All extra security measures in NMU’s residence halls have been lifted as of Wednesday, Sept. 5, said Ken Chant, NMU’s director of Public Safety and Police Services.
The master key was reported missing on August 27, the first official day of class, and was recovered from a vendor Friday, August 31, Chant said.
“As we suspected and are happy to report, the keys were mistakenly taken from campus by someone who did not realize he had them and certainly didn’t realize the security measures the university had to put in place while they were missing,” Chant said.
Any locks changed because of the key’s absence will be returned to their original states.This means that once the locks are changed back, students will be able to use their original room keys on the doors to the outside of their respective residence halls.
“We have done an extensive investigation and feel very confident that the keys were not copied. Because of the investigation results, we have decided not to replace all of the locks and keys for the 10 residence halls, something we thought we might have to do if we had even the slightest doubt about the keys being copied while they were out of our possession,” Chant said.
During the five-day period in which the key’s whereabouts was unknown, Public Safety’s presence in the residence halls was noticeably elevated.
There was at least one Public Safety official in the lobby of each of the residence halls between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.
Students wishing to gain access to the buildings during this time were required to show their NMU ID cards. Also, one Public Safety official was walking the floors of each residence hall, Chant said.
Along with these added security measures, precautions were also taken to prevent anyone with the missing key from gaining access to the residence halls.
All exterior doors to the residence halls, with the exception of the main lobby doors, had their locks changed, Chant said.
Only the lobby doors remained open so that any person wishing to enter any residence hall after hours would have to go through a Public Safety official.
A meeting is scheduled for next week to determine the final cost of the missing key.
