Although House masters agreed to adopt universal keycard access (UKA) before the College's winter recess, the system won't be fully operational until the end of spring break, administrators acknowledged Friday morning at a meeting of the Committee on House Life (COHL).

The explanation for the system's shortcomings comes two weeks after some Undergraduate Council members discovered that UKA still wasn't in place in all Houses.

According to Director of Physical Resources Michael N. Lichten, the delay in implementing universal access stems from insufficient memory in "local" processing systems--computers located at each House which regulate entry for certain House doors.

The local computers store the ID numbers of students who are allowed to enter individual doors.

But according to Lichten, many of these local systems were installed up to 10 years ago and therefore cannot store the 6,500 ID numbers that would be necessary to ensure access for the entire student population.

The problem will be fixed completely by April 3, according to Associate Director for Building Services Robert L. Mortimer--but only after an arduous and expensive process of renovating the low-tech system.

Mortimer and Lichten put the cost of the upgrade anywhere between $30,000 and $50,000.

At the meeting, Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 said the hold-up was somewhat unexpected--and an issue that the COHL should have "done a little more work to anticipate the time" it would take to complete.