Video cameras to be installed in mailrooms

Video cameras will be installed in all mailrooms across campus following complaints about the effectiveness of the University's current mail system, Residential Living Director Gigi Simeone said Friday. And architects are looking at the designs of the mailrooms themselves, Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson said yesterday. Simeone said the cameras are currently being ordered and added that she expects them to be installed during the summer. She said she does not know how much the cameras will cost becsue they have not been ordered yet. The decision, which will place video cameras in each dormitory mailroom, follows Simeone's promise late last month to investigate the possibility of installing them. She said she hopes the cameras will help create a more open environment in the mailroom. Students have filed hundreds of complaints with University Police in the past month detailing stolen mail, tampered packages and inappropriate behavior by mailroom employees. Simeone said at a mail forum last month that a rash of complaints in February about missing Valentine's Day cards and open mail alerted her to the need for action. Simeone, along with Morrisson and University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich, implemented several plans earlier last month to protect student mail, including installing glass windows in all campus mailrooms and sending letters to parents telling them to send important documents through certified or registered mail. Morrisson said she hopes the moves will create a freer environment in the mailrooms across campus. "It is part of our effort to create a more open environement within the mailroom," she said yesterday. "That is part of the advice we received from both the United States Postal Service and from the University Mail Service, who are our consultants in these matters." Morrisson said she did not know if the plans would solve the mailroom problems, but she said she thinks they would be helpful. Results of an architect study of the mailroom have not yet been released, but Morrisson said Simeone is "working with" the architects. Morrisson added that she is unaware of any additional steps being taken to combat the problem.

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