Fun fact: The UO ID card design is now 10 years old.
Another fun fact: That will change soon.
The UO Card Office is launching a “re-card” project that will allow all current UO ID card holders to get a newly designed UO ID card. Incoming students will also receive the new card during IntroDUCKtion.
The UO ID card serves as the official identification card for students, faculty and staff at the University of Oregon, which allows them to access buildings on campus, ride local public transportation for free, use campus libraries and pay for meals on campus with meal points or Campus Cash.
UO student Kathleen Darby, an undergraduate student majoring in Digital Arts, created the winning design through a competition judged by a committee of professionals and students. She also worked as a student graphic designer for UO Housing.
“I decided to pay tribute to our beautiful campus as well as highlight the residence halls and iconic university architecture,” Darby said.
“The update was intended to bring a little more creativity to the cards, as opposed to the generic look currently on the IDs,” Card Office and Guest Services Manager Tamarra White said.
Besides the design, not much will be change with the new ID cards, White said. Card holders will automatically have access to almost all same the services as the old cards, with the exception of building access after closing hours. White said students can update their information with the new card in order to continue access to academic buildings that they may need to get into after they close.
In 2014, UO Active Minds launched a campaign to persuade the university to include university resources numbers – Health Center, Safe Ride, Sexual Assault Prevention, Non Emergency Public Safety – on the back of the card.
“A lot of the time (these are) resources that students forget,” Active Minds member Juan Rivera said. “In my case, as a first year student you know about them, and you learn about them. As you progress throughout the years, you start forgetting what was originally there.”
Not all of these resources made it in the new design, though the numbers for the Sexual Assault Response Team and the Emergency 9-1-1 number do appear on the back of the new card. Students will also find their student ID number and barcode on the back of their new cards.
This is the most recent major change with UO ID cards, since last year when card holders were first allowed to submit selfies as their ID photos. There were some restrictions including funny faces, cropped pictures, costumes, sunglasses or other headgear, out-of-focus photos and angled pictures.
Some students that have already gotten the new cards ran into some issues while trying to get onto Lane Transportation District buses earlier this month. Student government adviser Becky Girvan said the problem has been resolved after three students reported the incidents to LTD and ASUO.
All current students, faculty and staff will be able to pick up their new ID cards beginning of this fall term. By the end of Winter 2017, the services associated with the old cards will be deactivated.
A previous version of this article stated that none of the numbers for emergency response resources will appear on the new ID cards. This is not true.