Late at night, having an actual human being in the vicinity is much more comforting than a telephone and more likely to discourage potential criminals from operating in the area. The mere knowledge that there were guards in the houses all night would not only make the students returning home feel more comfortable, but would also insure that potentially dangerous people did not sneak into the houses.

And as some 20 DeWolfe residents can attest to, security guards do matter. DeWolfe is widely considered the most dangerous undergraduate housing at Harvard because it lacks a security guard. Last week, when returning to their sixth floor room late one night, two students found a drunk homeless man sleeping in the hallway. He had been able to get in because the electronically-operated doors close and open slowly, and there was to guard to watch the entrance.

If Harvard's reaction was to expand the guard unit there would not be so much concern. Amazingly, Harvard appears to be the only place in the country cutting back on security. The security force, which has recently been reduced by 10 percent through attrition, is now believed to be considering cuts that would reduce the department by another 15 percent.

This trend towards cutting back on security is also mirrored in the police department itself. Though administrators claim that police patrols at night are effective, that is true only in a very limited sense. A car driving by is not in an area long enough to really stop a security threat.

To patrol the campus effectively, police foot patrols are necessary. Such patrols would insure that there would always be a police officer around to actually help out and be at the scene as something happened.

In addition, the police bases should be decentralized, so that all the officers do not have to go back to 29 Garden Street. The location of a headquarters closer to campus would ensure greater coverage and supervision that is now lacking.

Right now changes are reportedly being considered which would curtail overtime hours for police. Under such a plan, if an officer called in sick, a replacement would not be called and another officer would be given double the area to patrol.

Budget cutting is a fine thing, but it also revels where a corporation's priorities lie. While organizations like Safety-Walk are admirable, the administration must take security more seriously to prevent a tragedy from occuring.

At this point, however, it appears that the only way the University will be convinced that there is a major problem is for a high-profile murder or rape to occur which scares parents of potenial students.

Until then, what can a student do? Well, not much, except to hope that you're not the victim who finally makes Harvard wake up.