San Jose State students, faculty and staff will be required to use their tower cards to access academic buildings starting Monday.
The policy was initially set to take effect Sept. 6 but the date was pushed back because of the “transitional nature” of the semester’s beginning, said Traci Ferdolage, facilities development and operations senior associate vice president.
Nutritional science senior Elise Ploch said she doubts the tower card policy will be effective.
“[If] there's one entrance and we're all trying to use a card and get in, it's like, what's the point?” Ploch said. “We're all entering at the same time anyway, so I don't really know if that would increase security.”
“The campus has moved forward with keeping entry doors to most buildings secured as an enhanced security measure designed to further improve overall safety of the campus,” Ferdolage said in a Sept. 10 campuswide email.
The requirement was also enforced to identify spaces that require deeper sanitization protocols, according to the SJSU health advisories website.
Buildings including the Student Union, Student Health Center and Spartan Recreation and Aquatic Center won’t require tower cards to enter the buildings but will operate with “monitored access,” according to the SJSU website.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Library will operate under the same conditions, Ferdolage said.
Computer engineering sophomore Akshath Aravindakshan said he feels safer knowing access is only available to the university community but finds its challenges disconcerting.
“It can keep people that you don't want on campus, it can keep them out of classes,” Aravindakshan said. “But I mean, there'll be another pain for students to go and get [their tower cards] and it's a long process to get them so I think [the policy is] a good and bad thing.”
Students must upload a photo with their face and shoulders visible and photocopy of valid government ID, including a driver’s license or passport, onto the Tower Card Student ID Portal, according to the Tower Card Student ID website.
Ploch said she was concerned she wouldn’t receive her tower card in time because it was delivered a month after it was supposed to arrive.
Ferdolage said students who haven’t received their tower cards are advised to get them as soon as possible.
Tower cards are issued at SJSU’s Bursar’s Office, located in the Student Services Center on Ninth and San Fernando streets, according to the Bursar’s Office website.
Students must present a valid state ID, passport or driver’s license when seeking tower card-related help, according to the same website.
While Aravindakshan said he has his tower card, he said if he forgot it at home he would rely on classmates’ aid to get to his on-campus classes.
Ferdolage said students can call the Facilities Development and Operations Office if they need help entering a building.
“[That office] can assist with opening doors in the event a student leaves their tower card at home or if access is denied due to a programming issue,” Ferdolage said.
She said Facilities Development and Operations Office services are only available from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays excluding holidays.
Ferdolage also said the office will be tracking these requests and won’t be able to unlock doors for those who consistently forget their tower cards.
