Word: fdo
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Whenever possible, inspections should be announced and conducted with students present. Obviously, this is not possible during winter break. But if searches are conducting during the term, the FDO should make reasonable efforts in this area. One possible option would be to require inspectors to make several rounds of door-knocking, skipping rooms where nobody answers. If inspectors let themselves into only those rooms that have not been searched after several attempts, the number of empty room searches (or out-of-the-shower embarrassments) could be minimized...
...given that such a class may not be on the immediate horizon, the FDO should, at the least, make it clearer which items constitute a fire hazard and why. For example, the only microwave the first-years can have in their room are "MicroFridges," which have been certified by the Cambridge Fire Department in 1987. According to officials at Harvard Student Resources, these products are safer because they meet certain wattage, size and age requirements. But other microwaves may or may not meet these same requirements. The FDO should publicize this information so that, at the very least, students know...
Finally, the FDO should develop some mechanism through which students can request exceptions. One student was separated from a menorah, a family heirloom, that had no evidence of use. An agreement not to use such religious items should be enough to allow students to keep them...
Maybe the FDO deems this search a success because they feel they finally were able to catch the students off-guard and therefore really get to the heart of the fire hazard problem by removing as many items as possible...
...Harvard student is looking to die in a fiery blaze, but this eleven-day inspection for items deemed to be fire hazards did nothing to enhance respect for the authority of the Freshmen Dean's Office (FDO). Nor did it provide any kind of long-term fix for the fire hazard problem...