On the campus: rethinking security: colleges grapple with new measures to keep students out of harm's way. (Special Section: Security).

On the urban campus of University of California Berkeley, delivery trucks are as common as Laptop computers. After September 11, however, administrators grew concerned at the possibility of a vehicle with an explosive device on board entering the loading dock of a building. That's why at UC Berkeley, you'll now spy barriers restricting traffic to the main corridors; they're designed to prevent vehicles from heading directly to buildings.

SECURITY, POST-9/11

Dogs and drills. Tom Klatt, director of Emergency Planning for the university, explains that the school's new security measures don't stop there. "We've also installed electronic controls on the doors to machine rooms and rooftops, to prevent sabotage or manipulation of ventilation and electrical distribution systems, and water supplies." The school also has added more campus police officers, and has hired a bomb-sniffing dog to patrol the campus 40 hours a week, and work through lines of spectators at Large events. The dog is "on call" the rest of the time, says Klatt, who adds that the animal was put through its paces during a recent visit by former President Clinton.

But officials at UC Berkeley are focused on preparedness, too. On June 6, the university will participate in its first terrorism response exercise, Berkeley Alert. The event will also involve the city and a Local medical center, in an effort to help UC Berkeley coordinate a unified response to the simulated terrorist attack.

Yet UC Berkeley is not alone in rethinking campus security in light of 9/11. Since the tragedy, Georgetown University's emergency response team has been meeting to review and update the campus's emergency response efforts. This group now includes a representative from the school's Office of International Programs, to ensure that the unique needs of both international students studying on Georgetown's campus, as well as those studying abroad, are addressed in an emergency situation. In addition, the university hired an assistant to the president for Emergency Preparedness. This individual is responsible for assessing potential emergency situations at the university, and designing and implementing emergency response capabilities to address them.

"At this point, we remain on security alert," says Julie Green Bataille, assistant vice president for Communications at Georgetown. "We increase measures as needed, based on individual events and in consultation with appropriate security authorities. We're also moving forward to update and distribute evacuation plans in academic buildings. And our emergency response team now carries Nextel wireless phones to ensure communications via radio and Internet in the event that telephone and cellular services go down."

DOMESTIC SECURITY CONCERNS DEEPEN

Still, the concern over post-9/11 terrorism only compounds the already growing anxiety at colleges and universities about security in general. Recent events are harsh reminders to administrators that when considering ways to improve campus safety, incidences of regularly occurring campus crime cannot be ignored. On January 25, a dispute that broke out on the campus of Catawba College (NC) between Catawba students and students from Livingstone College culminated in gunfire, leaving one student dead. And in mid-February at Fairfield University in Connecticut, a graduate of the school returned to campus and, claiming to have a bomb, took hostage a classroom full of students. More recently, inside a dorm at the State University of New York Farmingdale, one student shot another after an attempt to resolve a dispute.

According to Bill Schimpf, vice president of Student Services at Fairfield University, "The real dilemma is: How do you maintain an open campus and a place where inquiry is welcome, and at the same time protect against the unforeseen? You can drive yourself crazy trying to prevent every possible occurrence of crime on campus." In fact, there has been some discussion at Fairfield University about implementing electronic door access systems using key cards in classroom buildings, to make them as secure as the residence halls, says Schimpf. "But there are a Lot of problems associated with that kind of approach. Class changes would be chaotic if students had to swipe their access cards to get into classroom buildings," he says.

KEY CARD ACCESS CONTROL

Howard Clery II is executive director of Security on Campus, Inc. (campussafety.org), a PA-based group that monitors campus crime. Clery reports that though key card systems are impractical for classroom buildings, they are fast becoming the option of choice for schools with larger residence halls where it's not practical or cost-effective to have multiple check-in desks. He is an avid supporter of key card systems and believes that even students' rooms should be controlled by key cards. A dorm room should be just like a hotel room, he argues: There should be a peephole in the door, and a dead bolt securing it. Short of that, there are other ways to control access with key cards, and schools are making use of them, he points out. In addition to controlling the exterior access to dorms, some institutions are using electronic door access systems on each floor. And any system that protects multiple entrance points is safer than one that protects limited entrance points, administrators point out.

Says Nancy Young, director of Housing at the University of Maryland/Baltimore County, "Someone can violate one entrance point by following a student and slipping in close behind him, but even so, it is less likely that individual will violate two points."

Multiple benefits. Clery points out that some electronic door systems will sound an alarm if the door is propped open; Campus Security is then alerted. He also maintains that any good key card system can help security officers and campus officials track who's been on the scene; the systems automatically record the time at which cards were used to enter buildings. That function recently helped Villanova University officials nab students who vandalized a lab building. A dorm system recorded that the students had returned to their rooms at 4 a.m.--precisely the timeframe of the sabotage.

And if you haven't yet been sold on electronic door access, consider the yearly cost of re-keying dorm room doors, say the experts: Cost-effective resolution of lockouts is an advantageous byproduct--if a student loses her key card, the university spends virtually nothing to re-key the door. As soon as the student uses a replacement card, the old card is automatically deactivated, preventing an intruder from gaining access by using a stolen or Lost card.

