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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

opinion oped editorial

EDITORIAL: New ID, who dis

Despite the constant emails warning us with subject lines like “Two-Step Login: Don’t get locked out on February 2,” we all felt a little jaded when time came to download Duo Mobile on our phones, sacrificing storage space for yet another security feature.

Just one more requirement from IU that we had to have to use online services like Canvas.

Similarly, IU is pulling the rug out from under us once again, but maybe it’s not as bad this time.

If the picture on your student ID card looks as though you survived a tsunami or heat wave during freshman-year orientation, you’re in luck.

Last week, IU introduced CrimsonCards, which will debut this April and be available for students, staff and faculty members across all IU campuses.

Rob Lowden oversees systems at IU like Canvas, and told the Indiana Daily Student they’re making the ID switch for safety, branding and efficiency.

On the bright side, cover lines at bars will be far shorter and way more effective because bouncers will know if you’re a far-too-eager freshman.

However, that side-effect will only be temporary — all current students and faculty are required to trade in their current IDs for new ones by June 2018.

Although this is way more of a heads up than we got for the duo login, it still seems like IU is putting an unnecessary burden on students to trek over to card services and get the 
replacement.

As always, there are 
reasons.

Hopefully, those reasons stretch far beyond the cosmetic plea for IU to stay #onbrand.

After all, CrimsonCards sounds freakishly similar to Harvard’s Crimson Cash, which might be a sneaky move by IU to seem super fancy and quasi-Ivy League.

Safety is the main proponent of the switch. Each new ID will have a chip, comparable to those on credit and debit cards.

If you recall, these chips initially sucked the life out of all of us and replaced it with humiliation when CVS only had the swipe option.

But it also prevents people from easily stealing data, which is a plus.

What precious data is being stored on our student IDs is lost to us, but the safety measure seems semi-legitimate, especially when you factor in that IDs allow access to more than 6,000 rooms in residence halls.

The “efficiency” behind the transition probably refers to the fact that IU will be saving a whopping $500,000 by getting the IDs in bulk for all IU campuses instead of individual ones for each school. Because these IDs will be the same across IU’s campuses, if you’re taking a computer science class at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis this summer, have no fear. Your ID will work there too.

IU vice president for information and technology Brad Wheeler told IU-Purdue University Indianapolis’ Campus Citizen that “the card is identity, the card is security, and the card is commerce.” The card is also $30 if you lose it, so don’t do that.

It all sounds a little brain-washy to the Editorial Board, but in layman’s terms, the card is life.

It’s time for an upgrade.

With this new ID, you can vote in elections with your card, you can eat with your card — both as an emergency utensil and a form of payment.

So kids, have at it.

Go forth and retrieve your new CrimsonCard and enjoy the tiny piece of plastic that will run your life for the next however many years until IU decides another change is due.

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