While Acting Dean of the College Dan Nelson prepares to decide if Dartmouth dorms should be equipped with a more restrictive system of locks, far more security-conscious measures have already been instituted at most other east coast universities.
The current College policy of leaving all residence halls unlocked 24 hours a day is unheard of at urban schools such as the University of Pennsylvania and is increasingly rare at smaller and more rural colleges like Amherst and Williams.
At Princeton University a new 24-hour "prox" system was instituted in September. Students have a combined ID and safety card which when brought into close proximity to scanning devices near their residence door deactivates its locks.
The "prox" system has been used for several years, but only recently has been instituted 24 hours a day.
The University of Pennsylvania is taking an even more high-tech approach to campus security. A prototype of a futuristic palm scanner is being tested at the school.
According to an article in The Daily Pennsylvanian, the biometric reader will be inside a glass portal in which students and staff can gain access by swiping their ID cards.
Once inside the portal, the student places his or her hand on a reader which opens a second door and allows access past the dorm's lobby. If more than one person at a time is inside the portal, the second door will not open.
The model is only being tested on a limited basis. For the time being, students must pass their IDs to security guards who swipe the cards for dorm access.
In order for the palm scanner to work, students would have to register their hand print with the college.
Amherst College has incorporated keypads into their safety regimen. Ed Zaniewski, Assistant Chief of Campus Police at Amherst, said the school has electronic access keypads for all dorms, and every students has their own six-digit code. The students can use their code to get into other residence halls as well as their own.
In addition, Zaniewski said a student in danger can press 9 after entering their six-digit code, and campus police will immediately come to the student's aid.
Zaniewski said the system was very expensive to install and outfitting one building with four doors costs $12,000-$15,000. He said the system has been implemented over the past several years.
"The campus police department was always pushing to have exterior doors locked all the time. But we didn't want to inconvenience the students. That is why we have a punch pad," said Zaniewski.
At Middlebury College, however, students enjoy the same lack of restricted access as their Dartmouth counterparts. Doors are locked only on major weekends -- comparable to Dartmouth's policy of locking the front doors to residence halls during Homecoming, Winter Carnival and Green Key Weekends.
However, Middlebury is now currently considering the institution of a key pad system to limit access to campus dorms.
Duke University incorporates democracy into its safety system. Every student has a card which allows access to his or her own residence hall. At the beginning of the school year, each dorm votes whether access to its building should be permitted only for residents of that specific dorm or for the student body as a whole. The dorm can also restrict the times for access of non-residents.
Phones are located outside each residence hall entrance for visitors and food deliverers to call students for entry. If a door is propped open for a certain period of time, a silent alarm signals the police.
Jaime Levy, a student at Duke, said crime at Durham is "something they warn us about at orientation." But she said, "nobody is more concerned here [about crime] than at any urban environment."
A similar system is used at Williams College. Elliott Hibbler, a student at Williams, said students use swipe cards to get into their dorms.
Hibbler said, "I don't think anybody really minds the system. When pizza gets delivered [the delivery men] use the call box outside."