ENTRY SYSTEMS AND PROCEDURES

Going high-tech. UMBC went beyond key card access systems in its new dorms (the newest opened August 2001), by adding a $200K high-tech entry system. Visitors must call up to students via a telephone in the lobby; the lobby itself is monitored by a video camera. Upstairs, the resident leaves his room and walks to the end of the hall to view a video screen that shows the visitor's image; the visitor is then buzzed in. The system purposely does not allow for buzzing-in from dorm rooms--that would leave the floors vulnerable, say administrators, because an intruder could too easily tailgate individuals being buzzed in.

UMBC preferred the monitored entry technology, says Young, because administrators found that with key card systems that controlled floors as well as entrances, students who lived on the dorm floors had to constantly walk up and down the stairs to escort their friends into the building. "To get around that, students routinely short-circuited the system," Young reports.

Police-checked IDs. Many schools are rethinking their strategies to increase the safety of their students. Before the shooting at SUNY Farmingdale, RAs checked student IDs and Logged students in between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m., while campus police patrolled the areas around the dorms between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. New procedures call for campus police to be stationed inside the dorms at all times, checking student IDs. In addition, the number of officers on a shift has risen from five to nine.

OFFICERS WELCOME

Clery is relieved that the campus culture is changing and that schools are now letting officers inside the dorms. "Until recently, college administrators restricted campus police from going into the dorms," he says. But, "security officers should have a presence in the dorms," he argues. "If the police are in the dorms and they get to know the students, that's a good thing. It makes the students more comfortable about reporting things and it changes their perception that campus security officers are merely rental cops who have no power, and who aren't really protecting them."

THE POWER OF SURVEILLANCE

Cameras, cameras everywhere, Another way schools are giving more access to security officers is through the use of surveillance cameras, says Clery. Most cameras, he says, are used outside the campus buildings, but some schools put them in the dorm hallways so that crimes in or near those areas can be recorded, and officials can review tapes for Leads and information. What's more, he adds, "a single security agent can patrol far more ground with the help of strategically placed security cameras."

The University of Pennsylvania, which is located in a high-crime district of Philadelphia, has hired security officers to survey the campus via camera 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "It's a big system of cameras," says Clery, "in addition to patrolling police officers and security guards."

NO MONEY FOR SECURITY?

Still, Clery worries that the lack of funding available in this economy will prevent schools From investing in innovative solutions to ensure campus security the way UPenn has. He cites a community college in Oregon that opted to eliminate the position of Campus Security director because of recent cutbacks. The school's Security Department now reports to the Health Department, which is run by a nurse practitioner.

Invest in training. Clery fears that a lack of funding also will affect the training of security officers at schools, which could cripple security efforts. It was a well-trained security force that saved lives during the recent hostage crisis at Fairfield U, for instance. Fairfield's Schimpf notes that because the patrolmen have continual exposure to students during their rounds, the first officer on the scene of the recent hostage situation recognized the young man holding the hostages and was able to immediately engage him in conversation. "We have a very highly qualified, well-trained security force," he reports: 18 patrolmen for a campus that stretches over more than 200 acres.

Clery urges schools not to make cutbacks in security. Colleges and universities need to be more--not less--progressive with security measures, he insists.

Get help from the kids. Short of spending more money, how can schools move their security measures forward? Include students in decisions about what approaches are implemented, says UMBC's Young, who says that student input was particularly valuable in helping her school think through the problem of students short-circuiting entry systems. Before you spend the money, she advises, remember that "students can be extremely clever, getting around high-tech systems. Make those entry systems user-friendly!"

SECURITY Systems, Products & Services

ACCESS SYSTEMS
Andover Controls (www.andovercontrols.com)
Best Access Systems (www.bestaccess.com)
Blackboard Inc. (www.blackboard.com)
CBORD Group Inc. (www.cbord.com)
Cybermark, LLC (www.cybermark.com)
Debitek Inc. (www.debitek.com)
Diebold, Inc. (www.diebold.com)
DKS Doorking (www.doorking.com)
DSX Access Systems (www.dsxinc.com)
General Meters Corporation (www.1card.com)
ITC Systems Inc. (www.itcsystems.com)
Locknetics Security Engineering (www.locknetics.com)
NPD & Assoc./NuVision Networks Corp. (www.collegeID.com)
SchlumbergerSema (www.slb.com/smartcards/)
Student Advantage Inc. (www.studentadvantage.com)
Smarter Security Systems Inc. (www.smartersecurity.com)
Sonitrol (www.sonitrol.com)
Vingcard Persona (www.vingcardpersona.com)

SURVEILLANCE
Sonitrol (www.sonitrol.com)
Salient Systems Corporation (www.viewsecurity.com)

NETWORK SECURITY
Aladdin Knowledge Systems (www.esladdin.com)
Ciphertrust (www.ciphertrust.com)
Computer Associates International, Inc. (www.cai.com)
Fortres Grande (www.fortres.com)
Gibson Research Corporation (www.grc.com)
Interface Management Services (www.ims-sys.com)
McAfee (www.mcafee.com)
Network Associates Inc. (www.networkassociates.com)
Network Ice (www.networkice.com)
Network-1 Security Solutions (www.network-1.com)
Novell Inc. (www.novell.com)
Pretty Good Privacy (www.pgp.com)
SecurityFocus (www.securityfocus.com)
Symantec, (www.symantec.com)
Trend Micro Inc. (www.trend.com)