Do Not Enter

Of all the policies that have been reinforced this year at GC&SU, one of the most noticeable for residents of Napier and Sanford Halls has been the closed gate.

The gate, located in the driveway of the Napier parking lot, is now being locked daily at 7 p.m. by Public Safety.

“The Saggaser gate has been in there for around 10 years and was named for the Resident Director of Sanford at the time,” said Paul Jahr, director of University Housing. “At the time of its installation, the purpose of the gate was to discourage and inhibit the noise caused by
vehicles cruising that area.”

Although for the last couple of years the gate has remained open,
today the purpose of its closure is the same as it was 10 years ago.

“The request to close the gates from 7 p.m. to 7:15 a.m. came from University Housing and Student Affairs,” said Ken Vance, director of Public Safety. “There were several complaints last year concerning loud music and cruising by non-students as well as complaints from the city residents in that area.”

Not all students agree with this assessment.

“I don’t think that the noise was loud enough to cause that much of a disturbance,” said Bret Benson, a sophomore and a resident of Napier Hall. “In fact, I think that it gave the students playing volleyball a chance to get to know more people.”

Safety is also an issue that must be faced when discussing the closing of the gates. One question on the minds of many is will response by emergency crews be hampered at all.

“Emergency personnel were consulted, and they saw no problem with the closing,” said Vance. “They prefer to enter the area from the west side anyway.”

“In the event of an emergency and Public Safety doesn’t get there in time to open the gate, the emergency crews can just bust through,” said Jahr. “We have requested that keys to the lock be given to the Resident Directors of Napier and Sanford should such a situation arise.”

Another safety concern stems from the students that park beside Sanford in front of the gate. Since the normal exit is blocked, some have to back out of the driveway in order to leave.

“Another danger exists for the students that park beside Sanford,” said Benson. “They have to back out into traffic which, is a great risk.”

“It is a concern that wasn’t really considered during the first years of the gate’s use, though it is a pretty obvious one,” said Jahr. “We are currently exploring the option to move the gate back to the entrance because of the danger of backing directly into West Greene Street.”

As for the time during which the gate will be locked, there were a couple of considerations taken to make that decision.

“7 p.m. was picked because it was late enough that people will have returned from their trek to main campus for dinner or classes,” said Jahr. “The time also coincides with the start of Public Safety’s shift.”

Ultimately, the locking and unlocking of the gate depends on the Public Safety officer on duty.

“It is an issue of person and priorities,” said Jahr. “There will be times when the gate will not be closed exactly at 7p.m.”

Signs have been posted at the entrance as well as on the gate itself, listing the times when the gate will be locked. Students are advised to heed these signs and be careful when entering the Napier driveway after 7 p.m.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 7 2001. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry