When Thomas Jefferson was on-hand to introduce the first 123 students to the University of Virginia in March of 1825, one can be assured that he didn't hand those initial students ID cards. However, today, that is one of the rights of passage for new Cavaliers.

The University has worked with CBORD (a provider of campus and cashless card systems, food and nutrition service management software, nationwide student discount and off-campus commerce programs, housing and judicial process management software, and integrated security solutions) for years on providing students and staff with a one-card solution. The University of Virginia Identification (ID) Card had combined many features all on one card, including: identification, library use, building access, meal plans, student health facilities, recreational facilities access, athletic event admission, university transit, charge privileges at University Bookstore locations, access to Student Legal Services and Cavalier Advantage Access to University services.

This latter benefit is very popular. Cavalier Advantage is an account on the student, faculty or staff ID card. It is activated once funds have been deposited with the University and conveniently eliminates the need to carry money on campus. Cavalier Advantage works as a declining-balance account on the ID card - funds must be available in the account for its use. When purchases are made, the balance decreases.

However, with all these applications, note that there is no reference to residence hall security - access control. With the way things are in today's world, we needed to provide a cost-effective way to ensure that our students were safe in the residence halls, adding yet another application to our ID card.

We wanted a Grade 1 ANSI spec locking system with dual credentials - something the student had (their magnetic stripe ID card), plus something the student knew (a PIN) - to get into these halls and their rooms. The locks needed to be online and wireless so that we could create immediate lockdowns, yet eliminate the labor and hardware costs of hardwiring.

We reviewed several options but were most intrigued about what we heard was happening with a CBORD partner. Schlage was engineering a new series of combination locks and readers. It turns out that they were looking for beta sites and we accepted.