‘No socks, just boxers:' Students stuck outside after key fob malfunctions

At 12:07 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 10, Carolina Housing received widespread reports of malfunctioning key fobs leading to residence hall access issues. 

UNC Media Relations wrote in an email statement to The Daily Tar Heel that the outage was due to a programming error. According to UNC Housing, a majority of residence hall key fobs were disabled over winter break for security reasons. Media Relations wrote that the glitch occurred in the switch back to normal operations following the break.  

After staff intervention, the system was restored by 1:18 a.m. However, there was a 71 minute window where students were rendered unable to enter residence halls without assistance from people already in the building. 

Joaquin Mestre, a first-year student at UNC, said that he was returning to his suite in Ehringhaus Residence Hall when he realized that he was locked out. He estimated the time to be about 1 a.m. 

After trying his key fob on the basement of the building, Mestre said he attempted to enter Ehringhaus from the first and second floors to no avail. He said he assumed his fob got wet outside.

After waiting in the cold for about five minutes, Mestre said he called his resident advisor for help. 

“There was no one outside,” he said. “I never run into people.” 

Mestre’s RA let him into the lobby. However, like many others living on the first floor of South Campus residence halls, Mestre’s suite itself requires a specifically encrypted key fob for entry. He said that the RA had to find a community director to help acquire a key that would unlock the suite. 

Mestre’s story was mirrored by residents across campus, as reports of malfunctioning key fobs multiplied across the hour. GroupMe messages from housing communities showed students struggling to enter dorms throughout North Campus as well. UNC Media Relations wrote that the outage impacted all residence halls, with the exception of Ram Village and Baity Hill apartments, as they remained open over winter break. 

The temperature at this time remained below freezing at around 27 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the National Weather Service, exposure to frigid temperatures can cause frostbite or hypothermia. Additionally, some individuals were stuck outside without adequate gear to protect them from the cold. 

An anonymous resident on the first floor of a South Campus community said that they went to grab controller batteries from a neighbor that night. Since all access points to enter suites in their building are outside, the student was trapped on a balcony, underdressed and unaware of the key fob situation. 

“No socks, just boxers,” they said. “It was just not a comfortable situation to be in. At all.”

Without a cellphone on them to call for help, the resident said they banged on the door until a roommate awoke. They estimated being outside in the dark for about 10 minutes before being let back in. 

This is not the first time that residence hall key fobs have caused issues for the University. In November 2024, an undergraduate student at UNC was charged with two felonies —  breaking and entering, and possessing burglary tools — for attempting to enter a locked building with a replicated key fob. 

The student allegedly used a Radio Frequency Identification device to clone other key fobs, granting him unauthorized access to various residence halls. According to some security experts, such fobs can be susceptible to cloning and other programming errors, including denied access, due to the simplicity of their technology.

Carolina Housing reassured students in a Nov. 21 email to on campus residents.

“While we cannot share specific details about our security measures, please be assured that our residence hall security systems remain robust and effective," the email stated.

Media Relations wrote that the January programming issue has been corrected and that fail-safes were put in place to prevent future occurrences.

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