Students annoyed with new safety policy

The StagCard: Essential to students for everything from eating to entering a building. And now, even to pass through the gates on campus.

Public Safety implemented a new policy beginning Feb. 15 wherein students’ StagCards must be swiped upon entrance to campus through the main gate, an update of the previous policy of checking parking stickers in order to gain access to campus.

Thus far, this policy has been deemed unnecessary and a nuisance by many students.

“If they [Public Safety] feel safer by swiping the card then that’s fine, but I don’t understand why they would need to do that considering we have parking stickers blatantly on the front of the cars that prove we go to Fairfield,” said Caroline Quinn ’09.

According to Frank Ficko, associate director of Public Safety, “The purpose of the StagCard reader used at the main entrance is to assist us in confirming a person’s identity and affiliation to campus.”

Ficko also said that the implementation of this policy was not in response to any one specific incident, and because all members of the University community are required to carry their StagCards at all times, presenting the card to officers at the main gate should not be an issue.

“When we’re [students] in a cab, it’s obviously different and makes sense that we have to show our StagCards, but it doesn’t really make sense for cars with parking stickers,” said Quinn.

Kyle Bono ’08 agreed.

“It would be so much easier if they just looked at your parking pass,” he said. “That’s how they used to do it, and it was no problem.”

The policy requires only one student per car to present a card to be swiped.

Asked about the possible negative repercussions resulting from a policy that tracks the time students arrive on campus at night, Michael Tortora of administrative services and student affairs could not discern any.

“Similar to card readers at residence halls and other campus facilities, it is used to verify the cardholder’s identity and their permission to enter campus. It would not be used to penalize anyone for coming back late,” he said.

But the purpose of the new policy is still a mystery to some.

“I can understand if you swipe everyone’s; it could be [justified as a] safety issue,” said Bono. “But now it’s just going to be a headache.”