Front desk positions were reinstated Monday at several Tempe campus residence halls in response to residents’ requests to increase security.
University Housing reopened the desks at Palo Verde East, Palo Verde West and San Pablo halls, as well as increased the operation hours of the McClintock Hall front desk. But the extra security has led to mixed responses from students.
“(Front desk security) is a good idea for security purposes, but a bad idea for having a good time,” said exploratory freshman Rashad Fitouri, a Palo Verde West resident.
The positions at Palo Verde East and Palo Verde West were taken away this semester as part of a campus-wide initiative to consolidate desk services. For the north campus dorms, a single 24-hour desk was put in place at Palo Verde Main in order to serve Palo Verde West, Palo Verde East and San Pablo residents. The desks at Palo Verde East and Palo Verde West are now staffed 24/7 as well as the front desk at McClintock Hall, which was open part-time last week. The front desk at San Pablo is now staffed between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m.
Community assistants work at each desk except San Pablo between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Personnel from event management company PRO EM administers at least three of the four desks during evening and morning hours. The same company also provides security at ASU athletic events.
In an email sent to residents Monday, Residential Life Senior Director Kendra Hunter said a decision was made last month to re-establish service desk positions after student housing department officials spoke with residents.
“Despite the lack of demand for support services at these sites (Palo Verde East, Palo Verde West, San Pablo and McClintock Hall), residents value the presence of desk staff as a means to augment building security,” Hunter said.
Hunter’s email as well as signs posted on the front doors of McClintock Hall and Palo Verde West explained a new policy that would require residents to show their student IDs to a front desk attendant upon entering the residence hall.
However, communications freshman Rosa Muñoz, who lives in Palo Verde East, said she hasn’t had to use her student ID to get past the desk. On Monday afternoon, she brought a guest who also was not asked to show an ID.
“They never ask questions,” Muñoz said of the CAs manning the front desk during the day. “They’re always on Facebook.”
Other students worry that the front desk staff will ask too many questions.
“I don’t like it,” said exploratory freshman Collin Sheridan, a Palo Verde West resident “I feel like people will automatically be judging us if we walk in drunk.”
A statement from University Housing said residents will now have to sign in any guests at the front desk, a requirement some students were not happy about.
“I would dig a tunnel instead of having to come down from the seventh floor to sign in a guest,” Fitouri said.
The statement also said the desk staff might remain over winter break, but each hall would be assessed on an individual basis based on how many students plan to remain in the hall.
Exploratory freshman Eric Dowswell, a student at Palo Verde West, said he feels safer with the front desk security, even though he thinks Tempe is a fairly safe town.
“Students who aren’t even in this dorm came in here before,” he said. “How hard would it have been for a 25-year-old crazy person to walk in here and rob someone?”
While Dowswell said he thought the front desk security was enough, other students had additional ideas. Fitouri said having to use key cards to enter the residence hall lounges would further prevent homeless people from sleeping in the lounges. Several students have said that homeless people and other non-residents were following students into Palo Verde East and Palo Verde West this semester.
Fiouri added that cameras around the outside of the buildings would help security. Sheridan said room doors that lock automatically would make students and their belongings safer.
The statement from University Housing said students would not face any increased housing rates this year because of the reinstated positions.
Reach the reporter at julia.shumway@asu.edu or follow @JMShumway on Twitter.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
