Masters To Discuss Late-Night Access

In a sign that the Undergraduate Council’s push for later hours across campus is making further progress, this afternoon House Masters will consider extending universal keycard access until 2:30 a.m. for a one-semester trial period.

Currently—with the exception of Quincy House—students can swipe into only their own Houses after 1 a.m.

“I think an hour and a half extra is a reasonable request,” said Student Affairs Committee Chair Rohit Chopra ’04, who is one of the council members leading the effort for later hours.

Based on preliminary discussions with House masters, Chopra said he is hopeful that the council’s proposal will be accepted.

Student support for later access to Houses is strong, said Council President Paul A. Gusmorino ’02.

Gusmorino called the current 1 a.m. deadline for swiping into other Houses “an artificial barrier” to students conducting their daily business.

“It’s clear to me that students are regularly out and about until two or three studying with friends, visiting people and conducting their lives,” Gusmorino said.

Many involved with the debate said student safety is the most important consideration.

Controversy over keycard access simmered earlier this fall when an anonymous student complained in a widely circulated e-mail that she had widely circulated e-mail that she had been harassed by three males. The student complained that she tried to escape by swiping into several Houses but could not because it was after 1 a.m.

After the alleged incident, Cabot House Master James H. Ware said the Masters would have to “take a careful look” at the policy.

Chopra said that some Masters may be reluctant to extend access past 1 a.m. because there is no security guard after that time.

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 wrote in an e-mail that while he worries “a lot about the possibility of harm coming to students who are out very late at night,” he does not think students’ safety from non-Harvard affiliates is the most relevant issue in the debate.

“I don’t think safety is an important consideration in the [keycard access] debate, as every argument that [keycard access] would increase safety seems based on the premise that only (or mainly) non-students assault Harvard students, a premise which we know to be false,” Lewis wrote.

Leverett House Master Howard Georgi ’68, a supporter of the extension until 2:30 a.m., wrote in an e-mail that he considers later keycard access to be an educational matter.

“I would like students from other Houses to have easy access into

the Leverett dining hall to study until it closes at 2 a.m., at which point,

I would like to see them go back to their rooms and sleep,” Georgi wrote.

If the Masters vote today to approve the semester trial period, it will be a major victory for the council delegation leading the push for later hours. In the spring of 2000, council members persuaded House Masters to institue keycard access until 1 a.m. for a one-year trial period.

Last spring, council members attempteed to secure 24-hour keycard access, a proposal the masters denied. The Masters at that time agreeed, however, to keep the 1 a.m. policy permanently.

“If the Masters agree to extend keycard access until 2:30 a.m., it will be a big win for student safety and convenience,” Chopra said.

—Staff writer William M. Rasmussen can be reached at wrasmuss@fas.harvard.edu.