Point Park faculty, staff and eventually students will soon be receiving new IDs as part of an initiative to help with the security transition, as well as give the staff a sense of community at Point Park.
This idea has been in development for over a year by both Jeffrey Besong, the Chief of Police at Point Park, and J.W. Tabacchi, the Director of Student Conduct.
According to Besong, the two of them researched how other universities operate with their IDs, such as Carnegie Mellon University, and incorporated it into this new model at Point Park. The staff will use proxy cards to get into the buildings now using card readers. This is also helpful because staff and faculty can get into these buildings even during a lockdown.
“We have new card readers throughout the campus, and all the staff have these proxy cards,” Besong said during a phone interview on Nov. 19. “It’s easier for our desk attendants to see the cards.”
Mathew Pascal, an Associate Professor of Mathematics thinks that the IDs are a good idea for security and that the police and desk attendants do a good job keeping the school safe.
“I think the way they secure the buildings at night is a good idea,” Pascal said on Nov. 20.
According to Tabacchi, the whole process started when he and Besong began speaking to Staff Assembly, which is made up of all the heads of all the different departments on campus. He said that one of the things that were brought up during the meetings was that the Assembly was not a big fan of their current IDs. After the Assembly gave them permission, they began working on the new IDs.
“We wanted to get a fresh look for the IDs,” Tabacchi said during an interview on Nov 19. “We hope that people will be willing to wear them more because of that.”
According to Dionisia Butler, the ID Coordinator, the new IDs will include bigger letters and a bigger picture of the person than before, as well as a picture of Academic Park at night in the background. The latter part of the ID is part of new ID process to help the staff and faculty have a better sense of pride in the university and community. She also said that everybody who works for the university will get a new photo ID.
“This will include all staff, all professors, all faculty and the vendors – that will be Aramark, food service, the house keeping staff and the desk attendants – will now have full IDs so they can be fully identified,” Butler said during an interview on Nov. 18.
All staff was able to update their pictures during an event that occurred on Nov. 18 and 19 in the Lawrence Hall staff room. The event also had a competition for the staff and faculty to win 50 dollars in flex money.
Jason McCune, a professor at the Conservatory of Performing Arts (COPA), believed that it is a good idea for an ID, but was not too sure on the idea of the community vibe of the IDs.
“I do take pride at Point Park. I am not sure how the ID itself is creating any more sense of community than the previous ID, regardless of the background or color scheme,” McCune said during an email interview on Nov. 19.
“It helps identify other faculty and staff members of the university,” Heather Lubay said, an Associate Director and Admissions Counselor during an interview on Nov. 20. “[But] I don’t think the redesign will make the staff want to wear them.”
Butler also said that sometime in the future, most likely with the start of the next freshman class, students will also receive a new ID. The IDs will be vertical, and would contain a background image of Academic Park during the day.
Butler also said that both commuter and residential students will receive the same ID. However, ELS students will keep their normal IDs because they are a separate program that is outside the university.
“We are one student body and we all attend this school so I think we should all have the same ID,” said Lacey Baroch, a sophomore dance major in an email interview on Nov. 30. “I also don’t like that any time a friend of mine that lives off campus and wants to visit my room has to sign in, which often is not as quickly as hoped.”
