Lockout charges delayed until September

Students locked out of their rooms after hours will not face lockout charges next semester, Deputy Director of Housing Melissa Plaskonos said. Though the University had planned to implement a $30 fee for students calling Public Safety to unlock their rooms beginning in the spring semester, the change has been deferred until September.

Last September, the housing office announced that although locked-out students could still call Public Safety to be let into their rooms on evenings and weekends, those who are locked out during business hours must instead get a loaner key from the housing office in MacMillan Building. Students are charged $75 for a mandatory lock change if they do not return the loaner key within 24 hours.

That change has resulted in a roughly 25 percent reduction in calls from locked-out students, Public Safety deputy director Charles Davall said. Public Safety still responded to 4,509 lockouts this fall. On average, 11 students borrowed keys from the housing office each day during regular business hours.

Davall said that this semester’s decrease in lockouts saved 500 hours for Public Safety, allowing officers to devote more time to their other responsibilities.

But students said that requiring them to pick up loaner keys during business hours has been an inconvenience.

While Elizabeth Martin ’14 said she agrees with the change overall, she said the policy ought to be more flexible, allowing students to designate a friend to pick up a loaner if they are caught in a towel, for example. Plaskonos said students can still call Public Safety during regular business hours in situations like these.

Jackson Davies ’14, who similarly said he agrees with the principles behind the change, said the policy goes too far by requiring students to trek to MacMillan. “You want to create an inconvenience, but you don’t want to demonize,” he explained.

As an alternative, Davies proposed equipping college offices or other trustworthy and more central locations with master keys.

Anthony Paranzino ’14 questioned the benefit of attempting to deter students from calling for lockouts by instituting fees, since forgetting keys is subconscious.

“Deterrence will never reduce the amount of lockout calls to zero,” Paranzino said. “No amount of money can cure forgetfulness.”

Despite the time Public Safety saved because of the policy change, it has not responded by eliminating student workers, Davall noted.

The reduction in calls enabled Public Safety to eliminate one three-hour lockout-related student shift per day. It also added five hours of student employment per day in a welcome-desk shift, however.

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Correction: A previous version of this article stated that students will be charged $75 for Public Safety to unlock their doors after hours when, in fact, they will be charged $30 starting in September. $75 is the lock change fee. It also stated that, on average, Public Safety responds to 11 lock out calls per day when, in fact, 11 students obtain loaner keys from the Housing Office each day. This version also contains clarifying information about the lockout policy from Plaskonos.