The Class of 2020 will soon enter their residence halls with a tap instead of a swipe.
In a collaboration between the Office of Information Technology and Housing, Dining and Residential Life, all of the dorms on East Campus will soon have a new electronic entry system that allows students to enter by simply tapping their DukeCard to the card reader. Giles residence hall—which is currently undergoing renovations—will also be the first dorm on campus to have an electronic lock on room doors, replacing a traditional key.
Over the next five to six years, this system—which utilizes card chip technology—will spread across campus and be used at any location where a DukeCard is usually swiped, explained Debbie DeYulia, director of program management at OIT.
“With this technology, all transactions are encrypted, whether for door access, vending, laundry or dining sales. It’s fast and secure,” DeYulia wrote in an email.
Rick Johnson, associate vice president of student affairs for HDRL, explained that the implementation of this unified system will make campus more secure.
“When the system is fully in place, we think that it will actually make the residence hall safer,” Johnson said. “There would be the ability to, from a central location meaning the DukeCard Office, lock all doors on campus, including academic building doors.”
In the future, students may not even need a DukeCard to enter their dorms.
“We are paving the way for even more options such as mobile apps and wearable credentials like waterproof bracelets,” DeYulia wrote.
DeYulia added that the new DukeCards will not look any different and the only change will be the addition of an embedded chip. The magnetic stripe on the new cards will still be functional and can be used if there are any difficulties with the chip. Over time, however, DukeCards with a magnetic stripe will be phased out.
In order to facilitate the transition to the new system, DeYulia explained that OIT is preparing guides and videos to help students and faculty understand how and where to use the new readers.
Johnson noted that Giles will serve as a pilot for electronic room locks, which will eventually be used in all dorm rooms on campus. This system is “well-tested” at other universities, including Princeton, he added.
Wanamaker residence hall, which is also undergoing renovations this summer, will be the first dorm on West Campus to have the tap entry system. However, students will continue to use keys to access their rooms.
As renovation and construction projects continue on residence halls across campus, the up-to-date electronic room lock system will be implemented. Some of these residence halls include the new dorm on East Campus, set to break ground in August, and the new dorm on West Campus, which will break ground next summer, as well as Crowell and Craven residence halls.
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