Chemistry professors say they are concerned that labs are being consistently left unlocked after hours. They say the problem poses both safety and academic integrity problems.
According to Chemistry Professor Michael Dorneman, when labs are left open, “Anybody can walk in and take anything they like. It’s a Chemistry lab you have access to a wide variety of potentially very hazardous substances concentrated acids and bases and solvents highly flammable materials.”
Biology Professor Ellen Genovesi spoke about an incident that in the past she observed where she had set up the lab to conduct an in-class experiment during an evening class and left the experiment set for class the following day. She says she left the door locked, but the next morning when she came in to teach her morning class the lab door was left open.
She says, “We set up our lab practical exams and a lot of the labs connect together, so if a student was here in the evening and it was unlocked they could go in and see all the questions. They could take pictures of all the exam questions. And that’s definitely an academic integrity concern if it’s left unlocked.”
As far as how the doors get unlocked, Professor Genovesi says, “Perhaps, the cleaning staff when they come in and empty the garbage leave it unlocked. There needs to be someone at the end of the shift to ensure that the doors are all locked.”
Bryon Marshall the director of Facilities, College Safety, and Security says of the cleaning staff, “It’s an outside company. They pour in here anywhere from 10-11 o’clock at night and all through the night and they open everything, so putting it all back together is a bit of a puzzle.” He says, however, that security officers do keep track of the cleaning staff and ensure things are locked up.
Marshall says the problem may lie elsewhere.
“A lot of folks have their own key, which is problematic because we’ll find out that a TA will open a room and we’ll get told ‘a room is open!’ and then we find out it was one of the teaching assistants who was in there.”
Professor Dorneman says that the possibility that a door is being left open by a student or faculty member is highly unlikely.
“We spend a significant amount of time in the first lab period laying down the rules and fully restating them and following up every single lab period. The students know that they don’t go in the lab unless there’s an instructor in the lab, and they don’t.”
As far as teaching assistants, Professor Dorneman adds, “All the faculty and the student assistants are trained thoroughly and told explicitly make sure the doors are locked when you leave.”
Two cleaning employees were asked about the issue. They declined to be named but one said they do their job correctly. Their company ABM did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
