After technical problems with the Suites’ ID scanners which led to students entering through windows instead of doors, Hillsdale College purchased a mass order of keys for the exterior doors of the residence.
“Keys were ordered as a back-up because there were some problems,” said Director of Campus Security Bill Whorley. “But we are back in working order now.”
Whorley said to update the Suites’ scanner system would have cost a significant amount of money, and the college ordered more than 120 keys to exterior doors for residents in case problems were to arise again in the future.
Patrick Chartrand, the college’s network systems manager, confirmed that the problem with the Suites’ scanners was fixed, and that the keys ordered were just an emergency back-up plan. He said the college is testing a new card scanning system for the entire campus, and the test building is the Margot V. Biermann Athletic Center.
“The question was were we willing to fix what was wrong with the old card scanner system [in the Suites], or wait until the new system was ready to go. We decided to fix the old system,” Chartrand said. “The keys would have been an interim solution to the problem.”
The mass order of keys will now be stored over in the maintenance building along with other emergency keys to campus buildings.
The new card scanning system for campus is still in its testing stages, and it could be a while until the college switches over to it.
“Once we got the bugs worked out of it, we will work on a timeline for deploying the new system to the rest of campus,” Chartrand said. “It could be more than three years out. That timeline hasn’t been discussed yet.”
As for the Suites, it will continue to operate on ID card scanners. Whorley added that students should always contact security if they have issues entering any campus buildings.
