EDITORIAL: No more missed deadlines

Students should be able to rely on operational blue-light emergency phones. It's been 16 months now since -- at the culmination of a crime wave -- University officials announced that new phones, providing a direct connection to University Police, would be installed beginning November 1, 1996. It's been more than two years since Public Safety officials began talking about upgrading the emergency phone system. And it's been even longer than that since the University's blue-light phone system fell into disarray. A review of the system in 1995 found 34 of 226 sites plagued with defects ranging from poor wiring to burnt-out light bulbs. An additional six were completely inoperable. And 95 phones did not meet Americans with Disabilities Act specifications, which mandate wheelchair and hearing-impaired accessibility. Even if people don't need to use the emergency phones frequently, they are beneficial to the area around campus, making the streets feel safer -- that is, with the assumption that the phones work. It's good, therefore, that officials have taken time to work out glitches in the new technology. We are glad to see that community groups, who worried that the bright yellow boxes and blue lights of the phones might detract from the aesthetics of the neighborhood, are now happy with the phones' less assuming design. And hopefully, the restructuring of the Division of Public Safety's Security Services, in conjunction with the opening of the new high-tech police headquarters on the 4000 block of Chestnut Street, will ensure that the phones remain in optimal working condition. But even before maintenance becomes an issue, we have an even bigger test: Will officials keep their word? No more delays, please. We're tired of having dates pushed off. Let's see Public Safety stick to its self-imposed deadline to begin installation of 60 new phones in the next two weeks. Next time someone needs to use an emergency phone, he or she should be confident that it works.