The college is ready to put the finishing touches on a new keycard system throughout the Main Campus. All staff and faculty will now use cards as keys to unlock certain doors and to get into specific buildings.
Any faculty or staff member who doesn’t currently have a keycard is able to come to Public Safety and get one.
The project is near the finishing stages. Staff and faculty will need to get a keycard to access all Main Campus buildings by the start of Fall term.
“This technology is in wide use around the world and it has many different functionalities,” Public Safety Manager Jace Smith said. “It’s going to help Lane be an active, engaged participant in the 21st century especially once we start expanding its uses.”
After Sept. 26, no staff or faculty member will be able to use metal keys on any lock on campus. The project will involve removing or changing all of the external locks. Public Safety will not be issuing keycards widely throughout campus.
“The card itself is smaller in ways and easier to carry,” Writing instructor Russell Shitabata said.
Through the system’s software, individual cards may be coded to work during certain times for each building on campus. If staff or faculty members are on campus after hours, they will be able to use their keycards, unless the access status says differently.
“You can delete access that’s no longer needed and add access if needed. If staff’s needs evolve, then their access can evolve with it,” said Chief Financial Officer Greg Morgan.
Shitabata says this system could be frustrating to some instructors who don’t have access to buildings at certain times when they need to come into the office or set up a classroom lab before class is in session.
With the new keycard system, buildings are automatically locked up on time. Public Safety officers don’t have to lock the doors, nor count on the last person in each building to lock all of the doors.
Also, once the door has been opened and it shuts, the door will lock again.
Public Safety may also use the keycard software to void a certain card if it is lost, so a new card can be reissued to that person. Officers can also set up a flag, so if it intended to be used somewhere, they can determine where it is.
“A safer campus is good for everybody. It’s good for students, it’s good for staff, and it’s good for faculty,” Smith said. “It gives us a little bit more control when people need limited access.”
There is a record of each staff and faculty member’s image and what kind of access is issued for each card. If a card is lost, that person can call Public Safety and reissue a card within a few minutes and then come pick it up at their convenience.
Students are unable to receive keycards at this point in time, unless they are employed by the college.
“I think that there is a lot of promise for using this technology with students, but there has to be a commitment to the institution. It would be great if we gave students an ID so they could use it in the Health Center, they could use it in the [Education] Fitness Center, and here and there,” said Smith. “And for those students who are employees, we could have limited access to use it on a door, but it takes the commitment from the institution.”
