Word: accesses
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Second, any diminished safety is more than offset by the safety benefits of universal keycard access. No more propping doors for friends and anyone else who might come along. No more letting anyone and everyone in behind you, assuming they're students when they might well not be. No more waiting out in the cold and the dark, alone, for someone to come rescue...
Some masters have been fond of linking restricted access to a sense of House community. Only Eliot folks can get into Eliot House, the argument goes, creating cohesion by exclusion. But the fact that a best friend or significant other no longer has to be let in at the door isn't likely to detract from House spirit...
Moreover, universal access is especially important in the wake of randomization--another administrative decision which destroyed that very sense of community in whose name restricted access is now defended. Since we are no longer able to pick our Houses based on certain facilities we would like to access or certain types of people we'd like to join, we increasingly need to leave our Houses in search of what we want and need out of our college experience...
...tend to leave suite doors unlocked. The College raises this point from the vantage of safety; people don't lock their doors, so if someone gets hold of a keycard, suddenly they can get into people's rooms with ease. Again, I think the benefits to safely from universal access outweigh this concern. A stronger argument is that people actually like leaving their doors unlocked because it makes them feel more at home, fostering a more comfortable and communal atmosphere...
...whole, the convenience and safety arguments in favor of universal access win out; the fact that students have been clamoring for the change for years supports that conclusion. At the very least, masters should be willing to provide universal access to House common areas, where entryway security generally would not be affected. That's what has been done at Yale, where for the last three years, the Yale ID card has provided students access to the gates of all 12 residential colleges...