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July 31, 2007

Faculty/Staff

Old PIN numbers leave profs locked out

New randomized numbers were assigned to get away from Social Security numbers.

Story by: Diana Golobay

The Shorthorn staff

The Shorthorn: Kyle Clothier

Some faculty members have been locked out of their classrooms due to the recent reprogramming of PIN-activated door locks. The new PIN numbers were initiated to stop the use of Social Security numbers on campus.

The recent reprogramming of PIN-activated door locks left some faculty members locked outside empty rooms.

Tom Ryan, English undergraduate studies associate chair, said his British literature class was delayed 15 minutes Thursday when his old PIN wouldn’t work. The Preston Hall classroom remained locked when he tried his card and PIN number, and Ryan eventually relocated his students to an open room for the lecture.

After class, Ryan called for technical support and was directed to a university Web site where he could log on to find his new PIN. He said he has not encountered any difficulties with the changed PIN since.

He said his old PIN still worked Wednesday, the day after reprogramming began. Though Ryan received a standard memorandum regarding the change, he said he couldn’t have anticipated being locked out of his classroom.

“The real difficulty was that the e-mail said it would be reprogrammed July 24 and may take a while, but we didn’t know when it would start,” he said.

Facilities Management director Jeff Johnson said an e-mail was sent out July 17 to alert authorized users that locks would be reprogrammed to deny old PIN numbers. He said the new randomized PIN numbers are required wherever a student or faculty member must swipe an ID card combined with a PIN number. The change occurred in buildings throughout campus.

“It’s something we’ve been talking about doing for some time,” Johnson said. “We’re trying to get it done as quickly as possible.”

He said the new PIN numbers are part of an ongoing security effort to stop the use of Social Security numbers on campus. Full and partial Social Security numbers were used as PIN numbers to access grades and serve as other identifiers in the admissions process.

The new PIN numbers should be used wherever an individual used their Social Security PIN, which will no longer be accepted. Johnson said the change affects anyone with an access card to a university building or lab.

Becky Rosenboom, Foreign Languages administrative assistant, said several faculty members encountered trouble when the locks were first reprogrammed. They looked up their new PIN numbers online and the department has not received complaints since.