In response to updated university ID technology, Housing and Residence Life is installing a new security system in DeHority Complex, requiring residents to obtain the new IDs.
If the system is successful, other residence halls will follow.
The newer student IDs have a proximity reader, which allows a scanner to read information when the card touches it. Sensors are being added to the hall's entryway.
Students will be able to swipe the card as before or hold the card up to the device which will unlock the door, said Cindy Miller, assistant director of housing and residence life for marketing communications and technology.
The Registrar’s Office made the decision to offer the new IDs to the 2014 freshman class.
“Because the university started using this new ID this summer, we thought that it would be great to use this technology in the residence halls and see if students like it,” Miller said.
The new equipment is being installed in DeHority Complex. The goal is to have the new system up at the start of the Spring Semester.
The Registrar’s Office and housing collaborated so the upperclassmen living in DeHority will be able to exchange their old IDs for the new IDs free of charge.
“If this works as we think it will, we will roll out [the new system] in more halls as time goes on,” Miller said. "The next building we’re looking at would be Botsford/Swinford [in Johnson Complex], the newly renovated building that will open in the fall [of 2015].”
The new system is primarily to make the buildings easier for students to access.
“We think [students] are going to like it,” Miller said. “We’re trying to make getting into the building easier.”
Still, according to written protocols, Ball State residence halls have more strict security policies than other MAC schools, even before the implementation of the new system.
Ball State only has one entrance to each hall; all require a card swipe and are staffed by a front desk worker. After midnight, students must swipe their IDs multiple times to gain residence hall access.
Miami University of Ohio only requires one ID swipe after 11 p.m. and does not have a desk worker at the residence halls, according to Miami University’s Campus Safety and Security Code.
At Northern Illinois University, anyone can access halls during the day. Doors are locked from 11 p.m. until 7 a.m. and there is no desk staff, according to NIU’s Safety and Security segment.
Purdue University's policies are similar to Northern Illinois's, with doors locked and an ID required between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., according to Purdue University’s Residences Policy. Purdue only requires escorting if the guest is of the opposite sex. There is no desk staff.
Ball State also doesn't allow piggybacking, which is when someone holds a secured door open for the person behind them.
Sarah McCorkey, a freshman biology major, did not know about the rule, and said she often holds the door for people behind her.
Other students, like Morgan Fuller, a freshman telecommunications major, know about the rule but find it impolite.
“It doesn’t feel natural,” Fuller said. “I think it’s kind of rude. You wouldn’t just shut a door in someone’s face.”
Jeff Shoup, assistant director of housing and residence life, doesn't think the security measures are too strict.
“When you’re living with 400 other people, and many of them you didn’t know before, you kind of want to know who’s coming and going," Shoup said. "If you think of it like, ‘This is my big house,' ... you wouldn’t want just anyone walking through your home. You’d want some control."
Miller doesn't see the change in systems as a huge change to the security system already in place.
“We just see this as going about our business, so we don’t really see this as a big deal,” Miller said.
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