Student Access to Campus Buildings

Approved by the President
September 12, 2017

Policy Contact
Office of Facilities
Card Access Administrator
cardaccess@oneonta.edu
(607) 436-3224

Policy Statement

This Policy describes how Student Access to Campus Buildings is to be granted and the overall terms regarding the extent of that access.

Rationale

Access to Campus Buildings is an integral part of many students’ academic, recreational, residential and social lives. Building usage should be reasonably maximized to support an enriching experience while also ensuring clean, safe and secure facilities. Card Access is the tool that is used to both grant access and secure SUNY Oneonta's buildings and interior spaces for most students, faculty, and staff. It is necessary to have a comprehensive set of rules to manage access.

Applicability of the Policy

This policy applies to any student requiring or requesting access to a building space and any faculty or staff requesting access on behalf of a student.

Policy Elaboration

The oversight and management of access to SUNY Oneonta buildings and interior spaces is usually a matter for multiple, overlapping authority. Each building has a Building Coordinator and various Departments with an interest in access control. The specifics of this oversight are a matter for agreement between Department Chairs / Directors, the Building Coordinator, and applicable Administrators.

Definitions

Supervised / Unsupervised Buildings: An unsupervised building does not have a staff member on duty (whose primary job is functionally related to the use of the building) the entire time it may be occupied by students. Examples of supervised buildings and related supervisory personnel: Milne (Librarians), Hunt Union (Student Managers), Residence Halls (Resident Directors & Advisors), Dining Halls (Managers), Counseling, Health & Wellness Center (Healthcare Staff). The Office of Facilities and Safety will determine each building’s status as supervised or unsupervised. Custodial, Maintenance and Police staff do not have supervisory roles.

Building Coordinators: Each SUNY Oneonta Building has a person identified as a Building Coordinator. This person is always an employee of SUNY Oneonta who is usually in a supervisory role and whose workplace is in the relevant building. Building Coordinators are expected to have a detailed knowledge of the building, its occupants, and users, to communicate with Custodial staff and Department Chairs/Directors and have the skills and tools required to deal with emergencies related to their building.

Local Access Manager: A person who has been trained and authorized to use a software application to manage elements of card access relevant to a particular building or a subset of doors in that building.

Procedures

Main doors to unsupervised buildings will be unlocked from 6 AM to 11 PM, seven days a week, during the spring and fall semesters.
Main doors to supervised buildings will be unlocked according to schedules established by their respective building coordinators in consultation with appropriate stakeholders and, as such, can either be more or less restrictive than hours for unsupervised buildings.
When classes are not in session, and during Summer and Winter Sessions, main doors to unsupervised buildings will be unlocked from 6 AM to 6 PM Monday through Friday, locked on Saturdays and Sundays. Supervised buildings may have different schedules established by their Building Coordinators as in #2 above.
Doors in any building may be unlocked for specific, scheduled events outside normal hours. This is a subject of standard requests made to the Campus Events Coordinator, documented in the Events Management System, and communicated to Custodial, Maintenance, and Police.
Faculty, Staff, Graduate Students, Teaching Assistants and others with specifically granted access are not restricted by these schedules. New access for faculty/staff or changes to existing access due to changes in responsibilities/job descriptions should be the subject of a change request to cardaccess@oneonta.edu.
Students with a specific academic or other legitimate purpose requiring access beyond the standard schedules detailed above may be granted that access under terms that Department Chairs / Managers deem reasonable, subject to appropriate consultation/approval with Building Coordinators or specific Administrators. To facilitate this process, Departments are required to establish Local Access Managers. A person can be designated as a Local Access Manager for anything from a group of department-specific doors up to an entire building. A software application is installed on their computer with an Operator Account which enables them to view and edit details on users’ access and the doors within their building. They can change time periods, what doors are authorized, and create new access levels. It is their responsibility to do all of this accurately and to keep track of what changes are being made. The Card Access Administrator will provide training and ongoing support to departments that require this capability.
By authorizing access, the Department Chair / Manager is solely responsible; vouching for each person’s legitimate access need, maturity level (in the case of students) and as having received all required safety training for any equipment or potentially hazardous conditions present in accessed spaces.
Facilities will establish and maintain a “Publicly-Open Building Hours List” on the Facilities website based on the standards in #1-3 above, as reported by Building Coordinators.
The Custodial Department, in collaboration with Facilities, Department Chairs, Building Coordinators and the Health & Safety Officer, will define specific hours for cleaning certain spaces. Students will not be permitted in these spaces during cleaning operations. These hours will primarily be a function of use, workforce logistics, and health & safety requirements, and are the ultimate responsibility of the Chief Janitor.
University Police patrol building exteriors and interiors on a regular basis. They are tasked with challenging anyone’s presence in a particular space outside of a building’s normal publicly-open hours. Any employee may find it necessary to challenge students’ presence in a particular space, although they are not obligated to do so. A student’s ID card that successfully grants access to a space using the door’s proximity reader constitutes proof of access permissions under the terms of this Policy.

Forms

There is no form related to this policy. Requests for changes can be sent to cardaccess@oneonta.edu according to details available on the Facilities Website under “Key and Card Access”.