Every campus that invests in card readers eventually discovers the same thing: the readers work and the doors still stand open. Tailgating and propped doors in campus buildings are the most common access control failure I know of, and the most misunderstood. Leaders respond by buying more technology, such as better readers, turnstiles, and analytics. These help at the margins. But the people who prop and follow are not hacking anything. They are doing what seems reasonable to them, and until a leader changes what seems reasonable, the doors will keep standing open.
This is a culture problem. Culture is a leadership responsibility, and it can be changed.
Why technology does not fix it
Technology controls a door. It does not control the person holding it. A reader confirms that a credential is valid. It cannot tell whether the person behind the cardholder was invited. A held-open sensor can tell you a door is open too long. It cannot make anyone close it. Anti-tailgating hardware such as turnstiles and mantraps can work in lobbies with heavy traffic and a staffed presence, but they are expensive, they do not suit most academic buildings, and they move the problem rather than solve it. If the side door is propped, the turnstile in front is theater.
There is a second reason. When people believe that technology is protecting them, they pay less attention. A campus with a handsome access system can have a worse security culture than one with plain locks, because the first has outsourced vigilance to a device. The system is only as strong as the habits of the people who use it every day.
Why people do it
Think about why you have held a door for a stranger. It is manners. Challenging someone feels rude, and on a campus where everyone looks like they might be a student, a guest, or a new faculty member, it feels presumptuous. People also prop doors for reasons that are entirely sensible to them: they are moving equipment, waiting for a colleague, letting in a class, or tired of walking around to the reader. And they believe, usually correctly in the moment, that nothing will happen.
Add to this the absence of consequence. In most institutions, no one is ever told that a propped door was noticed. No one is thanked for closing one. The behavior has no feedback in either direction, so it settles into whatever is easiest.
What leadership messaging looks like
Culture changes when leaders say the same thing, in the same way, many times. The message should be short and respectful. Explain what the door protects. Explain what you want people to do. Explain that it applies to everyone, including senior staff. And say plainly that asking someone politely who they are is welcome and supported.
Make it specific to each community. Students respond to the safety of the person sleeping down the hall. Faculty respond to the protection of research, equipment, and student records. Staff respond to clear expectations and backing from their supervisors. Deans and department chairs matter enormously, because people take their cue from the person who signs their reviews. If a chair props the building door, the department will too.
Give people language. A scripted, friendly phrase, such as asking whether you can help someone find a person or office, lets staff and students challenge without confrontation. Show that you will back them if the challenge goes badly. Reporting should be easy as well, with a clear number or a simple form that gets a response.
Make the problem visible
Technology earns its place when it supplies the feedback culture lacks. Held-open and forced-door alarms tell you which doors are propped, how long, and how often. Most systems already support this, and many campuses never turn it on or ignore the results. Set time thresholds that match each door’s real use, and decide who responds. Then share the data with building managers and department leaders. A chart showing that a particular door stood open for hours every week changes a conversation faster than a policy memo.
Respond quickly and politely. When an alarm shows a door propped, a call or a visit from a staff member who explains and thanks does more than a violation notice. The goal is a habit, not a punishment.
Build accountability that is fair
Culture sticks when it has consequences. Name a responsible person for each building, a manager or director who receives the door data and answers for the pattern. Include access discipline in their responsibilities and in reviews. For repeated, deliberate propping of sensitive doors, escalate through the normal supervisory or student conduct process, and apply it consistently, because a rule enforced against junior people and ignored for senior ones teaches the opposite of what you intend.
Equally important, fix the reasons doors get propped. If a loading door is constantly open because deliveries have no other path, design one. If a classroom building’s door sticks, repair it. If a reader is in the wrong place, move it. Every workaround is a design complaint in disguise, and a leader who solves it earns trust for the harder conversation.
Test the habit, not the hardware
Security is only assumed until it is tested, and for this problem the test is observation. Spend time at several building entrances at class change and at night. Count how often people follow through without badging and how often anyone is challenged. Review the held-open data by building and by week. Repeat after your messaging campaign and compare. Authorized, leadership-approved exercises can also measure whether staff challenge unfamiliar people, provided they are designed to teach and are communicated afterward without blame.
Expect improvement to be gradual. A campus will not change in a month. But a steady message, visible data, fair accountability, and fixed friction points move the numbers over a semester, and the improvement lasts because it rests on what people believe and do.
Who owns it
Security can supply data and training, and facilities can fix hardware. But only the leaders of academic and administrative units can change the habits of their people. Make access discipline part of the job for deans, chairs, directors, and residence life leaders, with a senior executive tracking results. When the president, provost, or chancellor talks about it and means it, the rest of the campus pays attention.
Buy the technology if it helps. But do not expect it to do the work that only leadership can do. Doors close when people believe it matters, and people believe it matters when their leaders do.
Go Deeper
Changing a security culture takes sustained, senior attention more than a larger budget. What Is a Fractional Security Director? The Complete Guide explains how organizations get that attention without a full-time executive, and Fractional Security Director goes further into how it is done.
Commissioner William Epps is a former elected Fire Commissioner, federal law-enforcement supervisor, and firefighter since 2006, with instructor credentials in Hazardous Materials response, Active Shooter preparedness, and Stop the Bleed®. He spent seven years in federal law enforcement in physical security, executive protection, and incident command, and now serves organizations as a Fractional Security Director. He is the author of The Spirit of Saul, The Spirit of Pharaoh, and other practical books on security, leadership, and faith, built around one idea: knowledge should be practical enough to use when it matters.
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