Scan, swipe — sorry

Amid tightened publics restrictions, new policy proposes student ID scanning at party entrances

By Abigail Chiu     11/19/24 11:27pm

Students may need to swipe their Rice IDs through scanners before entering future public parties, said dean of undergraduates Bridget Gorman. This possible policy change is not finalized, but in discussion among student activities and crisis management teams.

Gorman referenced recommendations from the Alcohol Policy Advisory Committee to restrict public party ticketing to venue capacity and require students to swipe in to cross-check their attendance with the ticket list, regardless of whether or not they have wristbands.

“There have been some observations shared that cross-checking student IDs with the ticket list has slowed down the lines,” Gorman wrote in an email to the Thresher. “Nothing is being required currently, but we are reviewing and discussing possible ID card swipe options to speed up the attendee verification and long entrance lines at publics.”

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If implemented, publics will be held to strict capacity limits. Scanners would flash green or red to either admit or deny a student into the party, with crisis management personnel manning the entrance to “to troubleshoot any issues with the system,” Gorman said. 

Publics returned in the spring — albeit with tighter restrictions — after a months-long moratorium following last year’s abrupt shutdown of Wiess College’s Night of Decadence. As campus adjusts to a post-NOD era of social life, some have criticized the increasingly stringent capacity and ticketing policies.

Yuv Sachdeva, president of Jones College, said he felt public capacity decisions were unclear and unpredictable. 

“To us, [capacity] seems like something that is determined almost arbitrarily, so we would appreciate more information on how that is calculated,” Sachdeva, a senior, wrote in an email to the Thresher. “NetID swipe ticket systems may hurt this further, but should also add another layer of safety.”

Jones socials coordinator Jacob Lowenstein said that the system would not be used at Jones Inferno, scheduled for this Saturday.

“We had a meeting three weeks out from our public, and [administration was] like, ‘Hey, we have this new thing that we want y’all to test’ … and then last week was their meeting where they really pushed it,” Lowenstein, a senior, said. “They said that it will be mandatory by next year, whenever I push it.”

Nathan Calzat, the chief justice at Martel College, said that college presidents and chief justices will be meeting with Student Activities in the future to determine more details about the new system. 

“I know that it’s an unpopular decision, and people don’t like it. I think that in the grand scheme of things, it’s not going to affect things too much,” Calzat, a junior, said. “It will probably make it harder for students to use fake wristbands, and it will make it harder for students to trade their tickets with other students.”

Administration has not yet banned ticket transfers or sales.

Calzat said that there were talks about implementing the system at the start of the semester for Martel’s Texas Party.

“For Texas Party, we had to close the sundeck early because RUPD felt that there were too many people on the sundeck,” Calzat said. “Who knows, maybe having a concrete number [of attendees] could have changed their mind, or maybe it would have made them make that decision earlier. It’s hard to say, but at least it won’t leave those things up to a matter of opinion.”

Though it will not be used at Jones Inferno, Gorman said that the goal is to use the ID swiping system to reduce lines at future publics.

“The idea had been to test the new system at an event to help speed up lines. Plans to have staff present were to troubleshoot any issues with the system and determine if this was an effective option that could be shared,” Gorman wrote. “The hope is to potentially test this process during an upcoming student event and if viable, eventually at a public party.”

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