Launch of HRN portal delayed

Division of Public Safety officials are blaming the recent attack on a female student in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall and difficulties coordinating with other departments for the unexpected delay in the University's attempts to begin a trial run of a new hand-scanning security device. The high-tech scanner, which is being tested in Hamilton House -- formerly High Rise North -- was supposed to have been operational last Tuesday. It is now uncertain when residents will be able to use the glass portal, according to Stratis Skoufalos, Public Safety's director of security services. When it is operational, students will swipe their PennCards and then scan their hands to enter the building. The portal itself was constructed and installed on time last Tuesday, and currently sits next to the security-guard booth in the Hamilton House lobby. But Skoufalos said that officials are still in the process of installing the hand scanner and hooking up wires. Once that happens, he said, they will test and program the device before it becomes operational. Yesterday, Skoufalos said he could not give a specific date for when he expects the portal -- intended as an added security measure -- to be up and running, explaining that "there are several other non-security University entities which are involved in this project, and we must work with them and their schedules." In addition to those logistical concerns, Skoufalos said the recent knife attack on a Wharton sophomore in the basement bathroom of Steinberg-Dietrich Hall diverted Public Safety's attention away from the hand-scanner experiment. "Because of the unfortunate incident at Steinberg-Dietrich, responding to that and related issues became a priority to us," he said. Several of those involved in the consultation process for the portal experiment said they were unaware of the reasons for the delay. "I'm wondering what's happening," Hamilton House Dean Roberta Stack said. College junior Emily Pollack, who chairs the student-run Residential Advisory Board, said she was concerned the delay might confuse students. "I expected they would have at least registered people last week," Pollack said. "Students want to know what is going on." Still, some students said they were hardly anxious to use the device. "It's like I'm in prison," Hamilton House resident Scott Dash, a College sophomore, said last week. "I've never felt unsafe on campus."

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