Universal 24-hour keycard access will not be instituted at the College's Houses--at least, not in the short time the Undergraduate Council had hoped for.

Council members spoke with Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 and masters from four Houses yesterday at a meeting of the College's Committee on House Life, hoping to convince the masters to extend full-time access to all of the College's upperclass students.

The 8 a.m. meeting, held in Quincy House's senior common room, didn't go as council members had planned.

"We asked for 24-hour access, and the masters lined up against it," said Todd E. Plants '01, chair of the council's Student Affairs Committee and a long-time advocate of universal keycard access.

Three out of the four House Masters present--representing Pforzheimer, Quincy, Eliot and Mather--decided against opening their houses to students 24 hours a day. Only Quincy House Master Michael A. Shinagel, whose House is already open to all students, said he plans to keep his House open.

The masters cited safety concerns as the major force behind their decision.

"It is important to have a time when you can assume that the people you see will be members of the House," said Suzanne M. McCarthy, the Pforzheimer Co-Master.

McCarthy said she did not feel Pforzheimer House's after-hours police patrol could give the same protection that is provided by the security guard who stays in place until one o'clock a.m.