Obviously, this is not possible during winter break. But if searches are conducting during the term, the FDO should make reasonable efforts in this area. One possible option would be to require inspectors to make several rounds of door-knocking, skipping rooms where nobody answers. If inspectors let themselves into only those rooms that have not been searched after several attempts, the number of empty room searches (or out-of-the-shower embarrassments) could be minimized.

The second common complaint was that some seemingly benign items were confiscated. We do not doubt that tea-kettles or rice cookers might be fatal in the hands of the wrong students. One solution would be to offer a course on fire safety; students who pass could earn the right to operate a hot plate.

But given that such a class may not be on the immediate horizon, the FDO should, at the least, make it clearer which items constitute a fire hazard and why. For example, the only microwave the first-years can have in their room are "MicroFridges," which have been certified by the Cambridge Fire Department in 1987. According to officials at Harvard Student Resources, these products are safer because they meet certain wattage, size and age requirements. But other microwaves may or may not meet these same requirements. The FDO should publicize this information so that, at the very least, students know why their old "G.E. Nuke'em" was carted away.

Finally, the FDO should develop some mechanism through which students can request exceptions. One student was separated from a menorah, a family heirloom, that had no evidence of use. An agreement not to use such religious items should be enough to allow students to keep them.

Fire safety is a serious concern. But these commonsense reforms to the first-year inspection system will allow the University and its students to work together, not against each other.