Quincy University in western Illinois is using a two-year grant to make security improvements to its main campus building, The Herald-Whig reported.

The school has installed 21 security cameras in Francis Hall. The university also added Key card access to the exterior of the main campus building in the first phase of the project, The Herald-Whig reported. Previously, Francis Hall had no security cameras.

"Just this past summer, we had a burglary to our alumni offices," Sam Lathrop, the university's director of security, told The Herald-Whig. "If I had had the cameras that are in place now, we would have had some terrific footage of someone coming and going. It would have given the police another tool to investigate."

The Marion Gardner Jackson Charitable Trust awarded the private liberal arts college a two-year, $171,900 grant in Dec. 2012 to support the university's Enhanced Campus Security System (ECSS). The university also contributed $30,000 to the project.

The second phase of the project will include upgrades to classroom doors over the summer.

The enhanced security project is designed to increase safety and security of the university community of more than 1,600 on-campus students and staff members.

Lathrop told The Herald-Whig said the ECSS project was created after discovering "that grant money could be available."

"We looked at our campus, and we started to prioritize projects and building, and Francis Hall is the heart and soul of our university," Lathrop said.

Francis Hall houses the president's office, financial offices and the vast majority of its classrooms.

With the addition of new security cameras and key card access system, security personnel can remotely lock down the building in an event of an emergency, schedule building hours, and discourage unauthorized access.