Students Lose Sleep Over Side Door Alarm

Last year, the office of campus life installed an alarm system connected to the four side doors of Brookville Hall. The alarm goes off between the hours of 7p.m. and 7a.m. if the doors are opened. The alarm repeats, “Warning, warning, you have violated an area of protection. Violation security system. The authorities have been notified. Leave immediately.”

Although this alarm is intended to provide safety for Brookville’s residents, it has also caused concerns.

The alarm is very loud and if students keep the doors propped open throughout the night, residents who live close by are woken up or cannot sleep. Many students in Brookville leave the side doors propped open because they do not want to walk to the main entrance at the front of the building.

On Sunday, March 26, a resident placed a sign on a dorm room window directly above a side door asking residents to keep the side door closed. Another sign was placed on the side door closest to the chapel on March 27, again asking residents to keep the side door closed.

Samantha Negron, a senior broadcasting major who resides in Brookville, said, “It’s getting out of hand with the side door. I’m constantly woken up in the middle of the night by the alarm going off. The door never gets closed all of the way and I have to go downstairs to close it in the middle of the night.” Negron said she spoke with both the CLC, who is the person in charge of Brookville hall, and the hall’s security, and both told her they are taking care of it. Negron has yet to see any changes. “I’m just frustrated. I pay alot of money to live in a room where I’m constantly disturbed. It’s affecting my sleep and concentration greatly,” she said.

Breana Rowe, a junior public relations major, who also resides in Brookville, said, “I hear it all the time, at night like at 3 a.m.” Rowe said she’s lucky because she is a heavy sleeper so it does not wake her up as much as other students. What annoys Rowe the most is the people who bang on the dorm windows closest to the side doors asking for residents to open the door for them. Representatives from the office of campus life have yet to respond to inquiries about the ongoing issue.