2008 Woodie Awards
IN THE LOOP: Key card system good, with limits
Editorial Board
Issue date: 11/14/06
Last Updated: 12/26/07
Recently, the 24-hour dorm lock down policy was provisionally lifted by administration.?Each individual dorm was given the choice to be unlocked between the hours of 5 p.m. and 11 p.m., the time of day with the most residential traffic.?So far, the leadership in 10 dorms voted for their dorms to be unlocked during this time.?
The initial lock down was enacted earlier in the year because of car break-ins and a series of threatening phone calls to female students. Administration is researching a possible electronic key-card system, similar to something many hotels and urban colleges have installed in place of traditional keys.?
We support administrator's concern for safety and the research they are starting in regards to the key card system.?However, this system is not a pressing need considering the need for new facilities for the Art and Science departments.?
Before the recent rash of campus crime, there was no lock down policy and a key card system was of little importance.?
The key card system should be implemented, but only after funding for the new Art building and Science building renovations is secured. New facilities are a more pressing need than responding to unusual circumstances in campus crime.
There are several considerations that the task force looking into the key card system ought to take into account. The first consideration is how will student access in this new system compare with current access. In order to maintain a healthy level of community, students should be given the same amount of access to dorms and other facilities as they had before the lock down.
A second consideration should be the impact the key card system could have on prospective students and people who will not have a key card.
If done properly, Whitworth visitors should have access to buildings they need to be able to get into. For example, community members should be able to walk into Weyerhaeuser Hall to hear a guest lecturer in the evening, or view the latest visiting art exhibit during its visiting hours without having to sign-in with anyone. One reason people like to come to Whitworth is because it is so personal. The central tension when applying a key card system is how much it will affect the personal aspect of the college in the name of security concerns.
We know this is a complicated situation. We just do not feel it is as pressing as some would make it out to be, considering the crime rate in North Spokane has not changed in recent years and the likelihood of more crime occurring before a key card system is implemented.
The initial lock down was enacted earlier in the year because of car break-ins and a series of threatening phone calls to female students. Administration is researching a possible electronic key-card system, similar to something many hotels and urban colleges have installed in place of traditional keys.?
We support administrator's concern for safety and the research they are starting in regards to the key card system.?However, this system is not a pressing need considering the need for new facilities for the Art and Science departments.?
Before the recent rash of campus crime, there was no lock down policy and a key card system was of little importance.?
The key card system should be implemented, but only after funding for the new Art building and Science building renovations is secured. New facilities are a more pressing need than responding to unusual circumstances in campus crime.
There are several considerations that the task force looking into the key card system ought to take into account. The first consideration is how will student access in this new system compare with current access. In order to maintain a healthy level of community, students should be given the same amount of access to dorms and other facilities as they had before the lock down.
A second consideration should be the impact the key card system could have on prospective students and people who will not have a key card.
If done properly, Whitworth visitors should have access to buildings they need to be able to get into. For example, community members should be able to walk into Weyerhaeuser Hall to hear a guest lecturer in the evening, or view the latest visiting art exhibit during its visiting hours without having to sign-in with anyone. One reason people like to come to Whitworth is because it is so personal. The central tension when applying a key card system is how much it will affect the personal aspect of the college in the name of security concerns.
We know this is a complicated situation. We just do not feel it is as pressing as some would make it out to be, considering the crime rate in North Spokane has not changed in recent years and the likelihood of more crime occurring before a key card system is implemented.
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