{"id":1422,"date":"2026-03-27T09:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T09:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/03\/27\/2026-03-27-students-deserve-a-choice\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:10:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:10:37","slug":"2026-03-27-students-deserve-a-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/03\/27\/2026-03-27-students-deserve-a-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"Students deserve a\u00a0choice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Eli Wick<\/a> · Staff Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the advent of technology comes much skepticism, and in this case, skepticism is not so unfounded as one might think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s common practice among students with a meal swipe plan to ask a friend to use their swipe for them \u2014 be it due to sickness, large workloads or even a sports injury. However, with the consolidation of physical ID cards and cellular devices, this is no longer a feasible practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a student to receive food in this manner, they would either have to make the trip themselves, endangering their physical and academic health, or relinquish their phone, a solitary hub of communication in today\u2019s modern world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As beneficial as a phone can be in the hands of a perfectly productive person, I do not count myself among that efficient number. Often, I find myself engaging with social media more than I would with a theological text or a paper for one of my classes, which is why leaving our phones in our rooms can be a good idea. Leaving phones behind can increase productivity tenfold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if a phone is like a hub for communication and an ID card is a physical necessity, combining the two limits security and decreases the amount of time one might better spend on their studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the main reasons for the implementation of a digital ID is campus security. A physical ID can be very easy to obtain if you know where to look, especially on a campus where ID duplication is also quite possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initial deterrent for losing a campus ID was a $25 fine. This fine was received more like a price than a penalty, and it showed \u2014 some students began duplicating the mag-strips in their identification cards for as little as $4, with no need to take a trip to the TLC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of imposing a monetary deterrent for losing an ID, it would have been in the college\u2019s best interest to discourage duplication and instead make the replacement ID process more accessible. However, times are different now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The digital IDs do away with the lost-card scenario, instead establishing a tighter connection between you and your building access. Our dependence on our devices lends itself to the security of higher profile areas on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the security benefits, a digital ID could open way to a host of quality-of-life changes, such as visual scan confirmation on your screen and making Crimson Cash much more accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But are these benefits enough? Students on campus have a lot to say, evidenced by the number of article submissions in this paper, conversations in lobbies and ever-interesting comments on all-campus chatrooms. A few are in support, noting the seemingly seamless transition from physical to digital, but many others are loud in opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an experiment I conducted across campus, devices were tested to see whether they were a feasible improvement in students\u2019 daily lives. A few friends and I looked into the digital and physical IDs efficacy amongst several device models and buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On average, dormitories were the most difficult to enter using the digital ID, and Apple devices performed worse than their competition when at low or zero battery. Even on the most efficient devices, students reported needing to attempt a digital scan up to four times before entry was allowed; one student reported, \u201cWhen it works, I feel like I won the lottery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When smart watches with a wallet capability were tested, Apple devices performed better than their larger equivalents, with Samsung and Google watches rarely performing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comparative to their digital counterparts, the physical cards were found to scan nearly every time when making physical contact with the scanners. The continued efficiency of the physical cards led to fewer holdups during peak scanning hours (Wednesday and Friday at 11 a.m.), a quicker scanning experience than Apple devices and a lack of dependence on phone battery life to get into dorms and dining halls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, the rollout of digital cards could prove safer, but much like the TSA, an increase in safety often leads to a decrease in swiftness. The question remains: should we give up early on increased security in favor of a few extra seconds in chapel? Or should we collectively give some time to experiment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe that the college should at the very least allow students to answer that for themselves instead of choosing for them. My pitch is not a continued use of the duplicatable cards or a full switch to the digital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather, the college should slowly phase out the unsafe mag-strip cards in favor of the safe digital cards. After the safety is confirmed, the college should have ready a physical RFID or NFC version as an alternative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the advent of technology comes much skepticism, and in this case, skepticism is not so unfounded as one might think. It\u2019s common practice among students with a meal swipe plan to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":[94,52,29],"class_list":["post-1422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions","tag-eli-wick","tag-issue-2026-03-27","tag-perspectives"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"With the advent of technology comes much skepticism, and in this case, skepticism is not so unfounded as one might think. It\u2019s common practice among students with a meal swipe plan to","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1666,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422\/revisions\/1666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}