Campus dorms locked down at my school

Hey, I don't blame you girl. What a bunch of whiny brats.

I have sliding glass doors in my house. Should I just leave them open and not close and lock them since anyone can get in anyway? Heh, maybe I shouldn't have a fence either, since someone can just jump over it.

Sorry, but if someone's going to kill me, I'd rather not make it easier for them.

OT: You go to UCA in Little Rock? That's where my ex graduated from.

We already have that policy. All our dorms require key cards and our rooms just have regular keys. The only time I've seen our doors propped open was last August during the move in days. I've gotten rather used to it, because there's not other way...if the doors are open longer than a minute or so an annoying buzzer goes off. If someone broke a glass or plexiglass door, then I'm sure someone might here the noise. Sacrificing everything for the sake of convenience...I wonder if they'll leave their houses and cars unlocked because, "It's annoying."

~Zoo

Like a door is going to stop a shotgun anyway... But still, I would rather have the feeling of security than not.

I don't blame you for wanting to be rid of the whiny brats either. Sounds like they want to have their cake and eat it too.

Apparently the lock down is nation-wide. Our doors have always been locked at night but have been left open in the past. Apparently, we've had some homeless people / runaways living in our lobby this past weekend. Locked doors will keep those people out. I've always thought our doors should be locked 24/7... but that's just me. And, now, the rest of the country.

They don't want to be "treated like children" yet they are "acting like children".

Maybe we should install the buzzers. I may suggest that at our next meeting. Thanks for the idea Zoo.

They want to be safe, but don't want to give up any of their rights. Well, guess what cookie, that's not how the world works. Yes, it will be harder to carry in your groceries, but if it prevents one crime, then guess what -- it was worth it. It's not like they have to check in with a dorm mom or anything. We aren't tracking who comes and goes and when they come and go... they just have to use a card and a key to get into the building and their rooms. Big freaking deal. Welcome to the real world.

Only three more weeks. Only three more weeks. Then, I get to have my own apartment, and I won't be in charge of anybody or anything but myself. I can't wait!

Oh, and UCA is in Conway... just about 30 minutes north of Little Rock. But yeah, I go to UCA.

Oh...you're welcome, but it's not really my idea...just what happens in my dorm if you leave the door open.

~Zoo

Well, thanks for telling me about it anyway.

Also, this is pretty funny. My professor sent this to me over Facebook: "Thanks for being everyone's punching bag today -- that took a lot of guts. Seriously. You held your own pretty well." This was because I basically told everyone in my class that their immature behavior leads to the need for surveillance cameras in the hallways. That and they are responsible for their own safety, because I'm tired of them breaking the doors. I love my professor. He totally egged the fight on... but I still think he's on my side.

It's always a pain to be the mature and sensible one, isn't it? Ahh...sometimes people just don't freakin' listen to reason...

~Zoo

Problem is - only 2 people were killed in the dorms.  The others were killed in the classrooms.  And that would be hard to lock down on any campus.

Fortunately for me, my staff is wonderful. They're very careful to white-out, cover up, or take down anything the residents write or do to make me feel bad. I don't even know what all they've whited out recently, though I've seen the white out marks, I don't ask what was written, and they don't tell me. And there are some residents who are mature, smart and all around good people... but they are the non-vocal minority.



That's true. However, even though locking down the dorms is in reaction to VA Tech, it really is a smart move -- one we should have made years ago. Here's a few reasons why: 1. Naked hairy yeti man. That's right, I said it. He appears once or twice a year at one of the freshmen girl's dorms. All he's wearing are his tennis shoes. Sometimes he gets in the buildings, sometimes not.

2. Crazy Chinese Lady. We call her that because she owned one of the Chinese restaurants in my town. She managed to get in the buildings and use the showers.

3. Drug dealers. In my building last year, a group of drug dealers were walking in our building, then finding a room that was left unlocked, and they would make their drug deals there. We didn't know this until they went in a room while it was occupied. The student was asleep in his bedroom, woke up, walked into his living room, and there were the dealers. These guys were dangerous, and the student was lucky. (This is also why we tell them to lock their doors)

4. Rapist. This guy got in the building, then into an unlocked room and hid in the girl's shower. Another time, a girl woke up to find a man standing over her bed in the middle of the night.

5. The homeless. We've actually had a couple "living" in our lobby since this past weekend. They may not be dangerous, but then again, you never know.

So, while locked doors may not stop someone with a shotgun, they will stop or at least greatly hinder these people.

