The days of swiping an ISUCard through the Osborn Drive gates have ended with the installation of a new high-tech security system this week.

“In the old system, the card readers did not distinguish specific information,” said Doug Houghton, parking division manager. “It was reading more cards than it was supposed to. It needed to be fixed.”

The new system operates through the use of proximity cards or “prox cards,” DPS officials said. The readers will pick up information stored in the card’s wires. The card is about the size of an ATM card.

“When you hold your card up to the reader, if you’re authorized, it will access the door or gate,” said Rob Bowers, ISU access control manager. “For instance, students who live in Hawthorn Court, work for ISU9 through their education program and work for a salary at the library – their one card will allow them into all of the buildings if we tell it to.”

The former Osborn Drive gate system was replaced with a $97,000 high-tech security system, Houghton said. The parking division paid for the system through its collected parking fees and fines, which totals about $900,000 a year.

The gate system will operate from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, Houghton said.

“We’re protecting students walking across the street – point, purpose, the whole ball of wax,” he said. He said the gates also will cut down on illegal parking and slow people down as they are accessing campus.

“When the gates are up, people don’t slow down,” Bowers said. “When [people] use their card, we still have the presence of a vehicle, but it’s slowing them down. It’s like they are the visitor, so to speak.” The post office and about 100 CyRide buses also will receive access cards.

DPS Cpt. Bowers said students questioned a similar system installed in Maple Hall last year. Maple Hall residents use the prox cards to get into their building as well as the elevators.

The system also is installed in Hawthorn Court, Parks Library, the Communications Building and one of the livestock buildings at the Veterinary Medicine College.

The Willow and Larch residence halls, Howe Hall and the Student Services Building will convert to the system during Christmas break, Bowers said

The system will be incorporated into any major renovation or construction on campus, he said.

He said the system is cheaper and safer than a typical lock-and- key combination. “With the access cards, if you lose it, we can replace it and take it out of the system quickly,” he said. “And everyone else’s cards will still work.”

When a key is lost, the department must change all of the necessary locks and reissue keys, which can be costly and time-consuming, he said.

About 2,500 prox cards have been issued to students living in the Maple Hall and Hawthorn Court, and an additional 1,800 to 2,000 cards to the various departments using the system.