The Department of Public Safety and the Office of Residence Life have proposed a new limited access policy for students of McCarthy, Kennedy and Reynolds residence halls in response to increased acts of vandalism in the Southwest Quad. Students, however, argue that the policy is inconvenient and unnecessary.

The new policy allows students access only to their own building and none of the other adjacent buildings. Students living in Reynolds Hall, for example, will only have access to the Reynolds lobby entrance and the breezeway entrances in order to access mailboxes and the recreation room. All other entrances, including those to McCarthy and Kennedy Halls, will be closed to Reynolds students.

GUSA Representative Andrew Rau (COL’06) has advocated for Southwest Quad residents mainly because of his disagreement with the policy.

“I strongly disagree with this well-intentioned but misguided strategy for combating vandalism and fire alarm problems,” Rau said.

All members of the McCarthy, Kennedy and Reynolds complex were warned of the new policy in an e-mail sent out just before spring break.

“The modifications to the access policy resulted from discussions involving administrators and students,” DPS Director Darryl Harrison said. “During the discussions with students, many have expressed that modifications would be beneficial in curbing some of the problems.”

Rau believes, however, that the new strategy will not work to succeed in getting rid of vandalism and that better tactics should be used without inconveniencing students.

Other Southwest Quad students agree. “I think the new access policy is a poor way to address the problems that have been going on in the Southwest Quad,” student Tim Schmitz (COL ’05) said. “The basic distrust of other students that the current access policy embodies is not one that I’m willing to accept.”

Director of Residence Life Stephanie Lynch defended the policy. “It shouldn’t be harder for students to enter their rooms,” Lynch said, maintaining that the modifications to the policy still allow students to access their respective buildings through their main lobby.

“I do not think [the policy] will accomplish much, in addition to being a hindrance to the `MKR’ unity the school is trying to foster in the complex,” Caitlin McAndrews (SFS ’06 ) said, feeling that all Southwest Quad residents should have access to all doors in their complex.

Rau argues that the administration should reconsider based on its apparent failure to achieve what it initially set out to do.

“Prohibiting Kennedy and Reynolds residents from having access to the lobby of McCarthy, and prohibiting Kennedy and cCarthy residents from having access to the lobby of Reynolds will do nothing but inconvenience students,” Rau said.

The administrators believe that the new policy will address the former problems of vandalism that mainly occurred in McCarthy Hall, therefore increasing the level of safety in the Southwest Quad area.

“I am concerned about student safety,” Lynch said. “These adjustments bring the policy more in line with the rest of the campus standards by providing one point of entrance.”

Previous acts of vandalism included the smashing of lightbulbs in the McCarthy elevators, as a result of no guard desk in the cCarthy lobby.

“There were some issues with vandalism in the building, but those issues seem to have been resolved prior to the implementation of the new access policy,” Schmitz said.

Many students are now concerned about the added inconvenience because of increasing safety concerns resulting from limited access to the McCarthy Kennedy Reynolds complex. Rau stated that the changes would make residents feel less safe.

“To deny [students] access to Reynolds and/or McCarthy at all times will only augment these worries and decrease the chances of escaping unfortunate incidents,” he said.

Rau also fears that administrators are now beginning to ignore the requests of students.

“The inconvenience caused by the new policy is by no means tremendous but still bothersome,” Rau said. “What is truly troubling is the fact that the administrators have completely ignored the demands of the students and have completely turned their backs to reason itself.”

Rau recently sent out a letter to all Southwest Quad resident assistants, asking them to forward a message to all residents, who would then forward a similar letter to administrators as a method of protest to show the university how many students were concerned with the issue.

At this time, the current policy will not be modified in light of recent protests against the policy’s effectiveness. Administrators encourage Hall Directors to work with their Community Councils to explore other ideas that may help to address the concerns in the MKR complex.

Rau hopes for GUSA to take stronger action so that “the administrators continue to listen to logic and the concerns of the students so that they are not allowed to form policies that are not based on reason.”