Wondering why some of the card access readers on campus have been flashing different colors? It is all part of the process that the Physical Plant is going through to install a new card access system in all of the buildings on campus.
The university has decided to institute new card access systems in all campus buildings to help tighten security and identify who is entering or exiting the buildings.
“This new system will help give us more control over the buildings, knowing who’s going in and out,” said Director of the Physical Plant, Doug Greening.
“If we then have anything that occurs at night, we can always go back and find out who entered the building.”
When giving keys out, the Physical Plant traditionally has a problem getting them back. People leave the campus, forget to give their keys back or leave them with somebody else. Greening said they then lose track of who has the keys.
This proves a serious problem because then anybody could hold a key and have access into a building.
The same people who have previously had access to the building through the old system will just be added to the new.
“Faculty and staff in a building will mostly get entry and exit keys and sometimes graduate students as well,” Greening said.
Most of the time keys are not issued to undergraduate students mainly because it is difficult to track them down and get keys back.
“Departments can issue keys on their own because they work closer with the students than we do,” Greening said.
The readers have beeninstalled in most of the buildings and they are still in an installation-testing stage said Greening. The card access software is already controlling a lot of the doors, but no one actually has the access on their Bearkat Onecard yet.
“We are still having timing issues with when the doors open and close, but once we get those bumps ironed out of the system and some of the mechanical problems fixed, we will probably start going live and begin giving access,” Greening said.
As of now, the cost of the new access system has totaled to about $75,000. This amount covers the installation of the system in 20 buildings.