To wait for the first few weeks of classes to complete repairs in sophomore rooms interrupts our busy schedules, and makes for a depressing first few days in rooms sometimes all too close to those of a tenement.

As a Leverett resident, I cannot complain about a lack of welcoming events, having been on a worthwhile sophomore outing to Woods Hole last week. But friends in other houses did not have such an opportunity to meet each other and be welcomed to house life.

And, with shopping already having begun, I have not discussed course plans with a tutor and have no plans to do so in the near future.

The final sophomore insult is one that will not go away when the boxes are stowed and the floors scrubbed: limited cardkey access leaves us in unsplendid isolation from friends whose phones may have not yet even been connected.

The security arguments for 24-hour access for all students in every house should now be familiar: universal access would make propping doors for friends from other houses obsolete and would make students more hesitant to mindlessly admitting those without an ID of their own; it would remove the easy target of a student waiting alone for someone to come out of a house so that they would be able to enter.

But there is another reason that universal access should be implemented now: in this age of randomly scattered sophomores, not being able to get into other houses to visit friends is yet another deterrent to a friendly start to a second year.

Sophomores have enough to worry about in adjusting to our new settings, picking new classes and learning to live with new roommates. Move-in week is no time for Harvard to be skimping on its responsibility to feed and shelter us. Harvard may enjoy a 99 percent retention rate, but the administration should still welcome its sophomores back with open arms--not the back of its hand.