Letter: Swiping cards for bathrooms is safer than keys

The plan to secure bathrooms by gender-coding the bathroom keys for each house is a dangerous mistake and will ultimately place an enormous burden on the housing offices, while not providing the safety students need. Issuing new sets of keys to men and women of every house on campus is not a viable solution.

Changing the keys to bathroom doors doesn't resolve the issue that students are still abusing the basic security of a closed, locked door. Students are at risk by propping doors and letting unidentified persons tailgate into our dorms and bathrooms. Keys can only secure doors if they are used and possessed by their legal owners. Also, the University's plan requires that when one student loses his or her key, every person in the house receive a new one. This is preposterous. There can be no safety while students wait for a lock-change and no bathroom-use without a new key. Safety isn't prompt or timely under this system.

A simpler solution is found not by the quick, temporary fix the Duke administration provides, but rather by a more extensive and expensive option: DukeCard readers. While initially costly and physically taxing on University resources and facilities, only a cardswipe can really provide comfort, simplicity and ultimately security. Monitoring doors would provide hard evidence of entrance and exit to a secure location. Conscientious students and additional security precautions, such as telephones and panic buttons must supplement card readers for all of the student body to be safe in their homes.