Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman says he is "100 percent sure" the College's new electronic door-locking system will be on-line for this Fall term, although testing of the system may begin this summer.
Implementation of the new system, which was originally scheduled for last fall, has been delayed several times and for a number of reasons.
"Technically, we could've turned it on for Winter term, but we would've needed to work day and night to train people," Redman said. "It's not worth it."
He said there were "no glitches" in the system, and that all the hardware -- card readers and telephones mounted next to each residence hall door -- is now in place. He blamed the delays on software that has not yet been installed and on over-optimistic time estimates during the planning stages of the project.
"People initially had a very aggressive timetable," he said, comparing the project to "a home-improvement project that you think will take one afternoon and ends up taking longer."
Another factor is the distribution of new College identification cards, which will use a proximity reader to give all students -- even those who live off-campus -- access to all residence halls.
Rather than requiring every student to come to the Dartmouth Card office for a new ID card when the system is activated in the fall, the cards will be distributed with room keys or in a central location in each dorm, Redman said.
The fact that the College would have to spend over $10,000 to provide the approximately $10 cards to each senior for just one term contributed to the decision not to implement the system this term, Director of Residential Operations Woody Eckels said.
The Dartmouth Card office has a digitized ID photograph on file of every Dartmouth student beginning with the class of 2003, so implementing the program next fall will ensure that no students will have to have their pictures re-taken.
Eckels added there have been "some challenges" with integrating every feature of the cards -- including DASH, DBA and SA Cash accounts and the lock activation feature itself.
"The information needs to go into the system from several places," he said, adding that Administrative Computing has been working on that problem since last fall.
Eckels talked about the possibility that card readers may be activated in a few buildings this summer to test the system.
"We'd love to have this thing work perfectly from the moment we turn it on," he said.
If that test program will be carried out this summer, he said, that will be announced in two to three weeks, and new cards will be issued with room keys upon arrival for all sophomores and others who will be on campus.
Eckels referred to the system that will be implemented in the fall as "phase one." Phase two, he explained, will seek to include non-residential buildings within the system by incorporating existing security systems in other College buildings into the new, campus-wide system.
Additionally, the cards will be able to activate automatic door openers for users with disabilities if that feature is programmed into the cards, Eckels said.
In the case of a lost card, Safety and Security will be able to issue students temporary "loaner cards" to gain access to residence halls until the Dartmouth Card office re-opens, he added.
