Page 12 - Campus Security & Life Safety, November/December 2021

CoverStory
Managing Campus Doors
With tens or hundreds of thousands of doors across campus, the ability to manage them efficiently and effectively is critical
Looking ahead to 2022, there are many things we are happy to say goodbye to. However, as with everything in life, there is always so much to learn from every experi- ence – good or bad. Colleges and universities, in par- ticular, have had many challenges to contend with over the past two years. With the majority of students having returned to campus this fall, schools have resumed focus on their goals and objectives as it relates to optimizing the student experience and creat- ing positive learning outcomes.
Now that students have eagerly returned to campus, colleges and universities are actively working to modernize their facilities with a focus on both renovations and new construction. This is an important factor in supporting rebounding enrollment numbers and providing learning opportunities to support critical societal needs, such as the tremendous demand for nursing and other medical professionals.
The Survey Says
A Tradeline survey of 115 colleges and universities, and the architec- tural and engineering firms that serve them shows they are focused on renovation, modernization, and major new construction of every- thing from life sciences facilities to theaters. Their plans for the 2021- 2022 school year reflect:
• 58% (fifty-eight percent) have one or two major projects in the plan- ning or pre-planning stages
• 36% (thirty-six percent) have several major new projects in the planning or pre-planning stages
• Only 6% (six percent) report that there is little to no project plan- ning on campus
With these new construction and renovation projects, the top pri- orities for security decision makers on campus fall into two main categories – the proliferation of electronic access control to more doors on campus and the standardization of platforms. Advances in electronic access control over the past several years have led to a shift in thinking where hardwired solutions that (due to their cost and complexity) were typically reserved for perimeter and other very high-security openings are no longer the only option. Wi-Fi and real- time wireless solutions have now been available for some time and are proven technologies that allow access control to be installed on more doors throughout campus – enabling audit, scheduling and even con- tact tracing capabilities.
In addition, security decision makers focus on platform standardiza- tion – moving from multiple systems into one, in order to manage things more effectively and efficiently not only at the main campus but at branch campuses as well. Other essential systems on campus, such as HVAC, are managed through a single platform that makes it easy to control across the multiple buildings and facilities throughout campus.
Doors and the related system components, however, are often not managed through a single system, either because various departments selected a different platform for the doors that they manage, or because different platforms were selected as new buildings are brought online.
When you consider the sheer volume of doors (potentially tens or hundreds of thousands of doors across one or more campuses), you can imagine the added complexity that comes with multiple access
12 campuslifesecurity.com | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021