Even though some Maple Hall residents are ambivalent about the access cards they need to get into the building, ISU Director of Residence Randy Alexander said he anticipates all of the residence halls requiring them in the future.

However, this transition will likely take several years to complete, Alexander said. Currently, Maple Hall is the only ISU dormitory that employs the use of the access cards.

Maple Hall residents were issued cards at the beginning of the year that open any door in the building students are allowed to access.

These areas include elevators, floor dens, kitchens, study rooms, computer rooms, weight rooms and the front door. Students use a different key for their own rooms.

Alexander said at this time, the locking system in Maple Hall seems to be working fine. “As with any newly installed technology, there were bugs to work out of the system after it was installed,” he said.

Residence halls will be moving to security cards because of the increased benefits they offer, Alexander said. An example of this is doors can be programmed to lock and unlock at certain times.

“This is an especially nice feature for summer conference guests who tend to lose cards or not turn them in,” Alexander said. “You can issue a conference guest a card that automatically expires at the end of their conference.”

Lost cards can be programmed out of the system. Also, during vacation breaks, the building’s locks on the perimeters of doors don’t need to be changed if residents use cards that have been locked out, Alexander said.

Alexander said the cards do not even need to be removed from residents’ pockets to open the door — they simply unlock when students with the cards are standing near the door.

Despite these conveniences, residents of Maple Hall said they have mixed feelings about the access cards.

One main concern for students is that guests are not able to get into the elevators.

“It’s hard for people to come see you,” said Amber Lonnevik, freshman in agricultural business.

Heather Ruden, freshman in animal science, said the cards get in the way and aren’t even that effective. “You can get in anyway; it doesn’t matter,” she said.

Resident Greg Deim said aspects of the cards can be important for some security issues.

“[It may be needed] for the external doors, but for the inner doors, it’s stupid,” said Deim, freshman in agricultural systems technology. “There’s a way around everything.”

However, Jenny Stahl, sophomore in elementary education, said since the dorms are locked after a certain time anyway, the cards don’t create a big headache.

“You’d have to have a key past 11 [p.m.] anyway,” she said. “You carry it with you all the time, and it’s really not a big deal anymore.”