Students petition for lockers

Members of the house council in Harrison College House are circulating a petition to prevent the University from permanently sealing off the lockers in all three Hamilton Village high rises. University Police notified Penn officials that several residents have reported incidents of theft from the lockers in the hallways of Hamilton, Harrison, and Harnwell college houses. Typically, residents use these lockers to store boxes and suitcases, but some have stored valuables instead. The house council in Harrison decided to circulate a petition to prevent the Office of Housing and Conference Services from sealing off the lockers. Each representative was given a petition and asked to get his or her entire floor to sign it. The University has been considering the possibility of sealing the lockers for a while. "Housing and Conference Services and the deans figured that the easiest way would be to permanently put locks on the lockers to seal them off from usage," said Jessica Bell, president of the house council. Harrison College House Dean Frank Pellicone, who has not seen the actual petition, said that the University is concerned about the recent thefts. "I know there are students putting valuable items in them, and no matter how many times you tell them not to, they are still doing it," Pellicone said. According to Bell, students will have to agree to use the lockers at their own risk. The petition states that students are aware of the possibility for theft, and that they will not hold Harrison College House or the University liable. "It just seems like a waste of space, and we are doing a petition to see if we can stop it," said Bell, a College sophomore. "The dean is letting us do this, and the petition is completely under the control of house council and is in no way affiliated with the house dean." The house council members on the 17th, 20th and 21st floors have gotten everyone on their floors to sign the petition. All of the petitions are due at the council's next meeting on April 1. Shuo-Ju Chou, the council representative for the 20th floor, said that sealing the lockers will cause problems for residents. "I use them to store my boxes for moving. I don't put my valuables in there so if they are sealed I will have nowhere to put the boxes," Chou said. "Hopefully, all of the signatures will make them think twice about doing it." Other council members said they are aggravated by the possibility of sealing off the lockers permanently because students were not consulted about the matter. "The University Police took it upon themselves to coordinate this with Harrison House, and they didn't feel the need to ask the students about it," said Stephen Kossuth, 17th floor council representative. "I hope that the petition will turn some heads because in the meeting it appeared as if they didn't even give the idea a second thought." Pellicone, who has been at his post since December, said the lockers have been a concern for a while now, but, ultimately, the issue is in the hands of the house council. "If it is an issue they feel strongly about then they should pursue it," Pellicone noted. "I think the issue here is how the lockers should be administered properly so if [house council] is willing to, and can come up with, a proposal that is cost effective, I don't see the problem with it." The council is looking for alternatives to sealing the lockers permanently. "We are thinking about changing the handles so there are no holes in them," Bell said. "[University officials] do not want to think about the alternatives because it would be much easier to seal them." Bell said she hopes that the petition will be a success, but admits there are no guarantees. "If it gets going in Harrison College House then maybe we can get the house councils in the other two high rises to do the same," she noted. "This petition does not necessarily mean that they will not seal off the lockers, but we are going to try."