Opinions mixed about new ID system at Siegel

A fingerprint identification system incorporated this March at the Stuart C. Siegel Center Gym has garnered mixed responses among students. This voluntary identification system works in conjunction with student VCU I.D. cards.

When a student checks in with his or her card at the gym, the student’s profile comes up on the staff member’s screen. Staff members are then required to ask the student if they would like to register for the finger identification system including that it is an optional process.

If the student agrees, he or she is asked to place their finger on the scanner, which takes four independent scans for accuracy. The scan is then transferred into an algorithm, a string of numbers that is stored in the campus-secured database. The algorithm is linked to the student’s profile. The system does not store the actual fingerprint.

Even so, some students consider the process to be invasive. Kristian Taylor, an accounting and Spanish double major, signed up for the finger identification system right before working out. When she got to the locker room and starting thinking about it, however, she went back to the desk and requested that her information be erased.

“I just started feeling really uncomfortable. I didn’t really have any information about what I just did,” Taylor said.

According to Taylor, the staff member who signed her in did not inform her that the system was not mandatory.

Tom Diehl, director of recreational sports, said students who are uncomfortable should make an appointment to meet with him. Diehl said VCU Recreational Sports installed the system place because recreational sports facilities were experiencing identification fraud. Students would loan their I.D.s to other people so they could use the facilities.

“I would get a call three to four times a day,” Diehl said.

In addition, Diehl said the fingerprint identification system helps reduce check-in time. The data is also used to determine how many people are using the facilities, in order to adjust staffing accordingly.

The campus-secured database shows that nearly 40 percent of students who use the facilities at the Siegel center are enrolled in the fingerprint identification system.

For security purposes, Diehl said students who choose not to enroll in the system would be asked random questions from their profile to verify their identification. Ashaunti Kinchen, a student in the criminal justice masters program, said she was not asked to register her fingerprint when she checked
in.

In reference to the new system Kinchen said, “It’s not a big deal but I think it’s a good idea.”

Nhung Nguyen, a forensic science major, is enrolled in the system. She said she finds it convenient, in the interest of speed.

“I’m very independent,” Nguyen said. “I don’t like asking them to get in and out.”

The system passed a vulnerability screening conducted by Technology Services.

“I am comfortable with the security of the system,” Steve Werby, security officer for Info Tech Technology Services, stated in an e-mail.

Similar fingerprint identification systems are currently in use at Old Dominion University, The University of Richmond and government offices including the FBI.