THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 7,2005
VOL.116 ISSUE 14
WWW.KANSAN.COM
HOUSING
University goes keyless
Jayhawker Towers use card-swipers
BY LOUS MORA
Imora@kansan.com
KANSAST WRIFFER
The days of lock and key are finished at the Jayhawker Towers.
Residents in towers B, C and D now make their way through the main entrances of the buildings by swiping their KUIDs through an electronic lock system. By the end of the month, tower A also will use the system.
Student housing officials made the move to save money on constantly making new keys for the complex and to provide
a more efficient and simpler system for staff and added security for tower residents.
This is the first lock card system used 24 hours a day on exterior doors at a University living environment.
While the new system will save the department money in the long run, it's more important to provide extra security, said Vince Avila, associate director for housing shop maintenance.
When residents checked into the towers their KUID was
"I think it's going to improve security. You can't be too safe," he said.
scanned and programmed to allow them access to only one of the four towers.
Ken Stoner, director of student housing, said the system made replacing a lost key much easier for the staff.
When students lost their keys in the past, the staff would rekey the entire building and provide the towers with a new main entrance key.
The move will also save the department money. The towers required re-keying every two years costing the department $350 to create a key for all 800 residents. Once tower A is
A lost KUID is electronically eliminated from the system, rendering it useless until another card is issued.
equipped, the system will cost $8,800 for 11 locks.
Ashok Daruru, Sau Paulo, Brazil, senior, said the system made it easier for residents to go in and out.
Kim Andrews/KANSAN
"It's actually more convenient than carrying the keys. I'll just carry my wallet with the card in it." he said.
At Iowa State, students at selected housing have had to use a swipe card system for exterior doors since 1998 and newly renovated halls have moved toward the system, said Ginny Arthur, associate director for residence life.
While the system has been just put in place, the impact of the lock system is yet to be seen, said Matt Beckendorf, Jayhawker Towers complex director.
While only the first at this campus, other Midwestern universities, such as the University of Nebraska and Iowa State University, have used this system for years.
Like fellow Jayhawker Tower residents, Abby Boudewyns, Leawood sophmore, uses her KUID to enter her building. This is the first year for the towers to switch from the keypad entry to requiring tenants to use KUIDs.
Arthur said using a swipe card system benefits everyone.
"I think it's a really good way to go," she said. "It's so individualized."
- Edited by Alison Peterson
▼ ON THE BOULEVARD
Taylor Miller/KANSAN
Joe Falkenstien, physical plant Supervisor for the University proudly displays one of his keys yesterday in the Facilities Operations building. Falkenstien has worked for the University for 25 years.
Locksmith holds keys to KU
Taylor Miller/KANSAN
Card scanners keypads replace older locks
Falkenstien cuts a key in the Facilities Operations Main Building yesterday morning. For security reasons, each key made with this highly specialized machine is serialized.
ID FRANK TANKARD
ftankard@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Editor's note: University Daily Kansan reporter Frank Tankard writes a regular feature on KU students, faculty and staff who have a story to tell. If you have an interesting story or know someone who does, e-mail Frank at ftankard@kansan.com.
The locksmith is in his shop, cutting grooves into keys. Every day, it's kevs.
"I don't know if this is true," says Joe Falkenstien, head of the three-man KU locksmith department for academic buildings, "but I've heard that keys are the second-most manufactured item in the world, behind shoes."
It's Friday, and he's hunched over his desk. His fleshy hands carefully drop a pin. 3 inches thick into a tiny hole in a cylinder lock.
door, in a building at the end of a torn-up road on the far west end of West Campus, reads: "Every Day is Opening Day!"
The sign on the locksmith's
ing at the University for nearly 25 years. He's been a locksmith for the last 20. He can make any key and pick any lock.
He slides a few more pins into the lock, each one making it distinct. He reaches for the master key, tests the lock, then slides in the Burge Union key that fits the lock. It's a match, of course.
Falkenstien, 50, with a wife and two kids, has been work-
"Our motto is, 'We can open anything but your mind,'" he said, grinning from behind his ruddy mustache.
Old school profession
The capacious shop is lined wall to wall with locks and lock parts. Tiny screws in boxes and big door handles fill the room.
