jßetemfaer 11,1992
The Key Policy
Individuals speak on how the new after-hours access policy will effect
students, faculty and organizations on campus.
'■"f;
-Physics major Ted Kroll
Ted Kroll
Guest Writer
This semester, Guilford College
has been working on a formal
policy to regulate access to cam
pus buildings, specifically during
hours after those of "normal" col
lege use. Several views have been
expressed in previous issues of
The Guilfordian, and now I'd like
to compile a variety of opinions to
help readers understand the com
plete spectrum.
The reason that I find this issue
important is that I'm a physics
major, and my work at Guilford
depends on me having access to
the basement of King; I will do
whatever necessary to maintain
access to the labs, computers and
data reduction room. When I first
heard aboutthe school'snew policy
I was angered— why should I sud
denly require permission and ex
ternal regulation to have access to
my work space? Rather than as
sume that I understood what
prompted this need for an updated
access policy, I decided to start
asking around campus for other
people's opinions.
"We have two ways of
dealing with the prob
lem: prohibit after
hours access to every
one, or find a way to
carefully monitor the
people that do have 24-
hour access."
-Rex Adelberger
One of the first people I heard
speak about the need for this policy
was Physics professor/Quaker
yearbook advisor Rex Adelberger.
He said: "It is a fact: We do need to
worry about security in buildings
around the Guilford College cam
pus after hours. We have two ways
of dealing with the problem: pro
hibit after hours access to every
one, or find a way to carefully
+* 0
-Physics professor Rex
Adeiberger
monitor the people that do have
24-hour access. This access is cer
tainly necessary for some students,
I think it's obvious that the people
on campus that should control and
monitor access is Security."
Student Mike Livingston held a
clearly different view: "[At Guil
ford] we should be able to trust
each other. As a Quaker learning
community, we should build an
environment that fosters personal
responsibility. The honor code re
quires unconditional honesty of all
members of this community; that
should mean something. The
policy of making Guilford a police
state is inconsistent with the objec
tive of making it a healthy commu
nity."
When asked, Union President
Scott Thomhill said: "24-hour ac
cess to college buildings is truly
essential for some students. Union
members, WQFS personnel, Pub
lication Suite staff, upperclass art
majors or any upperclass science
majors have too much to do during
each 24-hour day—there's just no
way to get all of the lab, shop and
office work done during 'normal'
building hours."
I think an access policy is nec
essary and believe that the debate
lies in what students should have
to do to obtain after-hours access.
Many of us have expressed a con
cern about the $25 deposit required
for a student to obtain a key giving
them after-hours access to an area.
As Rex Adelberger states: "Keys
cost money to make, and since we
don't live in an ideal society (i.e.
people steal/lose keys) a deposit of
some sort must be involved. For
those who oppose the deposit in
cluded in the current policy, they
should realize that getting an ac
cess card is free — all you need is
approval of the advisor/chairper
son for that particular area on cam
pus: it's obtaining a copy of the
key for that area that requires de
posit."
Chemistry major Lisaßipperton
concurs: "The key deposit is a rea
sonable precaution; keys on this
campus have always cost money.
Perspectives
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-Senior Mike Livingston
People lose keys, and security has
a right to assure themselves that
there is a deterrent to losing the
key."
I believe that the key deposit is
too high, and definitely cannot cor
respond to the real loss suffered
when if a key is lost or stolen. It's
ridiculous to think that the cost of
cutting a single key is that high.
It's also unlikely that the school
would install new locks in an area
if a key were indeed lost or sto
len— but what can the school do?
Here'sanidea(notmyown): Have
students sign a pledge when they
are issued a key, explicitly stating
that they accept the liability con
nected with the area to which they
are being given access.
"The policy of making
Guilford a police state
is inconsistent with the
objective of making it a
healthy community."
-Mike Livingston
Certainly, the entire process of
obtaining after-hour access seems
more like a privilege rather than a
right. Some of us want to know
why. Scott Thornhill pointed out:
"There are other people working
on this campus that have 24-hour
access to buildings and don't get
hassled about it— college staff/
faculty members.
It'sas if somestudents (and other
college officers) are getting pun
ished for doing more work (which
requires them to need more access
time in college buildings/facili
ties.)" In the Letters section of the
November 6 issue of The G uilfor
dian, Butch Arthur argues: "Ac
cessing buildings after-hours must
be a privilege granted to specuic
students. If all students could ac
cess buildings by right at all hours,
then no building would have
'after-hours' periods. The access
policy seems designed, in part, to
address the needs of students who
needed access to areas after-hours
W
-Union President Scott
Thomhill
because 24-hour space was not
available."
I disagree. I require access to
King Hall because it contains the
equipment and specific physical
space that I need to get my work
done. If all I needed to do was
study, I'm sure that I could find
space in Bauman to suit that need.
What can we do for a biology
major who's working on a lab in
Physics (required by their depart
ment) when a security officer wants
to kick them out because they don * t
have access to the specific floor of
King in which they're working?
What happens to the art student
(non-major) that needs to have ac
cess to the Hege-Cox shop, but
doesn't want to lay out the $25
deposit to get a key for the semes
ter?
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1 think 'ii% somewhat Indicative that you can get a BS in |
pottocal science/
Ms department ;,| .-vl?
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Photo by Carl Beehler
-Chemistry major Lisa
Ripperton
If a Union member is elected to
office, why can't their deposit be
waived and their costs absorbed by
the school as part of the student
government budget?
None of these questions can be
easily answered, but hopefully this
article will help to get some of you
to think about how this policy af
fects you. Security and the Safety
Advisory Committee has yet to
come up with a final version of the
policy and, in fact, the only copy of
the policy I could get was dated
August 27, 1992.
Perhaps the final version will
satisfy most of our access needs
here at Guilford, but if we just sit
back and let the policy get written
for us some of us will most cer
tainly be misrepresented.
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