How Cards Work
The Access Control System allows Students, Faculty, Staff, Visitors, Contractors, and Vendors to enter designated doors with an access card. You may use other doors to exit the building, but you may enter designated access card areas only by using your access card. At Montclair State University we use two different types of access cards: Proximity Cards and Magnetic Stripe. See Access Card Types below for more information.
Access card-enabled entry doors are equipped with a time-delay device, which allows you to enter or leave a room or building without an alarm sounding. However, if an exterior door is held open more than 30 seconds or propped open, a local alarm is activated. Simultaneously, the University Police Department receives an alert at their headquarters.
It's important for all residents of a building to be considerate and cooperative and make sure that doors are closed, not only for the safety and security of all the residents, but so that other residents aren't disturbed by alarms that sound when doors are held or propped open. Current Access Card holders may use their cards to gain access into the following University buildings and facilities:
- University Hall
- Alexander Kasser Theater
- Village at the Little Falls
- The Children’s Center
- Partridge Hall
- Science Hall
- Richardson Hall
- College Hall
- Dickson Hall
When buildings are locked, access is restricted to authorized cardholders. Access privileges vary by cardholder, in terms of the day of the week, time of day, and areas that can be accessed. They are updated on a regular basis, usually at the start and end of each academic semester, to accommodate building occupancy changes throughout the academic calendar.
Access Card Types
Proximity Cards (or Prox-cards)
Proximity cards provide reliable and convenient access. Proximity technology allows fast, accurate reading while offering card read distances from 4 to 6 inches from the reader, dependant on the type of proximity reader and proximity card being used. Since these cards do not require physical contact with the reader, they are virtually maintenance and wear-free. With Proximity Cards a magnetic signal is induced and this transmits information back to the card reader to be read and authorized, as appropriate.
Magnetic Stripe (or Mag-stripe)
Magnetic stripe recording is very similar to audio and video recording. The basic differences, of course, are that the magnetic material is applied to a paper or plastic card or ticket and data is stored on the stripe instead of sound or images. Information can be recorded, read, and re-recorded many times. Most current credit cards are magnetic stripe cards