2008 Woodie Awards
SUNY Card access now quad-wide
Felicia Neahr
Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: News
After several discussions, open forums, and residential surveys, the Office of Residence Life decided to relax the 24 hour card access policy that was implemented last semester by giving students access to their entire quad instead of only their specific part of the building. Eric Duchscherer, Director of Residence Life, stated that Residence Life "certainly didn't want to make changes in the middle of the academic year, but we wanted students to know we heard them."
Duchscherer stated that while it was highly unlikely that the residence halls would ever be open to the public again as they were prior to the fall semester, Residence Life was still willing to consider further changes. To determine possible future changes, Residence Life is considering administering another survey similar to one they did last semester. According to last semester's survey, 75% of students disliked the 24 hour card access allowing only residents of a particular building to enter. Although this was a huge majority and 44% of students suggested access to all residential students, there was mixed feedback regarding hours that all students should be allowed, and therefore Residence Life decided to only slightly relax the policy.
Since 24 hour card access was implemented in Fall 2007, damage in the residence halls has significantly decreased, staff have reported fewer propped doors, and the number of formal incident complaints has decreased. Duchscherer does not know if these decreases are a direct effect of the 24 hour card access system.
Some of the flaws in the system that were reported last semester have been fixed, such as students having access to the buildings because of doors that were unlocked. Van Housen, Sisson, and Lehman have been locked and secured. The door between the residential part of Lehman North and Lehman Dining Center has been closed and locked to secure that building. There will be a card reader put on that door, and according to Duchscherer it should be there by the end of February.
Duchscherer stated that while it was highly unlikely that the residence halls would ever be open to the public again as they were prior to the fall semester, Residence Life was still willing to consider further changes. To determine possible future changes, Residence Life is considering administering another survey similar to one they did last semester. According to last semester's survey, 75% of students disliked the 24 hour card access allowing only residents of a particular building to enter. Although this was a huge majority and 44% of students suggested access to all residential students, there was mixed feedback regarding hours that all students should be allowed, and therefore Residence Life decided to only slightly relax the policy.
Since 24 hour card access was implemented in Fall 2007, damage in the residence halls has significantly decreased, staff have reported fewer propped doors, and the number of formal incident complaints has decreased. Duchscherer does not know if these decreases are a direct effect of the 24 hour card access system.
Some of the flaws in the system that were reported last semester have been fixed, such as students having access to the buildings because of doors that were unlocked. Van Housen, Sisson, and Lehman have been locked and secured. The door between the residential part of Lehman North and Lehman Dining Center has been closed and locked to secure that building. There will be a card reader put on that door, and according to Duchscherer it should be there by the end of February.
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