The Whitworthian

Issue date: 10/9/07

Media Credit: Nate Chute A student unlocks the front door of Arend Hall Oct.7. The card access system has not yet been activated. [Click to enlarge]

Identification cards for the new card access system were not distributed this week as planned, due to problems with the barcodes.

The ID cards were intended to be distributed from Oct. 1-3 and the system activated today, said Jack Miller, Director of Information Systems, in a student-wide e-mail Oct. 1.

Ed Kelly, director of facilities services, said the system was supposed to ready on Sept. 30, after the completion of one week of testing.

The correct identification numbers were printed on the back of the cards, but the barcodes were printed in the default setting, Kelly said.

Miller said the system for printing the ID cards was correct when it was tested three weeks ago.

Since then, the correct link for encoding student ID numbers in the barcodes was lost, Miller said.

A few students received the new ID cards Monday and realized they did not work at locations such as Sodexho, the Harriet Cheney Cowles Library and the Scotford Fitness Center.

About 800 ID cards were printed with the defaulted barcode, Miller said.

It will cost about $5 to reprint each of the 1200 cards and the total cost for the new card readers will be about $2,000, Miller said.

“The fastest, least expensive, most functional way to handle the problem is to replace the barcode readers with RFID [Radio Frequency Identification] card readers and not use the barcodes on the cards at all,” Miller said in the e-mail.

The new cards will already have the ID number encoded in the barcode, Miller said.

Kelly said information will be relayed to the students through campus-wide e-mails and residence life.

ID timetable 

The new readers were shipped Oct. 2, Kelly said.

Kelly said the testing and interfacing of the new system will hopefully be completed by the end of next week.

The new ID cards will be issued no later than Oct. 23, Miller said.

Miller said the new cards may be issued earlier if all goes well.

“It is conceivable that we could beat that by one week,” Miller said.

Miller said the challenge will be getting the cards distributed in a short period of time.

However, students will be able to play with the new cards before the locks on the doors are changed, Miller said.

New card readers

The new Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) card readers will replace the current readers, said Alan Jacob, assistant director of housing.

The new cards will contain a small antenna inside the card, which is pre-encoded with a number, Jacob said.

Jacob said the ID cards will not have a barcode.

“Cards with barcodes provide for poor security, although they are effective and fast,” Jacob said.

When an ID is held up to a RFID reader, the antenna inside the card emits a signal to the reader, which sends encoded information to a local server, Jacob said. Then the server communicates with the door to either unlock or deny access.

Jacob said the cards will last longer, since they do not require a point of contact.

“Since the new cards do not have a point of contact, they will last longer,” Jacob said. “Therefore, cards will be issued for the duration of a student’s time at Whitworth.”

Other benefits of the RFID card readers is that they will allow people to move through lines faster, Jacob said.

Jacob said the readers also allow for better compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Jacob said.

Also, the cards can be deactivated if lost, Jacob said.

Miller said several good things could come out of the system, such using the possible use of readers for laundry, vending machines and copying and printing in the library.

Jacob said one drawback of the RFID readers is the ability to track information. Jacob said Whitworth will not track student information.

“Privacy advocates say that the RFID readers can track one’s whereabouts,” Jacob said. “This is fun for conspiracy theorists, but in reality, we don’t care [about tracking student whereabouts].”

Across campus

Kelly said there was a meeting Oct. 2 to discuss compatibility of the new system with the library, Sodexho and the fitness center.

Jim O’Brien, general manager of Sodexho, said proximity readers will be used at seven cash registers around campus.

“The ID cards will allow students electronic access to dorms and will also be used in Sodexho,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien said that Sodexho is working on compatibility issues in terms of linking student ID numbers with meal plans for the new system.

O’Brien said students must bring their ID cards with them to Sodexho. Students will not longer be able to tell the cashier their ID number.

“One of the challenges is that the card will not have an ID number,” O’Brien said. “Students will have to have their card with them.”

Hans Bynagle, director of the library, said the circulation transaction will now be a two-step process, but will not be that different from the user’s perspective.

The orginial plan was to use the barcodes on the ID cards to check out books, Bynagle said.

However, the new ID cards will not have barcodes, Bynagle said. Instead, there will be a RFID reader at the check-out desk.

Bynagle said when a student presents his/her ID card, the reader will pull up the student’s ID number. Then another reader will be used to scan the barcode on the back of the book to check out.

Update on alarm system

In the “Security shores up campus safety” article in the Sept. 18 issue of The Whitworthian, it was reported that if a door is propped open for more than 10 seconds, an alarm will sound and security will respond as though it is a forced entry.

However, Jacob said Student Life recommended a 30-second countdown timer a few weeks ago.

According to the ASWU meeting minutes for Oct. 3, Jacob said a firm decision has not been reached regarding a 10 or 30 second policy.

“We all work very closely together but we each have separate yet overlapping responsibilities,” Jacob said. “In this case, student life requests the 30-second hold-open and it’s supported by both security, facilities services and the information systems department.”

Jacob said there were no objections raised by other departments about the 30-second alarm policy.

Miller said the alarm can be set for up to 4 minutes, 15 seconds.

The alarm is hard-wired, meaning that a wire must be manually pulled out of the control panel in order to disable the alarm, Miller said.

Kelly said he is confident students will not prop the door open for fun.

Kelly also said students will most likely police the system sufficiently if alarms repeatedly sound due to student pranks.

Photos for ID cards

Miller said the new ID cards cannot be printed without a picture. If a student or staff member does not currently have a picture on his/her ID card, he/she should come to facilities services to have a picture taken, Miller said.

Door of Stewart

The door of Stewart will take about 1.5 days to install once it comes in, Jacob said.

“We ordered the door for Stewart months ago, but the supplier is having trouble getting all the necessary pieces together for the manufacture of the doors,” Jacob said.

Contact Julie Wootton at julie.wootton@whitworthian.com.

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