In the next couple of weeks, the Department of Housing and Residence Life will negate, at night, the body gesture desk workers have perfected and fellow students have learned to detect. During the day, security desk policy will not change, but once that fateful hour of 7 p.m. hits, the new swipe card system, which was installed during the summer, will be activated and will test everyone’s patience and preparedness.

            At that time, instead of flashing student identification cards to the desk worker and waiting for that habitual gesture-that anticipated nod of approval-students will have to rely on unfamiliar technology. That means that, before a student even walks through the front door of on campus housing at Fusz, Marguerite, Griesedieck or Marchetti, the student must swipe his or her ID to release the door’s latch and allow it to swing open.

            Instead of the desk worker eyeing a familiar black magnetic strip and US Bank logo, he or she will digitally verify if the card swiped matches the person who swiped it. A picture of the student will pop up on the desk worker’s computer screen as soon as the card is read.

            “It’s kind of a privacy issue if your face gets plastered across the screen when you swipe your card, and plus, it’s not like we’re in prison,” said Marguerite Hall resident Katie Beebe.

            Beebe’s statement reflects yet another component of the new swipe card system.

            “When a guest arrives that is not a SLU student, the desk worker will take his or her picture,” said Coordinator for Housing Relations Paul Seidl. This is a precautionary measure, Seidl explained. “In the case we need to restrict someone [in the future], we know what the person looks like who is being restricted.”

            Some students, already experienced with the new system from a brief test-run, have only positive comments. Fusz resident Tim Elliott declared the development efficient, as long as it “gave access without problems like at the library. In doing so, desk workers are able to converse with students since they automatically know [their] names.”

            Elliott said that his friend at Notre Dame is accustomed to a similar system. According to Notre Dame’s Web site, the university has used a card-swipe system since May 2002, along with over 300 universities worldwide. “I think it would be wonderful if we could all go into each other's dorms. However, I think a lot of education would have to happen with our girls as far as locking their rooms,” said Notre Dame rector Sister Carrine Etheridge.

            School administrators are progressively turning to the technology of the new card-swipe system to provide more sophisticated ways to make a campus safe. The photography of non-SLU students will most definitely “keep strangers out, which is good,” said Beebe. “However, there are still coed dorms.”   

            The solution to this dilemma was suggested by the Department of Public Safety: to lock bedroom doors to prevent sexual assault accounts, like the incident that occurred in DeMattias Hall earlier this year.  

            “The goal of the system is to increase security by improving the efficiency of the security desk. The system will allow us to check students in more efficiently, also to verify more effectively that students that are checking in are meant to check in,” said Seidl.

            When registering, the visitor can present a driver’s license instead of having a picture taken. A student will swipe his or her card to open the door. Then, "the system will scan necessary information from [the visitor’s license] and populate the visitor registration system. When the visitors leave, they must sign out.  Otherwise the student and guests could face Student Conduct charges since they would technically still be checked in and then be responsible to visitation violations," said Seidl. The desk worker will not have to keep the license while the visitor is in the building.

   If a SLU student swipes at a dorm or apartment in which he or she is not a resident, the student will have access until 7 p.m.  From 7 p.m. to 7 a.m,, the student will need to register and make sure the desk worker checks them out upon their departure. If the student does not sign out, Student Conduct could file charges.

            Meanwhile, as SLU becomes aware of the new policies, its enforcers become better educated. Seidl said the installation was delayed because they were “waiting on some hardware to arrive, which put [them] behind schedule, and getting all the different computer systems to communicate to each other takes some work.” He is now focused on training his employees on the system.

            The new system should be up in a couple of weeks, according to resident coordinators. Students are encouraged to practice keeping their IDs handy, their doors locked and their patience untried. The new system was purchased from ADT, and the program was written by Honeywell.