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Despite enthusiasm for Harvard ID cards, sensitivity issues leave students frustrated

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

While Harvard’s new contactless student ID cards get high marks for the university’s forward thinking, the school’s student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, panned the cards for creating a high frustration level. The reason? It’s hard to find the “sweet spot” on the reader that opens doors.

In addition, it was thought students would be able to open doors without removing the card from their wallets. That has led to “a great deal of pelvic thrusting” to get the card to work, notes this Crimson opinion piece.

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Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, Ill., is piloting a program that can track students on school buses. The goal is to increase safety while determining more efficient bus routes. The school rolled out the program in late January that provides each student with a card that the student uses as he enters or exits a school bus.

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Fox News Business has taken a look at university IDs that also double as prepaid cards. Fox dubs the prepaid aspect as “the latest twist on a long tradition of college campus ID cards serving a dual financial purpose.”

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With many states requiring voter ID cards, and if you’re a student, proof of enrollment, some colleges are offering students free cards that will enable them to vote.

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The University of Glamorgan in Wales has installed new security measures that require a swipe card to enter certain parts of the building. Access to the building from the main entrance will not be restricted, but students and staff will have to swipe their card to enter the main teaching areas.

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A 27-year-old man posing as a Harvard undergraduate student stayed in the dorms, ate in the school cafeteria and chatted with many Harvard students via Facebook before being found out by campus police. He was cited for trespassing and using a false identification card.

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In an attempt to prevent students from sharing their ID cards in the cafeteria meal line, the University of Maine at Orono has deployed hand scanners.

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