Background
Adding Authorization for Entry
Lost ID Cards
Off-Campus Authorizations

Background
Card readers (or swipe cards) locks were installed on several suite and lounge doors during April 2005. Generally, they were mounted on one door in each dorm. This experiment with Onity brand card readers allowed students to evaluate the readers before possible installation of them on suite and lounge doors throughout campus. With the advent of auto-locking mechanisms on exterior doors to residential spaces, card readers allowed students living in a suite to grant access to people from outside the suite to visit without needing to prop open the suite door. The readers thereby increased the overall security of students’ living spaces.

In May 2005, the Dormitory Affairs Committee sent a set of questions to students living in the places where card readers were installed. A total of 18 students sent responses. In the summer of 2005, DAC met to discuss these responses and to discuss student-identified problems with the system. They ultimately decided that Facilities and Maintenance (F&M) should proceed with installing card readers on all exterior doors on campus, excluding those to individual rooms. After funding was approved the swipe card readers were installed in August 2006.

Card readers now cover all student rooms in Atwood, Linde and Sontag. Case has readers on the exterior hallway doors. South has them on all suite doors as well as back hall doors. The remaining 3 dorms, East, West and North, with exterior doors to individual rooms, do not have card readers. They have auto-locking mechanisms on individual doors, per a Board of Trustees decision, with the installation phased in (all frosh doors in fall 2004, all frosh and sophomore doors in fall 2005 [along with the preceding years’ frosh doors], and so on until all room doors are have auto-locks in fall 2007).

Adding Authorization for Entry
Only students residing behind a door with a card reader automatically have access to that door. All students in a dorm have default access to a common area of that dorm (lounge, laundry room).

A primary consideration for those living behind doors with card readers is the ability to give others access. The Summer 2005 DAC decided that all students residing in a suite must unanimously decide to add authorization to enter a swipe-able door.The swipe card authorization form can be downloaded here. Residents detail the place where they live, the name of the people or groups they would like to give authorization to enter their carded area, their names, and their signatures. Signatures on the authorization forms will not be checked for authenticity, but will be accepted on the Honor Code.

For areas with more than 10 people with default access, dorm presidents may put the decision to expand access to a vote of the dorm, either at a dorm meeting or by electronic means. This is especially relevant for Case L locks. The dorm president/s will establish the procedure for the vote. Expanded access will then be reported to F&M via the authorization form and signed by the dorm president/s who witnessed and will vouch for the dorm vote.

After completing the form, someone delivers the completed form directly to F&M. F&M will then collect changed authorizations and on Wednesdays throughout each semester will update locks on campus. To complete the access process, people with new authorizations must go to F&M to have their ID card updated with the new authorizations. Removing Authorization Removing access for a person from a lock can be done in a variety of ways. If the decision to remove is unanimous from all suite members, a completed authorization form can simply be turned in directly to F&M. If some but not all suite members approve of a removal, they may take their case to the Dean of Student’s Office where the decision will be made on a case-by-case basis by the Dean of Residential Life. In emergency removal situations, a student may contact the dean on call through the proctor on call at X79911 or by calling Campus Safety directly at X72000. The dean will make the decision on a case-by-case basis. 

Lost ID Cards
Since ID cards are now keys to more private areas of student housing, when an ID card is lost, it is necessary to report it as lost. Please let F&M know as soon as possible. The ID card will then be deactivated. Next, a student will need to get a new ID card from the Claremont Card Center in the basement of the McAlister Center. The cost to replace an ID card is $10. The new card then must be brought back to F&M to be re-encoded for HMC housing access. If your ID card is damaged, you may take the pieces to the Card Center and get a new ID for free.  

Off-Campus Authorizations
HMC students who live off campus may freely be added for access to on-campus swipe card readers. Students of other Claremont Colleges may also be authorized for access. Because other colleges’ ID cards are often not compatible with HMC’s system, a temporary card will be issued to that student on behalf of the HMC student giving access. The temporary card will only be valid for a semester. If it is lost, the HMC student responsible for the off campus student must report the loss to F&M as soon as possible to have the card deactivated.