Though installation began at the end of last semester, key card access to campus residence halls will not pilot before students arrive on campus this week.

Ithaca College approved the plan to make all residence halls accessible with a student ID card in 2006 and have been installing and rewiring entry ways since December 2007. The college planned to test the system at the beginning of the fall 2008 semester in at least one Tower, Terrace and Quad residence hall.

Bonnie Solt Prunty, director of residential life, said the installation process has been slow but crucial to the success of the switch.

“It’s easy to change the doors and to get the wiring to the doors,” she said. “Figuring out how the key card access software needs to interface with the student information software ... just takes a little while.”

Senior and Student Government Association President Cornell Woodson, who has spoken with staff in the Office of Residential Life about ID card

access on several occasions, said the installation process has been implemented carefully, and the college has taken into consideration who would be allowed in residence halls. Students are currently only allowed access to their own residence halls using their room keys.

“Hearing that, and that being a reason why it isn’t up and running yet, I think that’s a very logical thing to hold off on,” Woodson said. “I have no problem with it because they’re trying to make sure the system works the very first time it gets put up.”

Senior Dan Hoerner said he thought the delay in installation of ID card access was a hassle, but he is looking forward to its successful implementation.

“I’m a transfer student and at my other school we had key card access,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s necessarily true, but it does make you feel safer.”

Senior Donna Livingston said she was concerned with the cost of changing all of the doors, given other multimillion-dollar construction projects on campus.

“The doors would be kept locked 24/7 just like it is now,” she said. “It is [going to cost] a lot of money to switch everything over, and we have a good thing going on already.”

Prunty said the $2 million project, which is still within budget, was approved in part because it would add extra security on campus and meet students’ concerns.

“We’ve been talking about it for quite a while here and certain students and parents frequently ask about why don’t we have card access on campus because they visit other campuses that do,” she said.

Woodson said he believes the new system will be a positive addition to campus.

“It’s new, it’s fresh and it also shows our college is always trying to improve the way we do things and isn’t afraid to go ahead and try something new at the benefit of the student body,” he said.