By Jesse Cataldo

For those living on campus, there are few actions more routine than the swipe with a student’s card, known as the Hofstra ID card. The ID card is used so many times a day, for so many different purposes, that swiping it becomes as habitual as turning a key. In fact, the process is so mundane that most students give little thought to what happens each time they use the card. Many are not aware that each swipe is recorded and stored in the Hofstra database.

“I didn’t even realize that [that each swipe was recorded and stored],” Sandeep Nair, a sophomore, said.

Even with the relative ignorance of the campus population, the idea seems to be a logical conclusion, especially since one of the main purposes of the card is to ensure security for the University. The card serves as a combination pass-key/debit card, and has two basic functions: granting access to campus locations and allowing students to spend their meal plan and Dutch Debits balance. In both cases, the time and date of the swipe is recorded.

Each time food is purchased on campus using the card – be it from the dining hall or a vending machine – the transaction is recorded by Hofstra Card Services. This provides the University with information on who’s eating what, when, and where. Access to this type of information allows the University to be knowledgeable on what foods are being consumed, what times most students are eating, and which establishments are most popular. Ideally, it also allows the University to serve the student population’s dietary needs more effectively. The recorded information is also used in cases in which a student feels there is a discrepancy with their balance. In these cases, Card Services is able to bring up the entire transaction record, allowing them to inform students when and where their money was spent.

Each time a student swipes into their residence, or leaves their ID with RSR, the information is recorded and stored by Public Safety. Some students are uncomfortable with this level of surveillance.

“I feel like I’m being watched; it’s an uncomfortable feeling,” Cheryl Collins, a freshman, said.

Even so, the information drawn from the swipe history far from creates an exact picture of a student’s location at any given time. There are no out-swipes, meaning that the recorded information only tells when a student entered a location, not how long they were there.

Public Safety Director Ed Bracht assures that the stored information remains practically unused.

“It is only used if a student goes missing, if the parents are unable to locate their child we will look into the history,” Bracht said.

A student’s personal meal plan or Dutch Debits transactions are not secret, and will be available publicly soon, Chris Westby, director of Hofstra Card Services, said. Information about a student’s individual dining history will be accessible online within the next few weeks. The information will be accessible through the Hofstra Portal on the University’s Web site, as part of the Hofstra Online Information System.

The openness about the whole process of releasing an individual’s dining history should be enough to allay any fears of information being secretly extracted and used. If anything, it raises questions about overall campus security, and what kind of steps should be used to maintain it. The University faces the rare problem of being located in the middle of an urban center. It’s no secret that the surrounding Hempstead area is not the safest. According to houseandhome.msn.com, the violent crime ratio for the 11550 ZIP code, which is the town of Hempstead, is twice that of the national average. This creates additional problems and concerns for both students and administrative officials. The public safety briefs each week are filled with incidents of non-students entering the campus and causing trouble. Is the campus secure enough for students to feel safe? As of now it seems that the answer is yes, but all it would take is one violent incident to upset that fragile balance.

The same kinds of conflicts are reflected in on-campus life. With so many people in such close proximity to each other, there is always the threat of violence or theft. The big question seems not to be whether this kind minimal surveillance is a violation of student’s privacy, but whether it is enough to keep the student population feeling safe and secure. Even though swipe records are not used to enforce law or monitor students, their existence proves students are being monitored, albeit not heavily. If needed, such records could be modified and expanded in the future to prevent a clearer picture of what exactly is happening on-campus.

As far as security goes, many find such precautions as mandatory swipes to be annoying and inconvenient. The question is: would they feel safe without them? More importantly, would they be safe? Considering the type of environment that Hofstra is located in, these types of security seem to be necessary. As long as they don’t invade privacy, such methods should only have positive consequences.

Most students pay little attention to what information the University is recording and what is being done with it.

“I guess I don’t really care,” Teisha Mary, a sophomore, said. “It’s not something I think about.”

It seems, as long as it doesn’t become invasive, a little security is a good thing for the campus of the University.

Card readers, like this one at the Hammer Computer Lab, log each swipe in a database.