Is it possible that one’s school mailbox could be accessed by another student? Recently, a question was raised by students on campus who wondered just how secure their mailboxes are.

The primary concern is the ability for some students to open other students’ mailboxes with their keys. Not every key can open up other people’s mailboxes, but there are keys that can open several mailboxes in addition to the one it belongs to.

When asked if he feels the mailboxes are secure, Jim Bajczyk, director of residence life, said, “I definitely do. Each person has a mailbox key that should only fit their mailbox, or they have a combination and each combination is different. I can’t see any reason why somebody could get into somebody else’s mailbox. The mailroom is always locked and mainly only professional staff has access to it.”

When asked if he feels like campus mailboxes are secure, Brady Bunjovac, sophomore computer science major, said, “In a way I do, but I have noticed that the mailbox next to mine has opened with my key. I don’t know whether it is a key problem or a lock problem.”

According to Bunjovac, he feels like his privacy is secure with his mailbox “to a point.”

“I have forgotten my key before and you are easily able to go and ask for your mail out of your mailbox without even showing an ID card,” Bunjovac said. “They did not verify who I was in the past when I have gone to pick up my mail.”

In response to this, Jackie Flesch, manager of the business office and mailroom, said, “As far as handing out mail, we have not had any problems at this point. Although,

students should be (using) their key or the combination to collect their mail.”

When asked whether he could open friends’ mailboxes for them with his key, Ashton Holzman, junior computer science and communication major, said “Yeah, you can open them.”

“The problem is not a consistent one,” said Amanda Smith, junior writing and communication major. “Out of curiosity, I tried my key on several friends’ mailboxes. I discovered that I could open a couple of mailboxes, but not all of them. Whether this is true for every student, I’m not sure, but it’s surprising nonetheless.”

According to Bajczyk, “Wear and tear can occur, and the college would take steps to fix any mailbox that is broken.”

After being alerted to the fact that some keys can open several mailboxes, Flesch assessed the problem.

“We were made aware of this issue by the Mirror,” Flesch shared in an email statement. “We will be looking into capital funding to upgrade the mailboxes.”

When asked to define capital funding, Flesch said capital expenditures are used by a company to acquire or upgrade physical assets such as equipment, property or industrial buildings. According to Flesch, the problem with keys opening multiple boxes is due to wear and tear. There is currently no estimation as to when the upgrades will be made.