Students have recently raised concerns about the safety conditions in U of T’s buildings, particularly the lack of TCard scanners at their entrances.     

The university’s TCards webpage states: “Data from/on the card is used to verify/grant access to relevant services and facilities like libraries, athletic facilities, exams, meal plans, printing services and more.” 

“For example, anyone can go into the Athletic Centre building or the Robarts or Gerstein buildings during open hours,” a U of T spokesperson wrote in an email to The Varsity. “But only those with a TCard can access the athletic facilities or the library collections.” 

Currently, the UTSG campus requires students to scan their TCards to enter libraries like the Robarts Library, the Gerstein Science Information Centre, and the Ontario Institute of Secondary Education (OISE) Library. UTM and UTSC students don’t have card scanners at the entrances of their campus libraries.

To scan or not to scan

The Varsity spoke to students from all three campuses to find out if they believe U of T should require more university libraries and other buildings to have TCard access. 

Katerina Vovk — a fourth-year engineering science student from UTSG — wrote in an email to The Varsity that she feels “much safer in buildings where there are [TCard] scanners.”

Vovk added that her feelings of unsafety inside the university buildings are linked to the recent voyeurism cases at U of T, noting that “over the past couple of years, there have been many incidents of bathroom peeping.” 

Throughout the 2023–2024 academic year, the Toronto Police Services arrested three people in connection to multiple reported voyeurism incidents at U of T’s New College residence. One of the arrested people was a U of T student. The most recent incident allegedly took place in May 2024 in the basement of Innis College. 

Despite her safety concerns, Vovk wrote that having to take out her TCard every time she enters a building would be “inconvenient.” She continued that she felt “that the scanners would create too much annoyance.” 

One UTSC student shared a similar opinion. Edris Formuli — a fourth-year student majoring in population health — wrote that he “would feel safer if UTSC had [TCard] scanners at the entrances to specific areas such as student lounges, classrooms, and the library.”

He added, “If UTSC is a so-called public institution, why are we paying tuition to access classrooms, learning, and facilities that would otherwise be free to non-[U of T] students?”  

Kathy Dang — a fourth-year digital enterprise management student at UTM — shared a story about having to deal with an alleged non-U of T member bothering her inside campus buildings. She said that a middle-aged man approached her the year before inside the UTM library, where she worked at the Digital Exploration Lab. The person told Dang he was a student at the University of Waterloo and worked at TD Bank. 

She recalled how the man asked her whether she was looking for an internship and if she would connect with him on LinkedIn, although she had never met him before.

“I was starting to have that gut feeling like something’s not right,” she said in an interview with The Varsity. “I just felt very uncomfortable.”

The man returned later the next week when Dang was working her shift. Dang alleged that he tried to take a photo of her laptop screen.  

Because of her experiences, Dang said she would prefer the UTM library to have TCard scanners installed at its entrance. “I feel like it would be beneficial for security reasons,” she said.

Another UTM student had a different opinion. Rio McKen, a fifth-year digital enterprise management student, said that his campus, unlike UTSG, should not be required to have scanners in buildings. 

“UTM has been known as a commuter campus. You would have to get out of the way to get to campus, whereas downtown, people go through buildings just to get through them, and that can create a lot of issues in terms of safety,” said McKen in an interview with The Varsity.

Despite their differences in opinion, McKen and Dang agreed that if the university were to set up more scanners in buildings, U of T should devise a simpler scanning system. For example, McKen suggested attaching a PIN to each TCard to allow students to present the code at the entrance in case they forget their TCard. 

After hearing students’ input, The Varsity contacted the university for a comment. A representative from U of T did not confirm if the university intends to add more scanners.

A university spokesperson noted that TCards are not generally used for building access. In an email to The Varsity, they wrote “Most access points to buildings are controlled by fobs, not TCards, and it’s mainly U of T employees who have fobs.” 

They also referred students to the university’s TCards webpage.