2008 Woodie Awards
Dorm to try out new card system
Tim Takechi, Staff Writer
Issue date: 2/20/07
Last Updated: 8/9/07
Some time next month the residents of Schumacher will be able to use their Whitworth identification cards to unlock and enter their dorm building. This new system comes as a part of a larger transition to implement this security measure on all campus residence halls by fall 2007.
Alan Jacob, assistant director of student housing, said the Board of Trustees last semester appointed a taskforce to decide methods of maintaining proper security in residence halls. The group noted the ID card system is a measure taken by other small peer schools like Whitworth.
The Board of Trustee's decision to experiment with this system comes as a result of the desire to modernize Whitworth's campus. The phone call harassment problems some female students faced last fall served as a wake-up call to speed up progress.
Jacob said the group contacted a variety of peer institutions such as Gonzaga University, Calvin College, Whitman College and University of Puget Sound to inquire about the practicality of this system. Feedback was positive, Jacob said.
"We weren't going to use a system that bigger schools/universities use," Jacob said. "Right now, we're looking very closely at one particular set up."
Schumacher residents will have a small antenna device placed inside their ID cards, which a reader on the door identifies. A radio message is sent from the reader to the campus server, which verifies the user's request to lock or unlock the door.
For the sake of convenience, this system uses proximity cards instead of the swipe system, meaning the reader can identify the card just by being within a close proximity of it. The reader is designed to be able to read a card through clothing or backpacks. In this case, students do not even have to take out their cards from their pockets or bags. No physical application of the card to the reader is necessary.
Once the security system works for the entire campus, all dorm buildings will be permanently locked. However, if they have their ID card, students will not have to worry about having to call security or knock on other student's windows to get in.
"We're going to have it so residents of a building can access their dorm 24-hours a day," Jacob said.
Alan Jacob, assistant director of student housing, said the Board of Trustees last semester appointed a taskforce to decide methods of maintaining proper security in residence halls. The group noted the ID card system is a measure taken by other small peer schools like Whitworth.
The Board of Trustee's decision to experiment with this system comes as a result of the desire to modernize Whitworth's campus. The phone call harassment problems some female students faced last fall served as a wake-up call to speed up progress.
Jacob said the group contacted a variety of peer institutions such as Gonzaga University, Calvin College, Whitman College and University of Puget Sound to inquire about the practicality of this system. Feedback was positive, Jacob said.
"We weren't going to use a system that bigger schools/universities use," Jacob said. "Right now, we're looking very closely at one particular set up."
Schumacher residents will have a small antenna device placed inside their ID cards, which a reader on the door identifies. A radio message is sent from the reader to the campus server, which verifies the user's request to lock or unlock the door.
For the sake of convenience, this system uses proximity cards instead of the swipe system, meaning the reader can identify the card just by being within a close proximity of it. The reader is designed to be able to read a card through clothing or backpacks. In this case, students do not even have to take out their cards from their pockets or bags. No physical application of the card to the reader is necessary.
Once the security system works for the entire campus, all dorm buildings will be permanently locked. However, if they have their ID card, students will not have to worry about having to call security or knock on other student's windows to get in.
"We're going to have it so residents of a building can access their dorm 24-hours a day," Jacob said.
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