Eventually, the moment you swipe your Penn State identification card in any of the dorm halls and enter the lobby, each move will be recorded.

At least until you get to the elevator.

Penn State is in the process of installing surveillance cameras in dorm entryways and lobbies in an attempt to make campus and its housing facilities safer.

Nearly everyone cringes when they hear the words -- surveillance cameras; however, this is a smart move by Penn State.

The cameras will record only in the entryways and lobbies and will not extend to individual floors. They will not be monitored live either, only used in review after an incident.

These cameras would have been useful last spring when piles of newspapers were set on fire and left, causing damage and inconvenience for many students.

And in an even more serious situation, the cameras would have been a vital tool this summer when an unknown man entered women's dorm halls on a few separate occasions and, in some cases, assaulted them.

With cameras in the entryways, police would have been able to narrow down the time and the people entering and exiting the building before, during and after the incidents.

When surveillance cameras were installed on some downtown streets to deter crime, there was quite a backlash among citizens.

It was seen as an intrusion on rights, but this case is very different, mostly because they will never be monitored live.

If the cameras were installed on each dorm floor and in the bathrooms, it'd be a different story.

But installing them only in the lobbies and entryways keeps the installation only a gesture of responsibility and concern by the administration.

Now the only question is: why not earlier?

Penn State Altoona, Berks, Erie, Hazleton, McKeesport and Mont Alto branch campuses already have cameras installed in their residential buildings.

Usually, University Park, being the main campus, would be the place to begin projects such as these.

It's a little late, but the student body should be grateful for the upgrade.