First-year students entered the mail center in the bowels of the Science Center yesterday to find their personal mailboxes flung open, and their private letters, bills and J. Crew catalogues exposed to the elements.

When they asked Science Center employees about the open boxes, many students said they received a short reply: "It's to prove a point."

Mailroom workers opened the boxes to demonstrate that mailboxes are only secure when completely locked--and are only completely locked when students turn their combination dials repeatedly.

A simple twist of the combination knob opened nearly half of the boxes yesterday, employees said.

Students have complained of lost mail and opened mailboxes since the mail room in the Science Center basement began service this year. According to a sign posted in the mail room, the most recent thefts occurred on Friday evening.

Some students said they were disturbed by what they called a drastic measure.

"I don't understand why they didn't just post a sign," said R. Chris Berdik '96. "I didn't know before that the boxes were openable, and I think that it was unnecessary to alert people this way, having them just come in and find their boxes open."

Other students agreed that the mail employees' methods were an unnecessarily harsh first notification.

"I guess their motives were good, but Harvard didn't need to be so brash," said Matthew L. Bruce '96.

Bruce said he saw a mail room employee approach students as they left the mail room. The worker accompanied them back to their boxes to make sure they were properly closed, Bruce said.

"A lot of people probably didn't know that there was a problem before," Bruce said. "And it really just depended on how observant they were when they were checking mail."

Mail room director Cynthia Langille did not return repeated calls yesterday.