House Workers Must Wear IDs, UC Says

Mather House residents were shaken up last October after a convicted rapist was found lurking the lowrise halls, trying to enter students’ rooms by claiming he was a fire door inspector.

Since the incident, an increase in false alarms over suspicious persons in the dorms has prompted the Undergraduate Council (UC) and the College safety committee to take steps toward making it easier for students to identify workers in the Houses.

The UC unanimously passed a Worker Identification Act at its March 5 meeting, calling on the College to provide “readily identifiable clothing or badges which shall be displayed prominently” for employees and student workers authorized to enter undergraduate rooms.

“Students instinctively trust that strangers who knock on their door have legitimate business in their dorm,” said Ben W. Milder ’08, one of the bill’s co-sponsors and one of the Student Affairs Committee (SAC) vice-chairs.

Requiring workers to wear an effective visitor’s pass “could save everybody both in terms of convenience and in terms of safety,” said Matt R. Greenfield ’08, the other sponsor and another SAC vice-chair.

Currently, Harvard authorizes uniformed Facilities Maintenance Operations (FMO) workers, UNICCO janitors, and plain-clothes student dorm crew workers and outside contractors to enter residential housing. Plain-clothes workers often carry no means of identification.

The UC’s proposed change would require workers to obtain a visitors pass from the building manager before entering a dorm.

FMO Supervisor Robert F. Wolfreys said he does not see how obtaining a visitors pass is more secure than the current policy, which requires workers to obtain keys from the building manager.

But Wolfreys said he does not oppose the proposal.

“I can see where the student would feel more comfortable with that,” Wolfreys said.

The Harvard College Safety Committee (HCSC), which recommends safety reforms to administrators, also took up the identification issue at a meeting last Thursday.

HCSC Chair and Assistant Dean of the College John “Jay” Ellison said the committee will most likely recommend uniform modifications to allow for further identification for employees.

David R. Bach ’07, who alerted police to the convicted rapist in Mather, said he supports a more stringent identification policy.

For Bach, who said he has been slightly more cautious since the October incident, further identification would allow students to both feel safe and not “make rash assumptions and accuse them [authorized workers] of anything.”

—Staff writer Benjamin L. Weintraub can be reached at bweintr@fas.harvard.edu.