New ID scanners replace chapel cards

Courtney Ruth

Student Life Editor

Students returned to convocation Jan. 20 to find Milligan had updated its technology by replacing card punches with devices called Palms that scan student identification cards.

"There's a big grand scheme in all of this," Academic Dean Mark Matson said.

According to Matson, the ultimate goal is to move to a swipe card technology, which could replace everything from keys to enter buildings to coins for vending machines. Matson said the school is going half way with the new scanners to see how the technology works and also because of restricted funds.

The scanner costs from $1,000 to $2,000, a new Palm ranges from $69 to $499 each and the software costs an additional $60. Milligan purchased four Palms and four software packages.

Not everyone in the community is excited about the changes.

"I think there are more important things Milligan could have spent the money on," sophomore Allison Murray said.

Murray, who lives in a room with a leaky roof that has yet to be fixed, does not think the school has its financial priorities in order.

Other students were encouraged by the new technology.

"(The scanners are) a step in the right direction," said sophomore Jaime McConnell.

Problems occurred during the first week of services with getting some students' cards to scan. According to Tracee Johnson, Milligan's database administrator who set up the program, the ink color keeps some of the cards from registering.

Dean of Students Mark Fox said cards that are not scanning can be taken to the registrar and exchanged for new ones. If a card does not register on the Palm or if a student forgets to bring his or her card to a service, the student's social security number can be entered on the Palm.

Johnson set the software up so the information is sent to a Microsoft Access database when the Palm is plugged into the computer. This process of syncing the information is done after each service. At the end of the semester, a query will give out the number of days a student both attended and missed convocation or chapel.

For students, there is no way to keep track of the number of services attended except by keeping a personal record.

"The best thing to do is go to all of them," Fox said.

The scanners are the result of a year's worth of looking for a replacement to the card punchers. According to Fox, one of the reasons for the new technology is to keep students from having to keep track of so many cards.

Fox also said the scanners will be more accurate by eliminating the problem of handling students who lost their card.

The ultimate goal, according to Johnson, is for things to go smoothly and problem-free at the end of the semester, but she said she knows "nothing is ever 100 percent fool proof."