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When each of Rice's residential college cardreaders began denying access to students who did not live in them, the few students who actually visit other colleges worried that their ID cards might be "broken." Last year, students could enter any of the residential colleges except between midnight and 6 a.m. At the beginning of this year, however, cardreaders denied access no matter what time of day it was.

At the Student Association Senate meeting Monday, one officer annouced that Campus Police officers stationed in her college told her that the cardreaders were operating properly, according to a new "policy" meant to tighten security within each college.

In reality, there was no such policy. When told the story, Residential Colleges Manager Bob Truscott reacted with surprise that anyone could believe such a policy existed. "The whole idea of giving students universal access is to keep them from getting used to letting other students in [their colleges], when there's no real way of telling who really is or isn't a student," he said.

The misinformation, although announced in a good-faith effort to inform the student body, had unfortunate consequences. The first is that college SA representatives disseminated the misinformation to their constituents; the second is that the announcement stirred up undeserved anti-administration sentiments. Students felt indignant that a "policy change" that clearly affected their lives had been implemented without their knowledge. Some even talked of circulating petitions to demand that the Campus Police reverse the policy.

Interestingly enough, someone along the way managed to concoct a rationale for the policy, which was that Campus Police supported the bogus policy "because, to tighten security, you have to restrict access. [Having access to other students' colleges] is like being able to walk into your neighbor's home."

There are several reasons this bit of cardreader fiction spread so widely before the truth was uncovered: The SA's perceived credibility deluded a student body that is less skeptical than it prides itself on being; the student body harbors a seemingly innate desire to criticize "the Man" and embraces any excuse to bring "the Man" down with welcoming arms; and no single person ever reported the problem to the proper authority. Campus Police dispatchers never knew that the cardreader problem existed, nor had they heard of any "policy" changing the college access patterns that have been in place for the past four years.

Here's where activism and skepticism can drastically improve just about any community. The activism we suggest is not necessarily political activism -- it is simply a mindset that pulls its owner from his dimly-lit hideaway into action. If you ever wonder "why" or encounter a problem with something, call someone and ask. Do two minutes of research in the campus telephone directory or on the Rice homepage, and you will most likely be rewarded with an answer or a solution.

As for skepticism, when you encounter a problem, don't necessarily believe that you "can't do anything about it" or that "the administration doesn't care." Accepting everything you hear or see is simply intellectual laziness, especially if you're prone to accept information from sources who seem to consistently rely on hearsay to generate conversation.

By the way, students, your ID cards should let you into all of the colleges again, except between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m. All it took was a phone call.

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the September 19, 1997 issue.