"The issue you can't control is people," Reardon says. "You can have the best fire alarm and prevention system...[but] what no one can dictate is human nature."

Even before the Seton Hall tragedy, members of the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) told The Crimson they were having trouble convincing students to evacuate at every fire alarm.

And three weeks ago, when an explosion near Peabody Terrace necessitated the evacuation of the structure, their fears were realized when they had to go door-to-door to evacuate graduate student residents.

"Most students at universities are ambivalent [to fire alarms]," Reardon says.

Students who do not evacuate, can even be fined or arrested on the orders of the Cambridge fire chief.

Fines, which are set by the city, can run as high as $300 and are considerably higher than at other colleges. At the University of Michigan, for example--where a Jan. 21 fire caused extensive smoke damage to a dormitory--students are fined $50 if they do not evacuate.

"It's not like we're given any choice in the matter," says HUPD Sergeant James L. McCarthy. "[If] the [fire] chief tells us to arrest a student, we do."