New ID cards hit UMR starting April
Amruta Bhide
Issue date: 2/26/04 Section: News
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Beginning April 26th, 2004, UMR students will be issued new ID cards as part of a new ID card system coming to campus. The cards will be called 'Miner Cards' and will have several new features.
The current system was introduced in the early 1970's and involves photos of students taken with Polaroid film and a label on which student name and number are typed, all pieced together and manually laminated. The cards are very expensive and take a great deal of time to make due to the use of outdated processes and equipment.
Last March, Julia Rosemann, now Student Council President, along with Matt Wilkerson, the treasurer of the Student Council, Andy Copeland, and Brandon Wieschhaus, drafted a survey to poll student interest on certain areas about current and future ID card uses. The survey prompted 1046 responses, which resulted in a substantial interest for added security, use on vending machines, laundry machines and campus building access.
"The main concern was security. The new system is located on a central server database. If you lose your card, there is no need to visit each individual office.," said Matt Wilkerson. Rather, he added, one can call the office of New Student Programs and the number will be pulled out of the database. Wilkerson continued, "The difference is in the way the magnetic strip is encoded. The present system just has the ID number and the campus code; whereas the new card will have a card insurance number, ID number, campus code, expiration date and other possible security fields."
There were many attempts to change the system earlier. In the late 80's and early 90's the University made an attempt to change the ID system. The idea was halted due to lack of departmental and student support. In the fall of 1998, Student Council initiated another attempt to create a new ID card system. Surveys were conducted and vendors contacted. The project came to a another halt when in the spring of 1999 a fire, which razed the Pi Kappa Alpha house, also destroyed all data collected for the ID card system. The project was scrapped and tabled.
The current system was introduced in the early 1970's and involves photos of students taken with Polaroid film and a label on which student name and number are typed, all pieced together and manually laminated. The cards are very expensive and take a great deal of time to make due to the use of outdated processes and equipment.
Last March, Julia Rosemann, now Student Council President, along with Matt Wilkerson, the treasurer of the Student Council, Andy Copeland, and Brandon Wieschhaus, drafted a survey to poll student interest on certain areas about current and future ID card uses. The survey prompted 1046 responses, which resulted in a substantial interest for added security, use on vending machines, laundry machines and campus building access.
"The main concern was security. The new system is located on a central server database. If you lose your card, there is no need to visit each individual office.," said Matt Wilkerson. Rather, he added, one can call the office of New Student Programs and the number will be pulled out of the database. Wilkerson continued, "The difference is in the way the magnetic strip is encoded. The present system just has the ID number and the campus code; whereas the new card will have a card insurance number, ID number, campus code, expiration date and other possible security fields."
There were many attempts to change the system earlier. In the late 80's and early 90's the University made an attempt to change the ID system. The idea was halted due to lack of departmental and student support. In the fall of 1998, Student Council initiated another attempt to create a new ID card system. Surveys were conducted and vendors contacted. The project came to a another halt when in the spring of 1999 a fire, which razed the Pi Kappa Alpha house, also destroyed all data collected for the ID card system. The project was scrapped and tabled.