New ID cards offer security, convenience

By Randi Bemiss, On-Line Forty-Niner,

Monday, August 31, 1998

Cal State Long Beach is responding to anxiety about identity theft, security and convenience considerations by issuing new multipurpose identification cards in November, according to Re-carding Program Coordinator Donna Soto.

Students, faculty and staff are required to go to the University Student Union Multipurpose Room weekdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. between Nov.9 and 25 to obtain new cards, she said.

The new card will be more useful than the current card and will not be imprinted with social security numbers, said Soto, who is also a University Bookstore employee.

The Associated Students Senate chose student Danny Parsons' artistic design for the new card after voting on proposals prepared as part of a graphic design class project, Soto said.

New machines, called value transfer stations, will enable card holders to add cash to their cards and check their balances, she said. They will also issue guest cards.

CSULB ordered two $7,000 machines for the University Library and the Student Union and may buy one for the bookstore, Soto said.

The machines will provide students, faculty and staff with automatic access to individual Beach Club accounts, a feature of the new CSULB identification card, preventing trips to the bookstore to add money to the debit cards.

A minimum of $5 can be added at the new machines, but one may still activate the new card account at the bookstore with just $1, Soto said. Currently, a $10 minimum initial deposit is required for a Beach Club card account.

Card holders will have the option of using the card to debit money from their prepaid accounts at the library, computer laboratories and campus-wide dining services - including USU services and resident meal plans, Soto said.

They may also use it to access their own student records. And it may be activated for use as an AT&T calling card.

The ability to cancel a lost card without losing the money in the account is an added security feature, a protection similarly afforded to traveler's check users.

CSULB's re-carding program is part of a Cal State University system-wide change, called the Optim 9000 system. It is a collaborative effort of the CSU system and AT&T. The campuses in Sacramento, San Francisco and San Bernardino have already issued new cards.