By Pamela Singleton, Director of Communications
Posted August 18, 2008

Linzel McBride, one of my best friends, recently received a bill from her son’s university for $8,500. It would seem that in the course of his duties as a resident adviser during the 2007-2008 school year, her son lost a master key to his dorm and the entire building had to be re-keyed. I was shocked to learn some universities still use old-fashioned metal keys and haven’t upgraded to access control systems. These systems are such a simple, cost effective way to manage who has access to what doors.

Linzel was shocked too. She challenged the school on the safety standards of the entire campus if one lost key put so many at risk. I don’t know when the key was lost, but the school waited until summer to address the issue. Beyond safety and security concerns, re-keying an entire dorm building and re-issuing new keys to all the residents presents a huge cost and logistic nightmare. Linzel has experience with access control systems and knew how easily a similar situation can be handled in a building with access control. You lose a swipe card or key fob? You remove it from the system and program a new one. No muss, no fuss.

I’m happy to report that the school now is installing an access control system. Linzel thinks it should be named the McBride Security System in honor of her son. I’m inclined to agree.