2008 Woodie Awards
Media infiltrates residence hall
NBC10 News investigation calls campus security into question
Maureen Catalano '09
Issue date: 11/3/06 Section: News
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On Monday, Oct. 23, Channel 10 sent an undercover news intern Ryan Hartman into LaFarge Residence Center twice, at 11:40 and 11:50 a.m., each time for approximately four minutes. Hartman was able to walk past security and travel up the elevator. He walked around the halls taping footage and then exited the building. Public Safety and Security no longer employ the security guard on duty at the time of the incident.
The investigative report aired on the 11 o'clock news on Tuesday. Temple University, Rowan University, and Widener University were tested as well, and according to NBC 10's investigative reporter Harry Hairston, only Saint Joseph's and Rowan failed the security test. The residence halls in the other two schools were impenetrable.
The report failed to mention that all suites in LaFarge are swipe-access only, and therefore Hartman could not enter into any student living space. Also, from what was shown in the news clips, Hartman conducted his tests on the other three schools after dark. The neutrality of this study has been called into question because the conditions were not uniform. NBC 10 did not return phone calls or e-mails regarding this matter.
Upon receiving news of this investigation and prior to it airing on Tuesday night, Bill Mattioli, director of public safety, immediately began taking steps to lock down every residence hall. He sat in each hall for ten to twenty minutes and evaluated the current level of security and thought of new ways to bring it up to date.
"We need to make changes to bring our security up to speed. My main concern is keeping the residents safe and making sure that every door is locked. I am interested in the doors to the residence halls being made open to the University family only," said Mattioli.
Within the next two to three weeks, every outside door will be locked around the clock. Card readers are going to be installed outside of every residence hall.
Since many residence halls are multi-use buildings, anyone with a legitimate Saint Joseph's identification card will be able to swipe into buildings that have other offices within their walls. From there, however, they still must swipe their ID card at the front desk to be admitted any farther. Those going to an office within a building that they do not live in will have to verify this with the security guard.
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