Editorial: Finish the job installing One Card readers
After the college installed about 20 new One Card readers in the summer of 2007, students were disappointed to return to campus this year to find that momentum behind installing the readers had stalled.
With a price tag that typically ranges between $3,000 and $5,000 per reader, it’s not surprising that money is tight.
But Franklin College decided in 2004, with its first round of installations, that the readers are crucial to the college’s security. The readers help control who gets into certain buildings. Music or theatre majors who need access to the Johnson Center for Fine Arts late at night, for example, can use their cards to swipe in, whereas math or chemistry majors who have no business in that building aren’t able to do so. Students who live in Elsey Hall can swipe in, while those who don’t, can’t.
It makes sense. It makes stealing more difficult, and catching thieves and protecting the college’s expensive equipment easier. And in a post-Virginia Tech era, such security measures provide law enforcement officials key information.
In addition to the security bonuses, students have gotten used to One Cards. They expect to use them to access certain buildings, and are confused when the readers aren’t there.
The campus community has bought into One Card readers. It’s time for the Board of Trustees to do the same.
This is a time when skimping on security isn’t an option. This year’s budget needs to include money for 20 more readers that are already planned, plus any extra readers security deems necessary.
Then, the college needs to immediately install the readers, and grant appropriate access to the people who use buildings the way they’re intended.
