New door alarms in dorms offer safety, piercing noise

By Hayley Burgess
News Editor
January 28, 2010

Photo by Andrew Young

The new emergency alarms put in the residence halls over winter break were installed as a safety measure due to the Virginia Tech shootings April 16, 2007.

Students living in residence halls were welcomed back with new alarms on the emergency exit doors when returning from winter break, an installation that has caused controversy with some students living in the residence halls.

The University installed alarmed, delayed egress doors to the emergency exits in Oak, Pine, Belk and North Hall. When anyone attempts to exit through the emergency exit doors, an alarm will sound and the door will not unlock. The alarm will continue sounding until the alarm is reset by a staff member of the residence hall.

The new alarms on the emergency exit doors came after recommendations from the Campus Safety Taskforce. The Campus Safety Taskforce was developed by University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles following the Virginia Tech shooting April 16, 2007, to look at ways to improve campus safety.

“They saw some areas we could make improvements,” Director of Housing and Residence Life Preston Swiney said.

However, because the alarms continue sounding until someone resets them, the residents living on the first floor by the emergency exit doors are upset by the new distracting sound when someone attempts to open the doors.

A Facebook group has been started in support of getting the alarms removed and there is a petition circling Oak Hall to get the alarms removed.

Ed Ricker, a student living on the first floor in Oak Hall, is responsible for pushing for the elimination of the alarms.

“Many of the first floor students who live near the doors in question are concerned about the study/sleep atmosphere that is interrupted by the alarms on the doors when someone touches the handle on them,” Ricker said.

Another area of concern for the residents is the fact that the new doors are an inconvenience for students who used to use them as shortcuts instead of walking the entire building’s length.

“I will not sacrifice security for convenience,” Swiney said.

Ricker also added that there was some concern about operating the doors in the event of an emergency.

“The doors have a ‘delayed egress’ locking system that many students don’t know how to operate in an emergency,” Ricker said.

However, Swiney said that students would not have to operate the doors when an emergency happens because when the alarms go off in the residence halls, the doors automatically unlock.

Ricker has since hit a roadblock with the petition since the doors are not UNCP policy, but is now a policy for the state after Virginia Tech. He is waiting to see what other campuses will do concerning the new policy before he moves along with it.

Swiney said he knows that the new safety improvements will take time to adjust to.

“We understand it’s going to be an adjustment period,” Swiney said. “I encourage students to be responsible to other residents and assist with community responsibility as it relates to safety.”

Some of the other safety improvements to the campus include card access doors, cameras and alarms for the emergency exit doors.

The Campus Safety Taskforce examined UNCP in May 2007 and produced a lengthy report of ways to improve safe housing, making sure the University is prepared for events like what happened at Virginia Tech and making sure the University is prepared for dealing with people with mental disorders.

After receiving funding from the University of North Carolina system, the University put in new entrance doors to Pine Hall, alarms to the emergency exit doors and new security cameras in some of the residence halls.