Clairmont Campus residents will be re-issued door keys after they return to campus Spring 2018.
Lock cores and keys of all Clairmont doors are being replaced because a University employee lost a master key for Clairmont Campus, according to a Dec. 19 email sent by Director of Housing Facilities and Operations Jonathan Cooper to Clairmont residents.
Emory began the lock and key replacements Jan. 19 and has contracted with outside vendors to complete the replacement lock installation, Associate Vice President for Media Relations Nancy Seideman wrote in emails to the Wheel. Seideman wrote that the goal is to minimize the impact on residents’ daily lives. The project is “logistically very complicated,” Cooper wrote in the Dec. 19 email.
An internal review of the incident is underway, Seideman wrote in a Dec. 21 email to the Wheel. Seideman declined to state whether Emory will take disciplinary action, noting that Emory does not comment on employee relations issues.
A Dec. 14 Emory Police Department (EPD) report states that Conrad Fuller, a painter for the University, checked out several master keys Dec. 16, 2016, including one for the Clairmont housing buildings. Master keys do not grant entry into exterior doors at Clairmont. Only people with Emory-issued prox cards can access the buildings. Fuller was a new hire for Emory at the time, according to a January 2017 Campus Services newsletter.
In summer 2017, Fuller gave a Clairmont master key that he had checked out Dec. 16, 2016 to Harry Sims, a temporary contract employee, according to the account of the complainant, Director of Project Management Heath Miller. Fuller realized in September 2017 that Sims was no longer employed by Emory but had not returned the key. Fuller called Sims but Sims said he had already returned the key to the University, Miller told EPD. Fuller did not notify his supervisor about the missing key until Dec. 12, Miller said.
Fuller did not respond to the Wheel's request for comment.
Emory Police Department (EPD) increased patrolling and the number of officers on duty at Clairmont Dec. 18 and will continue to have an increased presence until the project is completed, according to Seideman. Seideman declined to state by how much EPD has increased police presence, citing security concerns. No known security breaches have resulted from the incident as of the Dec. 28 email, according to Seideman.
Campus Services and the Office of Housing Operations, in collaboration with the Internal Audit Division, had already started last fall a review of policies and procedures related to facility access and control.
“New procedures or additional measures will be implemented based on the conclusion of the review,” Seideman wrote.
The review will help ensure that a similar situation does not happen again, according to Cooper.
UPDATE (1/24/18 at 1:30 a.m.): This article has been updated to reflect that the key lock and replacement project began Jan. 19.
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