The turnstile in McCoy Hall has been inoperative for a month. As the only way into the dormitory, the turnstile is the first and most important safety barrier for students living in the building. It is the only security feature that truly prevents unauthorized individuals from entering, as people can easily tailgate in through the JCard-locked doors to the elevators.
The turnstile was left open this summer while staff members moved furniture in and out of the building, and when it was brought back into use in late August, it was not functioning properly.
Though the University has a repair plan and has made some headway on ordering parts, it is this board's opinion that mechanisms should be put in place to prevent such critical malfunctions from happening again. Turnstile failure is nothing new to campus housing (Wolman had similar issues last year) and at times is unavoidable; however, if campus security and students alike are relying on a single turnstile to protect an entire dormitory, there must be more done to ensure that these breakdowns do not occur or are identified and resolved in a more expedited manner.
One solution might be for campus security to do additional checks of essential apparatuses, like the McCoy turnstile, to ensure they are in working order. While we appreciate the efforts of the maintenance staff to repair the downed system, it is troubling that the school has been grappling with this issue since the beginning of the semester.
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