Well, the students got their way. The Student Government Association complained, and now the doors are back on their regular lock-down schedule. All the crazy people of the world are now welcome to come back into our buildings again. Oh yay.

You gave some great examples of why to lock them. Given Zoo's Uni policy, I am a bit surprised that they went back on it. There are a lot of crazy people in the world, and most will never do what Cho did, but they can still hurt students none-the-less.

Unfortunately, I am not. My job is so difficult because my university is spineless. If you make enough noise, or have your parents call, you can get any decision overturned. They bitched, and they won. Of course, the complaints about "These people who don't live here and are using our laundry machines" will continue... but if you try to fix the problem, and it inconveniences them in the least, the bitching will continue.

I am, however, going to recommend the buzzer system. That would at least keep the doors from being propped open.

Well, in my dorm, we had something like that implemented a while ago where we have to use ID cards to get in. And if you prop the door, an alarm goes off. Kind of annoying, especially when you're bringing stuff in. And they even took it one step forward by giving all the bathrooms a keycode, to apparently keep guys from walking into the girls bathrooms or some such.

Having a keycode to enter a bathroom in a college dorm...bad idea. I mean, on more than one ocassion one would see vomit all over the outside of the door...
Not to mention how annoying it is to remember several keycodes for each of the halls your different friends hang out in.

Our suites have their own bathrooms, and the floors are coed, so that's not a problem. However, if you don't live in my building, you need to be escorted by someone who does. That means that your card will get you in your building, and no other. If you have a friend in another building, they have to let you in and walk you around. It's supposed to keep strangers out.

And, I realize that people will be "carrying stuff in", but that isn't why they are propping the doors. They 1. don't want to go get their guests or 2. don't want to have to remember to carry their ID card.

And this leads to the situations listed above. You'd think people would put personal safety over the inconvenience of having to swipe a card before you can get in a building... but apparently not.

Of course not. This is twenty-first century mother-huggin' AMERICA. Personal convenience trumps absolutely everything.

That's great stuff! I may have to steal that line for my own personal use sometime in the near future.

Well, what about the classrooms? Would they be locked down? I mean, even in this shooting, only two of the deaths were from a dorm room, and besides one can lock their own doors in a dorm room, so that already adds a layer of safety. You could argue that one would shoot through the doors or something, but they could probably do that to the main door if they are anything like the ones we have here.

Now, I personally don't find it to be that huge of an inconvenience having to use the keycards. Now, before I had a cell phone (I was a late comer there), it was a bit harder to see my friends, especially if it were to be something on the fly. But I guess that wouldn't be too big a problem for most people.

Even so, it would still be relatively easy for someone to mimic a resident and get in, because as far as any student knows, that person could just be a resident (unless everyone knows each other, which isn't always the case, at least not here). After all, it could be very well be the case that the person legitmately left his keycard in the room.

Now, not that I think that this is the case here, but there are times when inconvenience trumps personal safety. These are times when the inconvenience is too hight to warrant the gains in personal safety. An example would be driving. Over 40,000 people die a year here from car accidents. One could cut that number down to zero if you banned driving, but that would not be that great over all for us. But like I said, the inconvenience in having to carry a card isn't that great, and the possible gains in personal safety, might very well justify it.

I'm not so worried about a shooter getting in the building... it's the other creeps that get in. People who are there to do drugs, rape, or just live in my building. This is not so much a danger in a classroom where there are lots of people around.

Also, the RA's are supposed to know every person who lives in their building. We're supposed to know who doesn't belong here. Does that mean the residents don't let people in? No. However, there are some people who you know don't live in your building -- especially since this is a close knit community -- and a locked door will keep them out, and the residents don't let them in.

Besides, even if a shooter could just shoot in one of the glass doors, that gives me or someone else time to 1. get in a locked room and 2. call the police. If the shooter can just walk in, they can open fire on people before anyone hears what's going on.

You have my blanket permission, no charge - just be sure to give me credit.

I haven't read all the comments, so I apologize if I am repeating what has already been said.

I don't think that I consider what is going on at your school a "lock down." The university that I attended (I started more than ten years ago, eek!!) had the policy at the time. Your key card could gain you access to common areas--and your own suite, but not other suites.

The policy just seems to make sense to me. If you don't live there, why do you need to be there? If it is to visit someone, they can let you in.

They were calling it a "lock down" because all of the dorms would be locked down 24/7 which is unusual for our campus. It definitely makes more sense than allowing any and everyone wander about the building... but it is too inconvenient for the residents to pull their cards out and swipe them to get in the building rather than just pulling the doors open.