Kerckhoff break-ins addressed
By Parisa Mahdad
Nov. 1, 2009 10:24 p.m.
An office in Kerckhoff Hall was broken into on two occasions two weeks ago, raising the question of security in and around student organization facilities.
At the Undergraduate Students Association Council meeting last Tuesday, Sally Zhu, director of the Asian Pacific Coalition, and JC De Vera, external vice president of Samahang Pilipino, expressed their concerns to the council regarding two incidences of break-ins to the Kerckhoff office that the two organizations share.
Both Zhu and De Vera called to report their respective incidences to university police, although the two students say they have little hope in finding the suspects responsible for each break-in.
The office shared by Asian Pacific Coalition and Samahang Pilipino is locked with a key lock. However, some of the offices allocated to student organizations are locked by Locknetics, a door lock system that allows for programmable access control and requires people to swipe their BruinCards.
Only the BruinCards of student organization officers are programmed into the device, allowing only these students to enter their organization’s office.
“Locknetics would be the best because we would be able to keep track of who is coming through the office. As it is right now, (with) the way people get into this office, we really have no clue who comes in (and) how people come in,” Zhu said.
Tim Mullins, the USAC facilities commissioner, and De Vera are scheduled to meet this week to discuss possible solutions in preventing break-ins.
“As council, we’re supposed to represent the undergrads and one of the big things that has been around is safe space, but I think the next tagline maybe needs to be secure space because it’s kind of apparent that the keys are an outdated system, and they’re not safe. The Locknetics have so many advantages,” Mullins said.
Mullins also pointed out that during a council meeting on June 30, a motion to pass more Locknetics installations in Kerckhoff was not approved, although Mullins was in favor.
Council disapproved the proposal on the basis that it needed more information on the project that would cost $20,758 total, with each unit costing $1,207.
The project has not been brought up in council, because other considerations such as Night Powell and Undie Run have been top priorities this quarter.
“The money is there. There is surplus money, and there is contingency money, and that’s money that all can be applied to this right now,” he said. “(Locknetics funding) is certainly something that I’ll be fighting for.”
Although council has yet to pass a project to install Locknetics on multiple office doors in Kerckhoff, Zhu and De Vera are able to apply for funding to install Locknetics onto their individual office door.
“USAC is talking to some administration and ASUCLA to see the budget breakdown and if USAC has to pay for all of it, but that’s something that council is going to work on,” said Jason Tengco, one of council’s general representatives.
On Oct. 19, an $800 computer, bought last spring by the Asian Pacific Coalition, was stolen between the hours of 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Zhu, a fourth-year Asian American studies student, does not suspect that an officer of the coalition or of the other organizations that share the office is guilty of the theft.
“This office space is really important to our organization, and (the coalition) has always used our office to … have our committee meetings in,” Zhu said. “It really affects our organization’s ability to run effectively if we’re always worried about what’s going to be disappearing next, especially with important pieces like computers.”
The coalition will not be able to apply for funding to cover the costs of a new computer until this spring. An organization is not permitted to apply for the same item within the same year, said Zhu.
The other incidence was reported Oct. 16, when De Vera and two general members of Samahang Pilipino were walking back from an event to return supplies to the office after 11 p.m., when public access to Kerckhoff is closed.
“When we opened the door, I turned on the lights, and then I saw a guy just sleeping on this couch. He just stood up and said “˜Sorry,'” said De Vera, a third-year sociology and Asian American studies student.
The person had left the office and the building without confrontation. According to De Vera, the individual was carrying books and a CD player.
“Even though this office door is really easy to break into, I don’t know how that person got in, and I don’t even know how that person knew there was a couch in here. So that just raises a lot of concerns because the couch was just brought in a couple of days before,” De Vera said.
