But the arrival of the sensitive detectors nevertheless aggravated other, headaches at the Houses. Compounding the necessary inconveniences from the renovations were roughly 10 times the number of fire alarms endured in past years, says R. Thomas Quinn, acting director of facilities.

While the House renovations will grip under graduates and alter student life for at least three more years, the fire alarm routine may not. Warren F. Clancy, Harvard's superintendent of technical services, believes the alarm frequency will drop, following a customary "shake-down" period and growing familiarity with the easily triggered devices. He notes that while the number of detectors increased from 380 to 2227 between September and April, the number of fire alarms per month had only doubled, rising from 26 to 57. He adds that, in a typical month, the majority of the alarms are triggered by errant fumes from cooking, smoking and fireplaces Says Quinn wryly. "Students have to remember when you put the kettle on for a pot of tea, you have to take it off before it runs out of water."

The frequency of fire alarms also poses a safety hazard, officials say. The repeated alarms sometimes several in a single night at the same House--have bred a lackadaisical attitude toward evacuating. Students in some Houses have made it a custom to blast their stereo to muffle the strens. "If we had a real fire, everyone in Winthrop would just fry," says Winthrop Master James A. Davis.

With the exception of the fire hazard, however, student safety has not been a major problem as Harvard reconstructs. Undergraduate life was made different when construction equipment began to dominate sidewalks and landscapes. But the long-term benefits apparently make the unwelcome wake-up calls and the drastic change in scenery more tolerable. Says Davis: "If the youth of America can not stand the noise of someone pounding a nail 100 feet away, the nation has lost its fiber."

"You can just go on and on, if you want to measure the inconveniences."

--Project Manager Roger Cayer