2008 Woodie Awards
Campus re-key
Maria Karyla
Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: News
Twelve buildings, 967 rooms, 8,000 keys. Brad Markley, director of Facility Services, had a massive project in front of him.
When a breach of security was brought to the attention of Kris Hansen-Kieffer, Dean of Students, and Doug Wood, Associate Dean of Students, a major decision had to be made.
"We couldn't do nothing," says Wood.
"Safety of the campus was the overriding umbrella, so we acted on that," says Hansen-Kieffer. "There were enough unknowns, so we decided to re-key."
Soon after, the project was turned over to the department of Facility Services. Under the management of Dan Smith, the Facility Maintenance Service Manager, and with the collaboration of Residence Life and the key supplier used by Messiah, all residence buildings were on its way to being completely re-keyed. Cylinders on all resident exterior doors were changed by the first week of March. From there, all resident doors would be re-keyed, starting in the north complex, then the south, and finally smaller residence halls. All re-keying and key distributions are anticipated to be finished in April.
A maintenance team including Smith, Brad Markley, Jennifer Shaeffer, Denise Blackley and George Ringer began the daunting task of re-keying the campus. "This was a huge job," stresses Markley, "A tremendous amount of planning had to be done."
He adds, "Our supplier told us that it was biggest re-keying that they had done in 15 years."
Katie Ness, a senior and resident of Mellinger, was among one of the first apartments to be re-keyed. While she didn't know much about why her apartment was being re-keyed, she expressed that it didn't inconvenience her or her roommates.
"The key system was set up so well," she says. "It was pretty painless."
Ness also says that even after she received the email about the breach in security, she never feared for her safety. "Generally on this campus you assume you are safe," she says "I haven't had anything stolen in four years."
When a breach of security was brought to the attention of Kris Hansen-Kieffer, Dean of Students, and Doug Wood, Associate Dean of Students, a major decision had to be made.
"We couldn't do nothing," says Wood.
"Safety of the campus was the overriding umbrella, so we acted on that," says Hansen-Kieffer. "There were enough unknowns, so we decided to re-key."
Soon after, the project was turned over to the department of Facility Services. Under the management of Dan Smith, the Facility Maintenance Service Manager, and with the collaboration of Residence Life and the key supplier used by Messiah, all residence buildings were on its way to being completely re-keyed. Cylinders on all resident exterior doors were changed by the first week of March. From there, all resident doors would be re-keyed, starting in the north complex, then the south, and finally smaller residence halls. All re-keying and key distributions are anticipated to be finished in April.
A maintenance team including Smith, Brad Markley, Jennifer Shaeffer, Denise Blackley and George Ringer began the daunting task of re-keying the campus. "This was a huge job," stresses Markley, "A tremendous amount of planning had to be done."
He adds, "Our supplier told us that it was biggest re-keying that they had done in 15 years."
Katie Ness, a senior and resident of Mellinger, was among one of the first apartments to be re-keyed. While she didn't know much about why her apartment was being re-keyed, she expressed that it didn't inconvenience her or her roommates.
"The key system was set up so well," she says. "It was pretty painless."
Ness also says that even after she received the email about the breach in security, she never feared for her safety. "Generally on this campus you assume you are safe," she says "I haven't had anything stolen in four years."
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