Choate Steps Up Security New Measures Taken; Card Entry Systems To Be Installed In Four Underclass Dormitories
By Elliott August ‘08
Editor
Following winter break, four Choate Rosemary Hall dorms will begin a trial period to test two different types of security systems. The trial, which will run through February, is being completed in preparation for the widespread institution of new security measures in Choate dorms next year.
The four Choate dorms partaking in the trial are Atwater, Edsall, Mead and Pitman. As explained by Associate Dean of Students, Ms. Amy Salot, the aforementioned dorms were chosen “because they are underform dorms. Since they know its going to happen next year, they will be more apt to give us some good feedback. They are also medium size dorms, not to small, not too big.”
Two Systems
Two different types of security systems have been installed for the trial period. Both Mead and Pitman will be testing swipe cards, a system in which students swipe a provided card vertically through a sensor, similar to the system used in many hotels. Atwater and Edsall have been equipped with proximity card systems. In order to enter the dorm, students wave a proximity card in the general vicinity of a sensor placed outside the door.
During the trial period, the four testing dorms will be locked at night, and during the school day. Otherwise, they will be unlocked from 3pm until curfew.
Next year every Choate dorm outer door will be locked twenty-four hours a day rather than just at night. Dorms will be fashioned with either the swipe or proximity card system, depending on the decision of which system best fits the school. Following the trial period, student and faculty feedback will be gathered in order to help determine which method will be implemented in the dorms.
The cause for the new changes in the dorms is simply safety. “We have a culture right now, that’s wonderful in the sense that we are an open community…and we haven’t had any terrible episodes” explained Ms. Salot. Yet, “we don’t want to wait until we have a terrible, tragic incident in order to say ‘we need to be a little bit safer.’”
According to Ms. Salot, the main safety concern is that Choate dorms are currently accessible to people outside of the community. The fear is that, at times when advisers may not be around yet students are in the dorms, “strangers could enter the dorms very easily and some unpleasant episodes could occur,” said Ms. Salot.
Although every dorm will be locked, students will still have access to dormitories other than their own. Each swipe or proximity card provided to students will be capable of unlocking every dorm. Day students will also be provided with cards.
In addition to being used simply to unlock doors, it is hoped that the new cards will have further capabilities. Ms. Salot explained that it is possible “that your card will eventually become your i.d. card, your Choate Card, and maybe even used for attendance in school meetings.”
Consulting Outsourced
The swipe and proximity card systems, which will not be activated until January, were installed over Thanksgiving break. The new equipment and security services were purchased from Integrated Security Systems, Ltd. ISS, which provides electronic security systems for both corporate and other types of institutional facilities, has a wide range of other clients including Yale University and ESPN Inc.
The overall safety of the school, and more specifically of the dorms, is a very important concern among faculty. Ms. Salot explained that “We’ve been talking about the issue of campus safety, and more specifically safety within our dorms for a good couple of years now. It has been a conversation with the headmaster, with the senior officers, and the Dean of Students office.”
Locking the dorms is not the only security measure being taken by the school. Although no major incident has occurred in recent memory, Choate staff has taken a proactive stance towards student safety. Presently, Choate is currently installing safety screens in the basement and first floors of girls’ dormitories, and plans on doing so for all dorms. Ms. Salot explained that, as with locking dorm doors, the safety screens are “To prevent people from the outside from getting into the dorm.”
Students in the dorms participating in the trials were informed regarding the testing period late last week and early this week.
Ms. Fran O’Donoghue, dorm adviser for Pitman (the first dorm notified), was impressed. “We’re being very proactive. We’re not responding to a problem, we’re preventing a future problem,” she said.
