Many college students know the consequences of using a fake driver’s license to get into bars and clubs, but consequences also exist for people using another individual’s University identification card around campus.
University students — and faculty — are being monitored on campus to ensure the safety of school facilities.
To get a card, all students must do is present a driver’s license, or another photo ID, and provide information that confirms they are enrolled in classes at the University. Students can be issued one of two kinds of cards, UO Card Office spokeswoman Kimberley Parzuchowski said.
“Students enrolled in classes but not receiving credit for those classes get a program card that has no bus privileges,” she said. “Others get the University ID card that includes all privileges.”
Faculty, on the other hand, must get paperwork from payroll with their classification. Staff must also show a drivers’ license. But once students and faculty receive their cards, it is at their discretion how the cards are used in school facilities.
“We simply check in the system if they have valid identification and are registered in classes,” said University Ticket Office manager Mary Barrios of the policy toward students.
“Students always try to use other people’s IDs or old IDs,” she said.
For anyone caught doing this, no valid identification means no ticket for University events. If the person does get into the event — such as a football game — and is caught using the false ID, the card will be confiscated and turned into the Department of Public Safety, and from there back to the card office. At on-campus facilities, the policy seems to vary from department to department.
Anyone caught using a card that isn’t theirs at the Student Recreation Center can have the card confiscated and the owner of the card can lose Rec Center privileges for a week.
The only change from last year’s policy to this year’s has been to the students’ advantage. Should the person have a physical education class in the Rec Center, privileges are only revoked at certain times so the person can still attend class.
“We just want to protect our facility to be sure the people that are supposed to be here are the ones using it,” assistant director of operations Molly Kennedy said.
While there are random checks for student and faculty cards, most of those checks are of people who swipe their cards incorrectly at the entrance. But a team of employees of less than 75 can hardly match the more than 4,000 weekly guests to the Rec Center, some of whom will do whatever it takes to get in, she said.
“Some people steal cards,” she said. “Others use their roommates’ cards.”
The policy was made simple, that, “No card means no admission — no exceptions,” Rec Center facilities manager Jessica Geraci said.
After the first offense, misused cards are turned into the card office. Second-time offenders are handled on an individual basis and referred to student conduct.
The policy is similar in the EMU computer lab. While this term has brought the addition of a card scanner, the policy of “no card, no admission” remains unchanged.
“We got this scanner because it is the most effective way to check our database for who is a current student,” lab assistant Nikki LeFevre said.
While students without a card can go to the card office to obtain a temporary copy this term, the temporary card is only good for one day instead of the whole quarter as it was in the past, said LeFevre. As in other departments, if a student is caught with an invalid card, the student will be turned away and sent to the card office.
It seems no matter where you go on campus, the conclusion about ID cards is the same.
“No ID,” Kennedy said, “means no entry.”