Yale campus 'much safer' than Harvard campus

At 4:30 in the morning on Thurs., Nov. 2, a tall man in dark clothes slipped into a freshman dormitory on Harvard Yard. Once inside, he made his way to an unlocked room and sexually assaulted the young woman inside. Within the hour, the victim called Harvard University Police, who responded immediately. She had difficulty seeing her attacker in the darkened room and could only describe him to police as a six-foot tall white man with a crew cut.

COURTESY HARVARD INDEPENDENT Two styles of campus security: Harvard's facilities are more accessible to the public than those of Yale.

Within the week, though, university police had zeroed in on the likeliest suspect. "It's my belief we know who the person who committed the assault is," HUPD Chief Francis Riley told the Harvard Crimson. "I have no reason to believe [the attacker] was an outside person, but I can't confirm the person's identity."

Although Harvard officials moved quickly and apparently resolved the campus' first sexual assault of the semester, the attack has raised questions of security at Harvard just as thousands of Yale students descend on Cambridge for The Game. Yale students crashing in Harvard dorm rooms this weekend are likely to notice stark contrasts between that university's security measures and those at their own campus.

Although the attacker in this month's sexual assault may have been a Harvard student, Harvard is generally more open to the public than Yale. Yale first implemented its electronic access control system over 10 years ago, but Harvard has yet to employ such a system to the extent that Yale has. Yale's system restricts access to residential college courtyards 24 hours a day and restricts access to Old Campus after 11 p.m.

In contrast, although many of Harvard's houses are locked, the Yard—Harvard's equivalent of Old Campus—stays open day and night, and locals are free to wander into the quadrangle. The Yard is only locked during high-profile events such as the Head of the Charles crew race, when students need to present ID to security officers in order to enter the area.

Additionally, Harvard students' electronic ID cards work on entryways other than the ones in which they live. At Yale, only freshmen who actually lived with the assault victim would have been able to enter her dorm, while all freshmen at Harvard could have used their IDs for access. The only area in which security may be tighter at Harvard than at Yale is in the dining halls. Earlier this year, a student waiting in line for a meal was molested by a stranger; Harvard responded by placing guards at dining hall entrances and exits.

Admittedly, Yale's tighter security measures have been dictated by necessity. While Harvard has long enjoyed its association with Boston, one of the nation's premier "college towns," Yale has hardly relished its relationship with New Haven, a city that has struggled through hard times.

The Princeton Review's Guide to the Best 331 Colleges astutely sums up the differing outside perceptions of Harvard and Yale. "Every school in the Ivy League is great, but one area in which Harvard has a leg up on all of its fellow Ivies is its safe, attractive, and entertaining location in Cambridge, just minutes from the great city of Boston," the 2000 edition advises. As for Yale, the guide tells prospective applicants, "It would be foolish to pass up a chance to attend Yale University for just about any reason—provided you can deal with New Haven."

Although still true to an extent, the Princeton Review's different slants on Harvard and Yale are likely a holdover from the late '80s and early '90s, when crime related to the crack epidemic caused negative perceptions of Yale to reach a boiling point. In a 1994 article for GQ entitled "The Death of Yale," Harvard grad John Sedgwick asserted, "New Haven has turned into a war zone of poverty, crime and drugs, as frightening as any city in America." Sedgwick's conclusion was that "geography is destiny" and that Yale would never be able to rise above its miserable surroundings.

By the time Sedgwick's conclusion was published, however, Yale's plan to beef up security was already starting to pay off. Driven in part by the 1991 murder of junior Christian Prince—which, unlike the more recent murder of senior Suzanne Jovin, DC '98, was a random act of violence—Yale has vastly improved campus safety over the last decade. A huge push to install blue phones has resulted in over 250 today—as opposed to none 10 years ago. A two million dollar project in 1993-1994 put streetlights all over the Yale campus. And in 1997, the 2-WALK security service was professionalized; it now employs security officers, rather than work-study students.

It appears Yale's efforts have yielded tremendous improvements. While Harvard may be resting on its laurels, enjoying its reputation as a safe college, Yale has taken nothing for granted—and in 1999, Yale's campus was much safer that Harvard's. While 10 forcible sex offenses occurred in Harvard dorms last year, none occurred at Yale. While five Harvard students were victims of aggravated assault in their dorms, none were at Yale. And while Harvard dorms were burglarized 149 times, Yale dorms were only burglarized 13 times.

So have fun at Harvard this weekend. But watch your back.

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