EDITORIAL: UNIVERSAL CARD

---

Debit card plan would benefit all, but only if properly implemented

---

Wouldn't it be great if we had one card that could replace all of the above? The Student Association and campus administrators have recently begun looking into a "universal card" that would do everything our current ID cards do and much more. In addition to allowing students to gain access to buildings and pay for meals, the proposed card would serve as a debit card. Students and their parents could deposit money into special accounts. ID cards could then be used to purchase items at such places as the Rice Campus Store, CoffeeHouse, Pub and vending machines on campus. The card could even be used at local restaurants and stores if the university decides to allow local merchants to take advantage of the new card.

Before we rush ahead and embrace this idea, however, several issues need to be addressed. First, we need an ID card that is durable. A "universal" student ID is worthless if cardreaders will not accept them. Currently, our IDs are laminated, which means that the plastic begins peeling apart soon after they are given to students. At a cost of about $1 per card, Rice could avoid lamination in its ID production process. Instead, the photos could be digitized and printed directly onto the cards. Of course, the necessary equipment would be expensive, but the university might save money over the long term because the cards would last longer.

A bigger concern is security. If students can use the cards at multiple locations, it is crucial that safeguards be implemented to prevent thieves from using them. A recent "20/20" report on credit card fraud showed that retailers do not look at ID photos to make sure they match the customer's face, so additional measures are necessary. One possibility is to require merchants to obtain signatures whenever the card is used; this signature could then be compared to the one on the ID card. This step, combined with checking the photo on the ID, should be sufficient. Vending machines present a problem, but one that could be solved by requiring students to enter a personal identification number. In addition, students should be able to report stolen cards any time of the day, any day of the week and expect the missing card to be voided by the university immediately.

Finally, the university should be willing to go "all out" and make the card truly universal. There is no sense in spending hundreds of thousands of dollars updating student ID cards unless students are given a variety of uses for them. For this reason area merchants should be allowed to purchase cardreaders and give students the option of paying with their IDs. Rice could actually make a profit by charging the merchants a processing fee, say three percent, as credit card companies do. Since Rice would control who has cardreaders, and since students would not be able to spend campus meal plan money off-campus, the administration has no good reason for objecting to such a setup.

Of course, there is a point where too much is too much. With a universal card, vendors would be more eager to come on campus. Rice is a quiet, close-knit community made up of a beautiful and consistent architecture. If Rice ever decides to allow fast food restaurants to open its doors inside the hedges, there is a potential for the university to develop a mall atmosphere similar to that at Duke University, which was one of the first universities in the nation to adopt a universal card.

These hurdles shouldn't be too hard to overcome. After all, if Duke, Harvard, Northwestern and a host of other universities have been successful in developing universal cards, there's no reason we cannot follow suit.

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the September 15, 1995 issue.

Copyright © 1996 The Rice Thresher. All Rights Reserved.
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of:
The Rice Thresher, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.