Inspections Tightened In Wake Of Fire

Students with microwaves, hotpots and toasters had to go to extra lengths to skirt College restrictions on electrical appliances this year, as House superintendents cracked down on room inspections in the wake of an Eliot House fire.

During past years, House superintendents reported students with microwaves or other forbidden items to their assistant dean or senior tutor, but often allowed offenders to keep the items. This year, however, superintendents sent out warning notices for violations over winter break and are re-inspecting rooms to confiscate appliances that have not been removed.

A fire in the Eliot House Grille on Nov. 11 prompted increased pressure from Cambridge to enforce the fire policy, which prohibits students from using any cooking equipment, including electric appliances and hotpots, in their rooms.

“Harvard buildings have been under close scrutiny by the Cambridge fire marshal, quite properly so, in my opinion, given the near-catastrophe that occurred recently in Eliot House,” Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 wrote in an e-mail. “For that and other reasons we are, therefore, fully in cooperation with the city in a joint effort to correct any violations of city fire codes.”

The change also resulted from heightened concerns about fire safety both locally and nationally, said Zach Gingo, manager of administrative operations for Harvard Yard Operations.

“We have been pushing [Harvard] a lot more this year because of recent fires that happened in other colleges—they’ve lost six or seven kids,” said Joseph Nicoloro, a senior sanitary inspector at Cambridge Inspection Services.

Although superintendents met to discuss the new policy, they established no standard for the thoroughness of an inspection. While some superintendents looked in closets and under beds, others checked only visible areas.

“To a certain extent, it’s left to a super’s discretion,” Gingo said. “We do not tell the super to pry into every nook and cranny. But if they saw power cords running from inside the closet, they might take a look.”

Gene Ketelhohn, superintendent of Cabot House, said superintendents were aware of students’ privacy concerns regarding the inspections, which often occur without the occupant present.

“Some supers have been reticent about how far they should go in searching a room,” he said. “The handbook leaves it open.”

The student handbook forbids students from attaching a non-University lock to any door and notes that “the University must have access to all student suites and the rooms within them.” It does not mention any limitation on the scope of room inspections.

“It’s one thing to go into a room to look around, but it’s an invasion of privacy to rifle through closets and drawers,” said Matthew H. Eckhouse ’04, a resident of Leverett House.

Thomas F. Traugott ’02 said that during the winter break search of his Cabot House room, inspectors lifted a comforter hat was blocking the bottom of his roommate’s bed and found a toaster oven hidden underneath.

Traugott added that the comforter was suspiciously pulled down all the way to the floor and may have caught the eye of inspectors. Gingo said that while such occurrences were rare, if investigators “saw something leading them to believe” that there was a prohibited item in a concealed area, including under a bed, they might check it.

“They’re not going to be rooting through personal belongings in an attempt to find every fire hazard,” he said.

Pforzheimer House Superintendent Milton Canjura said his inspections were “thorough” and included students’ closets but not beds, while Adams House Superintendent Jorge Teixeira said he opened closets but did not sort through the contents.

Traugott said in his three previous years at Harvard, inspectors rarely uncovered hidden items.

“In the past you could drape something under a sheet in the middle of the room and they wouldn’t find it,” Traugott said.

Despite the heightened emphasis on searching for fire hazards, Gingo, who coordinates the superintendents’ inspection efforts, said most were “pleasantly surprised” with how few violations they had found, although complete statistics are still being compiled.

Houses sent out an e-mail before the vacation warning students of the increased consequences, a move that may have led students to get rid of their appliances.

“The students got the message—there was a very low amount of infractions,” Ketelhohn said.

But he added that some students probably used their prior knowledge of inspection dates to hide their appliances or remove them temporarily, although he said he believed such evasions were limited.

Eckhouse said he and his roommates hid two microwaves, a coffeemaker, a George Foreman grill and candles—all prohibited items—in cabinets, under a table and in a closet.

“The whole system of room checks is ridiculous,” he said. “If you couldn’t hide it well enough the first time, you can just hide it in a friend’s room [during the second inspection].”

Even though Traugott’s room received a violation notice for their toaster oven, he said putting more effort into hiding the appliance would avoid future problems.

“It’s kind of a game,” Traugott said. “They caught us, but we’re just going to come up with another way to hide it.”

The only cooking appliances officially permitted in the dorms, Micro-Fridges, are combination refrigerator-microwaves available through Harvard Student Agencies.

Scott Haywood, Kirkland House’s superintendent, said the Micro-Fridge is less of a fire hazard than conventional appliances because it requires only a small amount of heat.

“There’s a circuitry system that doesn’t allow both the microwave and the refrigerator to be running at the same time,” he said.

Although city and state law prohibits cooking appliances in college dorm rooms, Harvard has negotiated with the Cambridge fire marshall to allow an exception for Micro-Fridges, Lewis wrote.

Even if the University is successful in preventing students from keeping fire hazards in their rooms, Lt. Barry Lynde of the Cambridge Fire Department said fires often start simply because students are “careless,” even with items that are permitted in the Houses.

“One kid put a quilt into the washing machine, and it couldn’t handle it and the motor burnt up,” said Lynde, who has responded to calls at Harvard. “We’ve found fireplaces where they’d put a log on and not open the flue, or they’d have things hanging down [in front of the fire].”

—Staff writer Elisabeth S. Theodore can be reached at theodore@fas.harvard.edu.