University Removes Social Security Numbers From ID Cards

Reasonable people can debate whether a new year in college actually offers a chance to recreate your identity. This year, however, Columbia is offering a comparable opportunity: new identification cards.

Incoming Columbia students and employees were greeted this year with new CUID cards that University officials hope will eliminate inconveniences and concerns about identity theft associated with the passes that have been used for the last several years. Over the course of the fall semester, all returning students and employees will also receive new cards as part of the $6 million overhaul of the ID card system. According to Lisa Hogarty, executive vice president of student and administrative services, non-first-year students should expect more information regarding the distribution of their IDs in “late fall.”

The driving feature behind the new cards is the use of a randomly generated number to identify Columbians rather than their Social Security numbers, which were previously used. Identity theft has been a concern since the cards’ use of Social Security numbers was brought to the attention of administrators in 2003.
Such concerns have prevented Columbia from installing swipe boxes which would allow students to use flex dollars at off-campus businesses until now, despite strong support among students for such a program. Scott Wright, associate vice president of student auxiliary services, is currently working with student officials to launch “off-campus flex” at several Morningside Heights businesses as early as next semester.

The new cards are the most visible pieces of a system-wide overhaul of the security system which will eventually allow students to manage guests online rather than having to appear in person at public safety headquarters, and access certain unmanned buildings with a wave of the hand rather than a swipe. The IDs are also equipped to grant several different types of access to a single cardholder.

“Someone who is a student at Barnard but has a work-study job at Columbia will now need only one ID,” said Rosemary Keane, assistant vice president of strategic communications and planning.