Campus security tightened
University revamps main entrance, turnstiles installed
Security in the AUL campus gets a shiny new upgrade.
Part of the overhaul of the AUL’s main entrance (Gate 2) is the installation of turnstile gates with infrared ID scanners to better monitor access of students and personnel inside the campus.
The administration sees that this new fixture will ensure the stricter implementation of the “no ID, no entry” policy of the University.
“This will help further instill security, order, and discipline inside the Aquinas campus,” Fr. Edwin Lao, O.P., the VP for Admin and Finance, told students in a convocation held on August 4.
The technology is similar to the ones used by the LRT or MRT, where the turnstile gates scan for the information from the passengers’ magnetic cards before giving them entry. Thus requiring a small upgrade to the school’s ID system as well.
Student IDs now contain digital information that will be flashed on LCD screens upon entrance. This include their name, year and course, photo ID, etc.
“It's a system that could monitor the presence of the students inside the campus. It's a system that could monitor the students and their liabilities, not only financial but also their other documents, and their grades among other things,” Fr. Lao explained.
Additionally, this new system will reportedly have a mechanism that automatically notifies parents via text message when their child enters or exits the campus.
Meanwhile, Physical Plant and Facilities Management Office (PPFMO) Assistant Director, Edherlyn A. Auditor, noted that aside from security, one of the reasons for the overhaul of the Gate 2 was to provide a better, more convenient area for visitors. The entrance has a wider space now, with improved and added facilities such as a receiving area for visitors and other waiting persons, a refurbished guard house, and a comfort room.
The project started March this year, soon after the end of the second semester classes. This, incidentally, coincided with the heavy road construction work of the Yawa Bridge widening project that partially affected and blocked the school’s entrance.
To those wondering, Auditor denies that this was what prompted AUL to renovate Gate 2, and that the project had long been in the books. “It was just a coincidence that the widening of the Yawa Bridge and reconstruction of the road in front of the University was scheduled first before the construction of entrance gate has started. The turnstiles, wirings, LCD TV's were already delivered; we were just only waiting for the construction to be finished.”
Asked about the project’s budget, PPFMO said it came from the ‘physical plant improvement fee’ collected from the students.
The project was completed by June in time for the beginning of this school year, with the installed turnstile gates fully operational by July. ■ By Patrick Joseph N. Secillano and Ariane Giselle C. Santos
For more of our stories and content, visit our official website at AquinianHerald.com
