Development of Campus Access System Progresses

Author: Nicha Rakpanichmanee

Although residence hall doors will remain locked from 1 to 6 a.m. when students return next fall, the Campus Access Committee (CAC) plans to install an automated security system by Winter Term of 2003, according to the chair of CAC, Assistant Treasurer and Director of Business Services Tom Corbin.

Two hired consultants from Strategic Technology Group will accompany Corbin and College Engineer George McPhail on a survey of residence hall and the athletic facilities doors this Friday.

The group will examine the material and lockset type of each door to formulate a "first draft" of modification requirements in order to project a budget for the proximity card sensory system, explained Corbin.

The survey, he added, will also confirm information that CAC recently gathered from commons deans regarding the cataloging of entrance versus exit doors. Starting this Friday, all inspected doors will be marked entrance or exit only.

"Our goal is not to change the current traffic pattern," he continued. "We want people to get a chance to tell us where we were wrong before installing [the proximity card system]."

The goal, Corbin said, is to have the sensory system installed at a minimum of one convenient entrance at every side of each building, without unnecessary duplication.

After consultants formulate modification designs for the residence hall and athletic facilities entrances, Corbin said CAC plans to submit a request for vendors of the proximity cards.

The proximity card system should be in operation during Winter Term, though Corbin said it would not be "final" until spring semester.

Residence halls and athletic facilities will be the first to receive the installation, while academic and other buildings at Middlebury College will have to wait. The current plan "is more than enough" to complete between now and December, he said.

Corbin acknowledged the complications in "mixed use" buildings, such as Voter Hall.

He mentioned the possibility of stairwell- or elevator-controlled security systems but noted that non-Middlebury College students could still access the computer labs.

Until next winter, "there are no good alternatives" to the status quo of locked doors, said Corbin.

CAC Student Representative Ben LaBolt '03 noted some significant problems with a proposal to give students a master key that would allow them to access all College buildings.

"The cost is very high," LaBolt explained, "and if a student were to lose [his or her] key, someone off-campus would have access to all the buildings."

Secondly, LaBolt acknowledged the College's liability, which would "skyrocket" if the College were to "abandon" the current temporary security solution before installing a permanent system.

LaBolt said he thought students had adapted to the current situation, which he said, "is not great, but at the same time I think it's reasonable."

This morning, CAC held a meeting to outline a proposal for proximity card protocol.

LaBolt, along with SGA Director of Student-Public Safety Relations Kristie Gonzalez '02 and CAC student representative Erin Sullivan '04.5, met with Dean of Student Affairs Ann Hanson to discuss the limits of access to information recorded by the security system and possible procedures for lost proximity cards, among others.

LaBolt said that "certainly students would want to draw the bar high" when it comes to the availability of personal information. He added that these protocol discussions were not likely to be finalized until early summer.