Door Peep Holes

 
 
 

question about peepholes.  I am one of three professional staff members that lives
on-campus and our office just recently began the discussion on equipping
our apartment doors with peepholes (for those late nights when you have no
idea what lurks beyond the other side of the door!!)  We also would like to
provide each RA door with peepholes, but we have 57 staff members, so money
may be an issue.  So here are my questions:

1.) Is there anyone out there who has recently renovated apartment/staff
doors with peepholes?  Is it a concern on any other campuses?

2.) How much did it cost?

3.) Anything else you can tell me about the process?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.
bryan
 

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If cost is truly an issue, I believe you should be looking to make the case
that the cost of litigation and liability that would result from a student
opening their door to an assault will far outweigh the costs of the
installation of peepholes.  There are just too many examples of students
being assaulted after opening the door to an unidentified assailant for a
higher education residential operation to deny that they knew or should have
known that they were subjecting a student to risk by not updating their
facilities in this manner.

While any invasion of privacy or assault on another is a terrible occurrence
and will no doubt continue to take place due to students opening their doors
to unknown individuals (even when they have peepholes), so much the worse
when it becomes clear that the institution could have made a minor
expenditure that would have allowed the individual to take prudent steps to
protect themselves.  The response that the cost was prohibitive is not
likely to provide any substantive argument when there is such a de minimis
cost in merely drilling a hole, and inserting and screwing together a
two-piece brass peephole to rectify the problem.

As to actual costs, it varies with the number of peepholes purchased, but,
to my recollection, you are looking at less than ten dollars ($10.00) a
piece for quality brass hardware for an order of around one hundred (100)
pieces. The only other thing I could add is that it is helpful to superglue
the threads when assembling to assure that someone does not go through and
reverse the peepholes thereby allowing people to peek into rooms from the
hallway (this has happened at two institutions where I have worked).

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