To the Editor:
Before any discussion of door locks can proceed, I want to call into question Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman's logic in citing the primary student concern as "having access to each other's residence halls." While this is certainly a novel, hardly ancillary concern that emerges from the consideration of door locks, the controversy of the issue extends much further than universal dorm access.
We are all aware of the attempts by the Office of Residential Life to discourage malice come Homecoming, Winter Carnival, and Green Key. However, whatever necessity exists in protecting students during these legendarily hell-raising weekends ultimately is overcome by the inconvenience of having to carry one's key or having to unlock a locked external door. A petty matter? I do not dispute it. A real phenomenon? There exist bricks whose sole task is to prop open doors on Dartmouth holidays.
The matter extends beyond sheer impracticality, however. Clearly, the introduction of door locks implies something about safety at Dartmouth -- justifiably or not. In light of the Zantop slayings and the recent shower invasions, it is understandable why such concerns manifest themselves so ostensibly on the College's agenda. However, it is just as apparent to me that proximity card ID based access systems will accomplish little more than to serve as a regrettable reminder of the repugnant, albeit isolated, incidents of recent weeks -- incidents that we all know external door locks alone cannot hope to remedy.
As a necessary disclaimer, I seek not to promote naivete. Risking obviousness, those concerned with crime of any magnitude ought to lock their doors. And, if the women of Dartmouth support heightened security in the shower, then so do I. But, aside from the inconveniences and the futility about which I (as a senior) need not worry, the proposed access system substantiates the media's characterization of Hanover as the new New Jack City and shatters the valued notion of placidity on what is one of the nation's safest campuses.
Although they continue to beat independent thought and free will out of us, I want to express my appreciation for Dean Redman's directives and enthusiastically recommend that he take his omniscience to the University of Pennsylvania, which itself may benefit exceedingly.
