UPDATE: Safety chief clarifies statement on new ID readers

Responding to a query by Fordham Daily, John Carroll, director of Fordham’s Public Safety Office, clarified a statement his office made last month and said definitively that the new ID card readers have been installed for use this year at Rose Hill campus entrances, FMH, the library and the Lombardi Center.

The ID readers will not be used to gain access to other academic buildings, Carroll said. In addition, the readers will remain stationed at each residence hall on campus. 

A pervious version of this article incorrectly stated that readers would be stationed at each building entrance on campus.

The university community is asked “to place their identification cards within three inches of the readers at all campus entrances and/or building entrances such as residence halls or FMH.” Guards will still remain stationed at campus and building entrances to ensure “the bearer of the card is the authorized user.”

This ID card swipe system has been in the planning stages for 10 years, according to Jason Benedict, executive director of Fordham’s Information Security Office. It is finally being implemented because of high student demand, he said.

As part of the system, Fordham officials will be able to keep a digital log of timestamps, detailing which students enter which buildings at which times. Despite potential privacy concerns, John Carroll, director of Public Safety, says the new system is a plus for the campus community.

“Why would Fordham do anything that would not serve our students? Makes no sense,” said John Carroll, director of Fordham’s Public Safety, last September. “It would be a serious disservice to our students to suggest anything negative about upgrading technology that has been designed to better serve the community.”

What about traffic backups outside FMH in between classes?

“You just tap it once and that’s all it takes,” Luke Homer, FCRH ’14, last year’s vice president of Safety and Security, said in September. “It will be a constant flow.”

No word on the cost of this technological upgrade.