The campus housing office is responding to student frustration with repeated malfunctions of the gates at Cokesbury Court Apartments.
The locks to the pedestrian gates at the Cokesbury have been malfunctioning, often locking students out or not locking at all, allowing people without the required code to enter the area without obstruction.
Casey Kreger, director of housing and residence life at OCU, said the company in charge of the pedestrian locking system and keypads for Cokesbury is separate from OCU. When there is an issue with the locks, the company has to come on-site to address the problem.
Kreger said the main problem with the pedestrian locks is that they’re battery powered, and when that battery short-circuits or malfunctions, the locks don’t work properly.
“When the keypad runs out of battery, the code won’t go in, and it won’t release the lock; it will get stuck from there,” Kreger said.
These malfunctions typically happen late at night after a day of use or when water, mist or other forms of moisture get into the keypad. When these issues occur, keypads will often not unlock after the correct code is put in or will be completely off. The gate with the malfunctioning lock then either stays locked indefinitely, or remains unlocked until the lock is repaired.
The housing office is currently looking into long-term solutions to the ongoing problem, namely by finding another company or another type of locking mechanism that will get around the battery issues.
Aaron Bates, acting junior and Cokesbury resident, said he found the gate issues frustrating.
“The worst [problems] are when I’m trying to leave late at night, or going in late at night, and the gate just doesn’t open. I’ll put the code in, but nothing opens. That’s frustrating, because the car gates are closed too, so I can’t get in or out of this complex,” Bates said.
He also said a new issue with one of the gates is a missing lock mechanism entirely, meaning no code is needed to get into the apartment complex. He said the issues began when he moved into the apartments the fall of 2018. Since he moved in, Bates said the gates have consistently had a variety of issues with locking.
Preventative measures have been taken to ensure the security of the gates, with the company in charge of the locks coming by regularly to check in on the mechanisms and fix any nonfunctional locks.
“It comes down to preventative maintenance. It comes down to how often they check it, so now they are checking them daily,” Kreger said.
Kreger said the main way students can help address the issue is by calling in work-orders, and letting the housing office at the Cokesbury Clubhouse know.
“One thing is to always let us know,” Kreger said.
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