Red Phones To Make Return

After being removed from River House dorm rooms before the start of the school year, the red phones that used to be standard issue for all college students are set to make a comeback.

Harvard officials cited safety concerns as the reason for reversing their decision yesterday, with the news coming to students as part of an e-mail circulated by Dean of the College David Pilbeam to the undergraduate community outlining emergency communication measures.

“We think this is the right way to go,” said Associate Dean for Residential Life Suzy M. Nelson of the decision to bring back the phones. “It’s a whole package of how are we examining on a day-to-day basis our ability to communicate effectively with students in the event of an emergency.”

Nelson added that much of the work­, including a study of cellular connectivity across campus, that contributed to the original decision to remove the red phones had happened “prior to incidents that occurred last year,” including the Virginia Tech shooting.

One of the safety advantages of the red phones, according to Nelson, is that Cambridge and Harvard University police can trace the location of callers, even when they cannot speak into the receiver.

In a draft of a press release outlining the updates to the emergency communications plan, Pilbeam also referred to national events as the impetus for a renewed emphasis on safety.

“The safety of our students, in class, in the dormitories and Houses, or anywhere else on campus is of the utmost importance,” Pilbeam was quoted as saying. “Given recent events on other campuses around the country, we have reviewed and will continue to review and update our emergency communications efforts.”

Pilbeam could not be reached for further comment late last night.

Nelson said earlier this year that the red phones had been removed because they were being underused.

“Now that nearly all students have cell phones, use of the red phones is almost nonexistent,” she wrote in an early September e-mail to The Crimson, adding that the College had chosen to pursue alternatives to “continu[ing] a service that students don’t utilize.”

One such alternative, which Nelson stressed yesterday and which Pilbeam mentioned prominently in his e-mail, was a new text message alert system, for which students can register online at www.messageme.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Christian B. Flow can be reached at cflow@fas.harvard.edu.