The Department of Residence has proposed a plan to lock all external entryways to the residence halls. Student safety is being touted as the primary advantage of such a policy. Rather than locking doors only at night, they would be locked 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Good intentions abound here – none on campus would promote endangering the lives of students who live in the residence halls. But the execution is key. The plan doesn’t seem to fit the bill, and it doesn’t seem the Department of Residence is considering the consequences on the social environment of life in the residence halls.

Already, the Inter-Residence Hall Association has drafted a bill requesting the doors remain unlocked. Although the bill is being rewritten, IRHA President Keith Twombley said student response to such a policy has been negative.

The Department of Residence said locking the doors would not hinder students or burden them with extra keys, but would only provide an extra layer of security.

“There have been recent instances of unwelcome and unwanted individuals in the residence halls, and [the Department of Residence is] concerned that student safety may be jeopardized,” said John Shertzer, residence life coordinator and also adviser to IRHA.

The criminal mind is a determined one, and loitering outside a residence hall until an unsuspecting student allows a stranger to enter is not so large an obstacle.

These occurrences are not uncommon, and even Twombley doubts the effectiveness of locking doors, saying it’s reasonable to expect that even locked doors will be propped open during the day, giving access to all.

The key to living in the residence halls is a prime social atmosphere in which students are able to traverse freely between rooms and buildings. A lockdown of all the buildings would hinder this atmosphere a great deal – even if a new set of keys did provide a veil of safety.

Gone are the days when houses on residence halls are able to identify with or develop the same sense of camaraderie that exists in the greek system. Access cards and doors that cannot be propped open greatly hinder efforts toward rebuilding community. A 24-hour lockdown would only further block efforts to create a sense of community.

Students will be unable to engage in the informal, drop-in culture of college residence life, limiting their prospects for new friends and wider experiences.

The Department of Residence should heed the advice of the Inter-Residence Hall Association in this case and approach such a policy with caution and thought as to the effect this will have on the social atmosphere of residence hall life.

Editorial Board: Cavan Reagan, Amber Billings, Rachel Faber Machacha, Charlie Weaver, Zach Calef, Ayrel Clark.