Geneseo has many safety measures put in place to protect residence halls on campus which keep people from entering them. For example, key cards are the only way to enter residence halls and allow building resident’s cards only to work after a certain time.
One problem, however, is the security within the residence halls as well as in the townhouses. In these locations, students cannot lock their doors to prevent others in their suite from coming in. This problem should be addressed and resolved as soon as possible.
This lack of internal locks is a problem in Putnam residence hall, where rooms are set up as corridor style, but share a bathroom between every two rooms. This shared bathroom is set up so the doors can only be locked from the inside. This means that residents cannot lock the door to their rooms and people from the room next door can walk in at any time.
Because the hall is set up in the corridor style, many people choose their housing with just a roommate and not three other suitemates, thus they share a bathroom with total strangers. This would not usually be a problem, but it grants people they likely have never met access into their room.
In a situation like this one, it is concerning that suitemates have easy access to rooms. This can be a problem in Putnam especially because you don’t get to necessarily choose whose living next to you if you sign up with just two people. Strangers can walk into rooms, steal items and can potentially leave residents vulnerable to assault.
Another problem in Putnam specifically is that rooms are not secure from the hallway unless the neighboring room is locked. This is a security problem; anyone in the building could potentially have access to others’ rooms.
There is also a similar problem in the townhouses, where personal room doors can only be locked if the occupant is inside. An individual cannot secure their belongings if they leave campus for a break before their housemates.
This was an issue during the townhouse burglaries over winter break. Since individual rooms could not be locked, burglars were able to enter each room and take belongings after they were able to enter the townhouse. If the doors to individual rooms had a better locking system, some of the residents’ belongings probably wouldn’t have been stolen.
In Putnam, the problem has an easy solution—put chain slide locks on the side of bathroom doors. This would allow bathroom doors to be locked from the inside on their own and from both of the adjacent rooms to prevent potential intruders. The style of these rooms are poorly designed in the first place, making the fix a necessary cost for Geneseo.
In the townhouses, door handles could be replaced to allow doors to lock from the outside. This is a pretty simple fix, as there is no real reason residents shouldn’t be able to lock their doors from the outside.
Safety should be the campus’ top priority. Considering nearly all students are required to live on-campus at some point or another, it is crucial that the lock issues are assessed and addressed immediately.