Swiper, No Swiping! New Security Proves Tricky

By Broadside Correspondent Thomas McCurdy

As anyone living in or visiting the new student residence halls can see, there is a major difference in security between them and the old buildings. In order for a student to reach their room they must navigate a veritable maze of locked doors that can only be opened by student ID cards. For instance, to reach a room in Northern Neck, a student will need to swipe their card five times—a tricky procedure when bringing in groceries.

Sophomore Jeremy Stern commented, “I don’t feel I should have to bring my key card with me to shower. Imagine having to cross the entire Chesapeake grounds to get a spare swipe key in a towel. Not the best start to a day.”

In the older residence halls such as Presidents Park or the DUCC area, students have to swipe their cards to get into their building—and possibly to get on an elevator—but have to have an actual key to open or lock their door. In the newer residence halls, doors automatically lock themselves.

Students living in Northern Neck or in any of the other four new halls—Tidewater, Blue Ridge, Shenandoah and Piedmont—have to swipe their cards to get into their suite, and then again for their room. This can be a good thing if they do not trust their suitemates, but it also leaves students in apartment-style dorms susceptible to locking themselves out during a trip to the bathroom. The doors are not weighted to prevent them from closing. When taking a shower, a draft could shut the door or a roommate could accidentally close the door, leaving someone stuck in a robe and an awkward situation.

In double suite-style bathrooms, the doors lock on the inside of the sink and bathroom areas. This created a problem for sophomore Teal Dye living in Blue Ridge when her suitemate forgot to unlock the bathroom door leading to her suite, and Dye was locked out of her bathroom all night.

Some students feel double-style suites detract from a sense of security that would be maintained if the room was accessible solely to an individual resident. “Thank goodness I know and trust my suitemates,” said sophomore Kate Welsh, “because I don’t know if I would feel entirely comfortable knowing that someone I just moved in with has constant access into my room, whether I am there or not.”
Students are happy to have the increased security, but express dissatisfaction with doors in the Chesapeake area being ‘exit only,’ forcing students to enter at a place that may not be convenient.

Sophomore Kat Binder said, “I feel a lot safer with all the locks, but they really are a pain to go through, and I doubt all of the ‘exit only’ doors are really that needed.”
By forcing the students to go through one or two entrance points, it helps prevent ‘tailgaters,’ and makes it harder for someone to break into a student’s room. The new security is a response to the Virginia Tech incident, as mentioned by most RAs at their hall meetings, but the excessive key swiping encourages some students to hold the doors.