I live in the dorms, so I was locked out of my home Sunday evening because of a computer glitch.

Given the complexity of the card-swipe system, I'm not surprised that it failed. I am surprised, even shocked, that Penn State Police Services did not seem to know who is in charge of the system. I called the police Sunday evening to complain about the problem. Neither of the two officers with whom I spoke could tell me who has the power to shut off the card system.

They could only tell me that the system would not be shut off while under repairs. One of the officers asked me if I would "complain to Dell" if my personal computer malfunctioned. What if the personal computers of a few thousand people malfunctioned at once?

People would complain. Besides, people don't get locked out of their homes when they need to restart Windows. My one complaint means nothing to the university, but a few thousand complaints would get their attention.

I urge every person living in the dorms to complain to Housing and Food Services, the Office of the Physical Plant, university police or Penn State in general. Tell them what you think of the system that they built but can't control.