Tufts University, Medford, Mass., will be issuing new IDs to its students in an initiative with the Department of Public and Environmental Safety.
A report from the Tufts Daily reveals that the new ID cards will be issued to returning students prior to the start of next semester following a change in the ID numbers used by the new Integrated Student Information System (iSIS).
The previous system saw student ID numbers include a “9911” number sequence, meaning that the jump to the new iSIS system, planned for August, will render these student numbers invalid.
Sources at the university reveal that the ID cards do not interact directly with iSIS, but that a number of school offices and departments — student services and Public Safety departments for example — rely on iSIS for student information. In fact, it is the Public Safety office that will begin printing and distributing new ID cards in the coming summer months, beginning with students taking summer courses and graduate students arriving on campus before the fall semester starts.
A campus wide push of the new IDs will occur when students living on campus arrive in the fall for move-in.
Returning students will need to turn in the old ID cards in order to receive a new one and after the new ID is printed, the old card will be deactivated. The plan is to set up card stations in highly trafficked areas on campus, like the student union and fitness center to aid in the deployment of the new IDs.
The distribution system is based on the same method used by Public Safety in 2010— an update that saw students issued new ID cards with features like JumboCash numbers and emergency contacts.
Aesthetically speaking, the cards will be a change for the university as well. At present, the card design varies depending on the campus that student attends. The new IDs, however, will feature a universal design template for all three disparate campus locations.
