Despite the summer installation of DukeCard readers by the bathroom doors in Kilgo Quadrangle and Southgate Dormitory, residents still have to keep track of their bathroom keys.
Because of technological difficulties, DukeCard access to the bathrooms will not be implemented for a few more weeks, officials said. Card readers and signs informing students of an imminent switch appeared by bathroom doors at the beginning of the fall semester, but the readers still are not functional.
Residence Life and Housing Services officials expected new software enabling these readers to connect to the University network to be available at the beginning of the academic year, but the new system is not yet fully developed.
"It is very frustrating," said Eddie Hull, director of RLHS.
When University officials were considering possible methods of controlling access to bathrooms, using the DukeCard seemed the natural solution, explained Fidelia Thomason, director of facilities operations for RLHS. Making access to bathrooms exactly like access to residence halls, however, proved financially impossible.
Most DukeCard readers on campus are wired to a network that connects directly to a central system, but putting wired card readers next to every bathroom door would cost more than $1 million. "It was just too expensive to think about doing," Thomason said.
Two options remained. The card readers could stay disconnected from the main system, forcing all residents to have their cards reconfigured whenever any card with bathroom access disappeared, or the readers could connect wirelessly. The convenience of the latter option led RLHS to choose the wireless technology.
However, the wireless access program will not be ready for the University to test for several more weeks. The trial period in Kilgo and Southgate will probably then last at least a semester, Thomason said. If the pilot program is successful, DukeCard access to bathrooms in other residence halls will take still longer to arrive.
Once the program begins, officials hope that changes in student behavior will increase security. Thomason expressed hope that students would find carrying DukeCards more convenient than carrying bathroom keys, combating their current tendency to prop open doors and jam locks.
"This program is being undertaken as a request of students," Hull said.
There will be financial gains for the University as well, as the $75 charged to students who lose their bathroom keys rarely covers the entire cost of changing a bathroom lock. Under the DukeCard system, a lost card could simply be deactivated.
Students, though, will not receive these benefits for some time, and the wait can be frustrating. "I feel like they implied that by the end of September we would have DukeCard access to our bathrooms," said Kilgo resident Robin McLaughry, a senior.
Other residents are pessimistic about the new system's implementation.
The readers will probably be functional "in a few thousand weeks," joked senior Matt Matuska, also a Kilgo resident.
The idea for DukeCard access to bathrooms arose following the attack of a female student in a Wannamaker Dormitory bathroom last year. The University subsequently installed locks on all bathroom doors, but students said carrying a bathroom key was too inconvenient, and called for DukeCard access.
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