In the wake of 12 indecent assaults between October and February, the Undergraduate Council passed a resolution last month aiming to increase safety by providing students with 24-hour Universal Keycard Access (UKA) to all undergraduate houses. With the proposal set to go before the Council of Masters in late April, the Undergraduate Council may finally be poised to deliver on one of its perennial campaign promises.

But as has been the case in past years, the proposed goal of opening all doors to all undergraduates at all times has met with mixed reactions from the administration and House Masters. While some argue that accessible dorms will provide sanctuary for students in distress, others argue that it will compromise house security.

Adams House Master Sean Palfrey expresses apprehension that UKA is “unequivocally the best and safest way to go.”

Matthew J. Glazer ’06, who co-sponsored the UKA bill, says access is an essential safety measure.

“Based on the recent wave of sexual assaults, it’s really unsafe to restrict students from swiping into other dorms,” he says.

According to Pforzheimer House Masters James and Suzanne McCarthy, students relied on metal keys as recently as a decade ago.

“Pforzheimer House was the first House to grant card access to non-residents during daytime hours,” they write in an e-mail. “Within a few years after our change in access policy, all Houses offered this to residents from other Houses, and the morning opening and night closing times were made more or less uniform.”

By 1999, all 12 residential houses agreed to instate UKA from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m., and in 2001 extended this time span by two hours, from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Quincy is the only House with 24-hour access. First-year dorms remain, as always, closed to upperclassmen.

SEEKING SANCTUARY

At the heart of the debate lie concerns about student safety. While the Masters fear a potential increase in crime and vandalism, proponents of 24-hour UKA instead concentrate on providing undergraduates with a safe area, no matter the hour.

Palfrey cites recent thefts in Leverett towers, and the arrest of an unauthorized person on several charges including intent to commit a felony, to substantiate his opposition.

“The event at Leverett House last week, and the fact that strangers are occasionally found wandering the Adams House tunnels and sleeping in Claverly, do worry me,” he writes in an e-mail. He added that he would support 24-hour UKA if Harvard police determined it were the safest option.

The McCarthys say that they have weighed the “architectural aspects of Pforzheimer House” in devising their current policy. Because all parts of the House are immediately accessible once a student manages to enter any of the main buildings and because “at times students are harassed or stalked by other Harvard students,” they have tried to accommodate the accessibility and safety concerns of residents and non-residents.

“Keycard access among the Houses has brought great convenience and enhanced safety to all students,” they say. “However there is a point at which additional convenience, perhaps for many, comes at the expense of safety, perhaps for a few, and in the final analysis, safety always trumps.”

Currier House Master Joseph L. Badarraco said that UKA will certainly improve safety.