Card-controlled access to buildings is not a new idea to RPI; the concept is, however, expanding to encompass more and more of the academic buildings.
The access control was started around 10 years ago, beginning with the residence halls and has recently been applied to more buildings on campus during night hours.
The Troy Building served as the pilot program for controlling access to a building, and this program has been continually expanded and tweaked to be used for other academic buildings on campus at night, like the Voorhees Computing Center and Folsom Library.
The idea to increase the number of buildings on campus with this control is a desire to increase the safety of the campus community. Much input has been given by students and RPI members concerning spreading the system to other buildings on campus in order to mitigate problems, including thefts.
According to Paul Martin, assistant vice president for administration, there have been instances of people from outside the RPI community using athletic facilities or entering the Armory and stealing items while students are at sports practice, as well as middle school students wandering onto campus during the fall semester.
“We want to provide access to the campus community, while keeping those from the off-campus community—who may have no business in the buildings at these times—out,” said Martin.
Access to each building will be determined on a case-by-case basis, particularly after 6 pm. The VCC and Folsom Library, for example, will allow for campus community access during building operations so long as students have their RPI ID cards. Access to other buildings, like Sage Labs, however, will be determined by class rosters from the registrar, or in support of other academic requirements. The library is open until 3 am on most weeknights and the Sage building until about 2 am. The Rensselaer community will have access to these buildings until these times as long as they have their proximity ID cards.
If students need access to buildings that they don’t have a class in at that time, however, a person responsible for the space, typically a professor, can approve that student’s access. In the case of the library, there is also a video-intercomm outside the entrance that people can ring should they forget their card, notifying members at the circulation desk in order to request entry.
Greene is one of the buildings on campus that has had card-controlled access for a while. Many architecture students are in favor of the system, such as Rachel Padowicz ’11. She said, “I think that only allowing archies into the Greene Building is a good idea because we have a lot of important and expensive stuff in there, and giving us card access allows us to control who we let in. It hopefully cuts down on theft and vandalism in our building. We put so much time and money into our projects that it’s important to keep them safe.”
Liz Maus ’10 also supports the card-controlled access in Greene. “I think it’s an excellent idea. It helps make sure anyone in the building late at night is supposed to be there, and gives me one less thing to worry about when I’m working in studio at all hours.”
The buildings on campus that have the system installed include the Mueller Center and Armory, ’87 Gym, Troy Building, Sage Labs, Greene Building, Folsom Library, VCC, Empire Hall, Cogswell, MRC, the Biotech Center, and Academy Hall.
The card-controlled access will slowly be spread throughout campus, but Martin said, “not in a way that will make the community wonder when buildings will be open and when they won’t. We hope to maintain a consistent schedule.”
“It’s for all of us—our protection,” Martin added, “while providing members of the RPI community with access to what they need on campus.”
