The University’s conversion to new identification numbers and identification cards for all students, faculty and staff members is nearly complete. The University Card Office reported Monday that all registered students, faculty and staff have changed their ID number from their Social Security number to a randomly generated number.
The conversion means students will no longer be forced carry their Social Security number with them, nor will they need to write it on tests or class assignments.
The original timeline for the replacement of student identification numbers comprised four years beginning in July 2002. However, the Card Office reported the process was completed Feb. 15, more than a year ahead of schedule.
At the start of the program, the University changed the style of identification cards to incorporate the University’s new “O” logo and allowed ID holders to voluntarily switch ID numbers to a randomly generated series of digits beginning with “950.” The Card Office is phasing out the old ID card, which featured a photo of Deady Hall.
The University decided to use random numbers after it received a number of complaints about identity theft, Joel Woodruff, manager of the Card Office, said. Confidentiality of personal information was also a concern.
“All the universities are doing it now,” Woodruff said of the randomly generated
ID numbers.
The bulk of individuals who still have a Social Security number on file are “inactive records,” and don’t currently attend school, Woodruff said. By the end of the year, however, those records should be converted as well.
Woodruff added that Lane Transit District has been told to stop accepting the old generation of ID card as a bus pass on April 1.
“If (students) have an old card that has a 950 number on it, it’ll be good for campus, but (the Deady Hall) design is being discontinued,” he said.
Individuals who have their Social Security numbers stolen are at risk of identity theft.
“It’s not so much a risk carrying it around,” said Pam Olshanski, a Eugene Police Department spokeswoman. “The danger is when you inadvertently lose it.
“It’s a good safety measure to ensure that you don’t lose your wallet if you carry your Social Security card in it and you don’t put your Social Security number on your checks.”
Olshanski added that there are no identity theft cases that have been linked directly to the Social Security number printed on a University ID, but that an identity thief could use a Social Security number to open
accounts in someone else’s name.
Woodruff said the University used the Deady Hall design of the ID from 1996 to 2002. There are no plans to change the design in the near future.
According to the Card Office,
anyone who still uses his or her Social Security number as a University ID number or a card of the old design should have it converted. There is no charge for the process, provided students bring their old cards with them to the office, which is open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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