CHUL Survey Shows Students Are Careless About Security

The results of a survey conducted by the Committee on Houses and Undergraduate Life (CHUL) and released yesterday indicate that "there are a number of precautions undergraduates could take to improve their safety on campus," a written analysis of the survey states.

The survey shows that 67 per cent of Harvard undergraduates do not lock their doors when they are out of their rooms, 25 per cent fail to use firescreens for their fireplaces, and 48 per cent want instruction in self defense.

The survey also shows that fewer than half the undergraduates are aware of the routes covered by blue-light emergency phones, and that only 44 per cent of the students who use these routes are aware of the exact locations of the telephones along the routes.

Six per cent of the 2500 students who filled out the CHUL questionaire replied that they had been assaulted while at Harvard.

However, only 53 per cent of those students assaulted actually reported the incident to the police.

"The University police are vigorously trying to combat the problem of assaults, and the reporting of such incidents is vital in assisting them in their work. The knowledge of where assaults and burglaries occured helps to determine where police patrols are located," the report states.

The University will install four more blue-light phones, so such phones will always be available for students walking from the area of the Yard to the Houses. Maps showing where the blue-light phones are located are available at the University police headquarters in Grays Hall, University officials said yesterday.