campus security: [july 2008]
Published: 06/01/2008
- Colleges Turn to Access Control
From "Access Control for Education" by: none, Access Control & Security Systems - Colleges increasingly are turning to "one-card" solutions to monitor access to dorms and academic buildings. At Hamden, Conn.-based Quinnipiac University, the card serves as the student's identification card, meal ticket, library card, and dorm key. Keith Woodward, Quinnipiac's associate director of facilities, says dorm theft has declined since the cards have been implemented. "Our students understand the accountability of our card," Woodward states. "They understand the significance of losing this card or giving it to a friend or classmate."
The system also is used to monitor staff, with maintenance and cleanup workers having their cards encoded on a weekly basis so that they can enter dorm rooms as needed. In the event that items are stolen from a dorm room, the system allows the door to be audited to find out who was last in the room. Identification cards and lock systems have been deployed in another Connecticut school, allowing the Stonington School System to restrict visitor and student access and keep tabs on which students entered rooms at particular times in the event that a theft occurs. Additionally, the school district installed mortise locks to facilitate emergency lockdowns. The student cards ultimately could be used to monitor attendance, medication, and field trips as well.
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