Letter: Student angered in light of student apathy about hand scanning at URI dining halls

02/15/08 - To the Cigar, I am writing this letter to follow up on the letters I wrote last semester regarding the hand geometry scanners that are being used in the dining halls at this university. It appears that University of Rhode Island dining services and the administration have won a victory over the apathetic student body. The aforementioned parties wanted more control and they got it, with virtually no opposing voices apart my own and my friend Tim Martin. We both wrote letters to this newspaper and even went on the air on 90.3 FM to discuss this pertinent issue, all of which seemed to fall, disturbingly, on deaf ears.

The idea of hand scanning is now fully integrated into the normal ebb and flow of life at URI, which I think is an extremely scary concept.

"Are you kidding? You have to scan your hand as well as your student ID card in order to eat lunch?" a curious onlooker, unacquainted with our way of life, may ask. The answer to that question is yes, unfortunately.

At what point will students decide to no longer sit complacently while their rights are stripped from them? The next time that university officials come to implement new security measures at the dining halls, don't be surprised when they bring their full blown fingerprinting security.

As I stated in a previous letter, the transition from "hand geometry scanning" to fingerprinting is much easier than the transition from swiping an ID card to fingerprinting.

URI dining services and university administration will give you all kinds of invalid excuses, but in the end, that is exactly what they are: invalid excuses. There is no excuse for having to scan your hand and ID card in order to eat food.

University officials will trumpet the headlines of newspapers with Virginia Tech on the front page, asking us if this is what we want by not accepting their "security measures." It's all about control, and the next time Virginia Tech happens, they will wave the new, more advanced "security measures" in your faces (with fingerprinting being a possible next step after hand scanning).

The truth is, I do not feel that this university is actually trying to look out for the best interest of the student. I feel that they are simply trying to be able to more closely monitor your every move, not unlike the Bush administration.

Much like 9/11 allowed the passage of the PATRIOT Act and a war in the Middle East with no end in sight, Virginia Tech, Columbine High School and other incidents have paved the way for hand scanning and the Emergency Alert system.

I don't want my hand in a database, but it is because I was barred from using the meal plan that I already paid for unless I signed up for it. I don't want my e-mail, cell phone, off-campus numbers and addresses to be in another database kept by URI. (Even though I know they already have this information, it is the general principle that prevents me from signing up.)

I wouldn't be surprised if I were banned from graduation this spring until I signed up for it.

All in all, it saddens me to think that people are not seeing that they are simply using scare tactics in order to control you. No one wants a Virginia Tech, but truthfully, that's the chance you take every time you walk outside your door in the morning. You could be shot dead in a supermarket parking lot.

You could be shot dead anywhere in the world. Tragic events are going to keep happening and people in positions of power are going to be there to capitalize on asserting their control each and every time.

So please, at some point today just take a minute and ask yourself from a rational, real world vantage point: Should I ACTUALLY need to have my hand scanned in order to eat lunch at the University of Rhode Island? The absurdity should be striking.



Gary Point