Re: Kenyon Visit Report and Dorm Security

StitchInTime
Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:14:02 +0000

A recent visit report (see: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/kenyon-college/1641123.html) shared concerns over the dorm security system/policy.

There appears to have been a lot of internal discussions on the formulation of the policy in question. The following is from the [Kenyon Senate Minutes for Tuesday, October 25, 2007](http://community.kenyon.edu/Documents/StudentSenate/4.Oct25.pdf):



…Kenyon swipe card. Agenda-- 11 committees of Board of Trustees. Several senior staff have liaison responsibilities with those committees. Dave McConnell’s agenda-- request to Board of Trustees to purchase card swipe system. It is a request-- and a request only-- no plan, no research. Also, students don’t want this. You’ve heard President Nugent say when we make a decision, and the decision isn’t debated, she doesn’t include input because it’s disingenuous. Students will have opportunity to give input. Maybe lock during quiet hours? Let every student with card access all buildings? Only buildings in which you live? These questions can be helped by student input. Talk to students at other schools. It is reasonable to have input there. It’s a safety and liability issue, huge pressure from parents, for years and years. We are in a different environment. Now’s the time. Is it unfortunate? Yes. Timing with trustees-- they’re here now, they meet in Feb, they meet in April. Committees will not meet in Feb-- this conversation needs to happen now. Question-- allocate the money? If we get the money, then get student input, etc., we can do it in March. That’s the implication of the decision on Friday if the trustees
say yes.

AnnS: You say pressure has been building for years. Why now? A specific event?

TG: 3 things have come together: Virginia Tech, bomb threats, recent rash of vandalism. Upped the ante. Asked Jack Hornick to talk to security and get logs. Run logs for theft. Higher than you all think. We don’t know if it’s other students. We don’t know who’s doing it-- that’s the challenge…