Walsh Hall to Host Check-In Station

Students who secure suites in Walsh Hall in this week's housing lottery will notice a difference in their new residence even before they enter the front doors next fall. As part of a pilot program designed by the Office of Residential Life (ResLife), the building's current card reader will be exchanged for a manned security desk from Thursday afternoons to the early hours of Sunday mornings beginning in the fall of 2010.

The desk will act as a barrier against uninvited guests from outside the Boston College community, preventing them from entering the residence hall. BC students will be required scan their IDs at the desk to be admitted during the specified times, while those not affiliated with the University will have to be signed into the building by residents.

"We want to make sure our building is open for the BC student, but that people that don't belong here should not be in the buildings," said Henry Humphreys, director of residential life. "The idea is that it would challenge anyone that is not affiliated with BC at all to just walk into the building at will."

Humphreys said that BC students would notice little difference in entering the building. "Just as a BC student would be able to swipe to be able to get into any other building, they would be able to do it here as well," he said. "The nice part is that if someone was to find a BC ID and swipe it and get in, you now have someone watching them swipe and saying, that's not the person."

BC is one of a few major universities in Boston that lacks a desk security program in residential halls, mainly because it is a residential campus. But because of this, Humphreys is intent on ensuring that the program will not interfere with the lifestyle that BC students have come to expect.

"For students in Walsh next year, this is not to take away from their residential experience, but this is to provide more enhanced security in their environment," he said. "I want to make sure that whatever desk program we develop, it does not take away from the culture of BC students being able to see each other."

Student leaders from the Undergraduate Government of BC (UGBC) collaborated on the program's development, and some had qualms about how the desks would be staffed. Humphreys said that the University has a plan in the works.

"Because this is a pilot project, we're currently exploring the idea of hiring a third party company to staff the desk," Humphreys said. "I know Harvey Simmons from the UGBC Senate has challenged me on this … [but], I don't want to say two years from now, we've decided to discontinue the program, we don't have a job for you anymore." The program was not borne out of a documented need for increased security on campus, but in order to protect against that need. "We're trying to be proactive about this," Humphreys said. "We haven't really had any safety and security issues, and while I'm happy that we haven't, I don't want us to have to act in a kneejerk manner."

Because the program is only in the planning stages, it will only be in effect during the weekends, from 5 p.m. on Thursday to 5 a.m. on Sunday.

"If we see it working and having positive effects on the community, then we would extend the time to seven days a week," Humphreys said. In that case, they would also extend the program to all residence halls equipped for a front desk – a process that would take several years.

Humphreys also wants the desk to be a resource for students. "There might be an area behind it that would have a plasma screen with information for students, or hold the school newspapers, or the Wall Street Journal," he said.