3. Students and staff must understand how new security tools will impact their lives. When this occurs, adoption of the new system goes faster. Also, when a technology succeeds in one part of campus, other departments are more easily convinced of the need for the upgrade.
UW-GB staff members train incoming students during campus security orientation how their university’s access control system provides them everything from admission to a classroom to the ability to purchase their next meal in a dining hall. “When we bring our students in for orientation, we give them a card and tell them to treat it like a credit card,” said Jim Polacarz, UW-GB’s union administrator.
Terry says Quinnipiac added the first magnetic identification cards for an upper class dormitory. “The students were nothing but receptive when we added the new locks. After two months, the vice president of student affairs was asking us when we would add the locks on the rest of the residence halls.”
The new lock system can also help campus security with ongoing investigations. If a student claims that something was stolen from his or her room, Terry’s office can provide an audit of the door.
The Quinnipiac administrator adds that when the university made the switch from the traditional key to the identification card, there was a slight learning curve for the maintenance team members who worked on the 2,400 doors at his institution. “Our maintenance guys were not used to using a personal computer to work on locks. It took them
about six months for them to understand the benefits and become comfortable with their computers,” he says.
