Doors wide shut

Closed doors stop fires from spreading. That's why every dorm room door on campus falls shut when opened, and it's also why we aren't allowed to prop our doors open — consequences of a fire code imposed from beyond Nassau Hall.

In the newly renovated dorms, you can't leave your door unlocked when it's closed — the doors don't have an "unlocked" setting. That's a decision Princeton made all by itself, in order to reduce the chances of laptop theft, violent crime in dooms and other bad things that can happen when people enter one another's rooms.

Added together, these rules mean that the newest common rooms on campus have to be locked shut all the time. Once the University finishes its current renovation cycle, the rules will require every dorm hallway on campus to be full of locked doors.

We think this is unfortunate. Common rooms are natural places for impromptu socialization, places that can expand the limited range of on-campus social options. These rules don't help.

Telling a Princeton student she can't be trusted to open herself up to friends by unlocking her door while she hangs out in her room is insulting and paternalistic. But that's exactly what Princeton is saying.

Most students get around the automatic locks, and the fire code, with doorstops. An open door is an invitation to socialize, a benefit to students that Street-wary administrators should happily acknowledge.

Propping your door open while you hang out might bring an occasional fine, but it's no foul in our opinion. The fine is a price well worth paying for a casual, friendly dorm environment. — The Daily Princetonian Opinion Board