E-lock upgrades under consideration
Old metal locks and keys could soon become things of the past on Eastern’s campus.
The university is considering an upgrade from traditional keys to e-locks – smart cards with memory chips – that Rex Hilligoss, the campus architect of Facilities Planning and Management, said would improve safety and security across campus.
“Keys are hard to monitor as they tend to get passed around,” Hilligoss said. “Electronic access is specific to each individual and will give us an opportunity to monitor who accesses any space on campus with times and dates.”
Hilligoss said the focus for the initial phase of the installation would be on classrooms, laboratories and other important facilities, but on-campus housing may eventually be upgraded as well.
“Ultimately, we expect to see all locks on campus become electronic,” Hilligoss said. “For the initial phase, housing will not be changing to electronic access for the resident rooms, but could include the exterior doors of each building.”
Students, faculty and staff would be able to access their assigned areas with their Panther Cards, which will have the feature necessary built in, Hilligoss said.
“This will provide better control of access to various classrooms and labs,” he said.
Hilligoss said, as with any system, there are potential problems, but he hopes that existing problems with current key assignments will be reduced with the new e-locks.
He also said that, in the event of a power outage, access by key will still be possible, and nothing will be required to exit an area.
“Some of the electronic hardware installed will be powered by battery at the door,” Hilligoss said. “Some of the buildings will have a generator backup, but there will always be access by key regardless of the power situation.”
Hilligoss said the project will initially cost about $150,000 and will cover the servers, hardware and software, the electronic door hardware and installation for 100 doors.
The rest of campus will be upgraded on a departmental request basis.
The current plan was conceived about a year ago, and while he hopes to get started on the project this year, funding may pose problems in the future.
“Funding is always a problem and will be the determining factor for when any of this work can and will be done,” he said.
Emily Reid can be reached at 581-7942 or ejreid2@eiu.edu.
E-lock upgrades under consideration
Photo illustration by Amir Prellberg & Caleb Branson/The Daily Eastern News