As Falkenstien moves through the shop, he passes a box full of old keypad locks, the kind meant to replace keys.
On one end, keys to each room of every academic building on the Lawrence campus hang in lockers. Nearly 20,000 kews dangle there.
"They've taken a mechanical machine and electrified it," he says. "It's doubled our trouble in troubleshooting."
Falkensien estimates that there are more than 100 combo locks on campus. But they aren't in vogue anymore. Now, it's card-scanning locks that are steadily replacing keys.
SEE KEYS ON PAGE 4A
POLICY
Commission defers drug ordinance
BY TRAVIS ROINETT
trobinett@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
The Lawrence City Commission, on a unanimous vote, deferred city staff to draft an ordinance banning the possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, changing the location for prosecution from District to Municipal Court.
Laura Green of the Drug Policy Forum of Kansas requested the ordinance in a presentation last night to the commission. Green said she wanted to clear up confusion surrounding the ordinance.
She said it was a common misconception that the ordi-
decimalize
nance would marijuana. Decriminalization meant removing the penalties, which was not what she was asking, she said.
Green said the proposed ordinance would have the exact same penalty in Municipal Court as District Court.
hope people do take the time to think these things through as much as they can, rather than take a quick reaction to a poll in the newspaper."
Lawrence
Mayor Dennis
"Boog"
Highberger said he
needed to be. The ordinance gives first-time offenders the ability to have a second chance.
Mike Rundle City commissioners
He said marijuana and paraphernalia possession still would have penalties and consequences, and repeat offenses would follow a parallel course to what occurs now.
"I hope people do take the time to think these things through as much as they can, rather than take a quick reaction to a poll in the newspaper," Rundle said.
Commissioners Sue Hack, David Schauner and Mike Amyx all agreed they could not take a stance for or against the ordinance without the actual ordinance in front of them. Hack
"It's not three strikes, and you're out," Highberger said. "It's one strike, and you're out."
supported the proposal because the Higher Education Act's drug provision, barring students with drug convictions on their record from receiving financial aid for a set amount of time, was too harsh for an offense such as possession of marijuana or paranormalia.
Leslie Eldridge, community affairs director of the Student Senate, said the possible ordinance was addressed at last week's Senate meeting. She said the Senate considered the ordinance to be a students' rights issue and that the Senate was a supporter of a student's right to have an education and keep financial aid. With this ordinance in place, more students could keep aid and fewer would be barred from applying, and the Senate "whole-heartedly" supports the proposition. Commissioner Mike Rundle also was in favor of the ordinance. He said the impact on people's lives was harsher than it
said she would like to see what other communities have done and make some comparisons.
Schauner said he had more questions than answers, such as what the cost impact to cities with ordinances like this would be.
One factor that Hack, Schauer and Amxv opposed
about the proposed ordinance was making marijuana a low priority. Hack said she would not support the ordinance under those circumstances. Amyx said he agreed that manijuana should never be a low priority because it was illegal.
"I don't think the commission is in the business of telling the police department how to prioritize law enforcement," Schauner said.
Green said what she meant was to make marijuana and paraphernalia possession a low priority in relation to other drugs. She said 85 percent of drug offenses in Lawrence are for possession of marijuana and paraphernalia.
"The police department needs to go find people selling the drugs," she said.
Highberger said the vote whether to adopt the ordinance would be cast after the ordinance was drafted by the city staff. He was not sure when that would be.
- Edited by Alison Peterson
All contents, unless stated otherwise.
© 2005 The University Daily Kansan
New faculty members bring new courses The University of Kansas will hire 42 new faculty members for the fall of 2006. The new positions are funded by students' rising tuition costs. PAGE 3A
Cyberspace has the hook-ups
Where do you think the best place to hook up in cyberspace is? Vote in our online poll at Kansan.com/polls, and see the results in the Sex on the Hill section, coming Sept. 14.
Volleyball victorious
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The Kansas volleyball team dominated Saint Louis last night, winning three games against the Billikens. Coach Ray Bechard said the team's success stemmed from good serves and sets. PAGE 1B
Index
1
Comics. 4B
Classifieds. 5B
Crossword. 4B
Horoscopes. 4B
Opinion. 7A
Sports. 1B