Lost master key costs McNutt $35,000 in lock replacements

Residential Programs and Services spent $35,000 over winter break to replace 20 percent of the locks in McNutt Quad after a resident assistant on duty misplaced a master key to one of the McNutt buildings. \n"As soon as we became aware that the master key was missing, we immediately recored (changed the locks in) that building," said Bob Weith, director of residential operations. "We worked most of the night doing this."\nWeith said the misplacement of one key led to lock changes for 154 rooms out of the 718 in McNutt Quad. The locks were replaced Dec. 18 and 19.\n"Access to all of our keys throughout our system is always a safety concern," Weith said.\nMcNutt Residence Manager John Summerlot said the staff is working to put together a group of students and staff to examine the issue, but no changes have been made yet to any policy.\nAs for the consequence to the RA who lost the master key, Summerlot said he "is not at liberty to discuss staff records."\nSummerlot said dorm RAs are chosen based on their "maturity, reasonability and reliability."\n"If they do not maintain these traits, they do not maintain their positions," he said in an e-mail interview. "If we didn't trust student staff with some level of access to keys, then we would have to charge lock-out and lost-key fees similar to other living options, which could mean upwards of $75 a lock-out like some places charge."\nSummerlot said "several administrative changes have been made concerning how the keys are handled and by whom."\n"RAs have to go through several more steps to handle lock-outs than previously," he said. "This means longer waiting periods for students who are locked out."\nWeith said the reason for replacing the locks was to make the building as secure as possible. Only three professional staff members in the building along and five nightly RAs on duty have access to the keys for McNutt.\nMcNutt had more than 1,535 "lockouts" last semester. A lockout, Weith said, is when residents have misplaced their room key and asked for a spare key from the center desk or asked that a staff member let them into their rooms.\nWeith explained this is also a concern for the staff who try to teach responsible behaviors.\n"If students misplace their keys 1,535 times in one semester, that means we don't know where those keys may have been," he said. "Of our 11 residences centers, McNutt misplaces keys far more than any other."\nJohn Haky, the offices services assistant at McNutt, said last year there were 300 lock changes and last semester alone there were 150.\n"We determined it would be wise to completely change the locks in the entire center," Weith said.\nFreshman Katie Gear, a resident of McNutt, said she feels this is a "good change" if the master key was recently lost.\nSome also expressed that even though it was an inconvenience, their security was more important. \n"It was kind of annoying, and it took about five minutes, but I'd rather have that than someone random having the key," said Ally Mann, a resident of McNutt, had to receive a new key when she came back after break. "I felt safer"