This past week, many of us traveled home to our families, gathered around the dining room table, partook of gluttonous feasts and gave thanks for our many blessings. Having since returned to cold, dreary Cambridge for the last three weeks of the fall semester grind, we have considerably less to rejoice about. Nonetheless, for the first time in a long time, Harvard has given us some cause to express gratitude.

We're thankful for the new security phones, courtesy of the Office of Physical Resources (OPR). Responding to pressure from undergraduates, the OPR is working with the Harvard University Police Department to install new phones on the way to the Quad and near the river Houses. Nothing warms the cockles of our hearts more than the warm blue glow of a security phone and we're pleased that the landscape will be dotted with even more shimmering Centrex terminals.

We're thankful for extended dining hall hours in Winthrop, Lowell, and most recently, Leverett. We like to nosh late at night, and our cardiologists have warned us about too much Tommy's. Good, wholesome dining hall food hits the spot when we're hit by study-break cravings. Nothing pleases the palate more than some nice creamy fro-yo right before bedtime.

Finally, we're thankful for the sudden outbreak of universal keycard access. First Quincy, and now Cabot and Winthrop, have opened their doors to the masses. Who would have guessed that all our years of struggle would finally start to pay-off. With luck, this is only the beginning of a great revolution that will shake the foundations of undergraduate life. Hopefully, all the Houses will soon unlock their gates and a new era of community and convenience will be born.

And who is responsible for these great blessings which we extol? The great heroes of the season are none other than the House masters who have gotten caught up in an unprecedented spirit of student appeasement. In what has been a shocking trend, they have responded to student concerns if not with speed, with attention and with tangible results.

Our gratitude may be seasonally inspired, but it is genuine. What a wonderful world it would be if College officials continued to behave so responsively with regard to undergraduate complaints-something for administrators to consider as the season for New Year's resolutions approaches.