By Chloe Gotsis, The Daily Free Press (Boston U.)

BOSTON -- Losing your student ID can be a major hassle. You lose access
to your room, your dining plan and cash in the form of convenience
points.

But imagine if your ID was permanently ingrained in your DNA, as is
happening on college campuses across the continent.

Rather than using IDs to swipe into dorms or dining halls, students at
many universities that have installed biometric technology are
identified by palm or retina scanners that some students say invoke
images of Hollywood spy movies.

College campuses throughout North America have begun using fingerprint
readers, iris scanners and hand geometry devices to verify the identity
of students and staff members before granting them access to dining
halls, limited access laboratories, gymnasiums and residence halls.

"It's being used a number of different ways at a number of different
schools," said Brian Cairney, director of business development for Palm
Secure at Fujitsu Computers, the company that makes the biometric
devices. "It's being used the same way as it is in the commercial
world. I think biometric identification is becoming more and more
useful. Companies are looking at it as a means to protect people."

Cairney said universities are finding a wide variety of uses for the
identification devices.

For example, biometric technology is used today in many universities in
Japan to access student records, he said. In a kiosk, students enter
their PIN codes. The machine then reads their palms and grants them
access to their grades and schedules.

According to Cairney, the use of biometric identification is spreading
quickly around the globe and will continue to spread.

"I think it will become more and more frequent as it becomes more
user-friendly and more affordable," Cairney said.

Currently, Johnson and Wales University in Denver uses hand geometry
readers to allow students into their dormitories, and the University of
Georgia uses the technology to confirm the identification of students
at their cafeterias. The University of Arizona uses an iris scan
identification system to allow access to its biodesign laboratory,
Cairney said.

A number of schools are putting hand geometry readers outside the main
entrance to dorm rooms, Cairney said, adding that he thinks this is
more effective than current, more primitive methods of identification,
such as ID cards.

"It is certainly better authentication or verification," Cairney said.
"It is possible to grab somebody's fingerprint and create a mold from
that. Do I think people on college campuses will go to that trouble ...
or feel it is worth the hassle? No. Our product does not allow you to
fake it or spoof it. It confirms that the subject it is scanning is
alive."

According to Cairney, people should not be concerned about contracting
germs from hand scanners, because the machines can scan hands without
making contact.

But the biometric device that detects fingerprints has faced some
challenges, he said.

"People who wash their hands extensively and people with sweaty palms
are having some difficulty [using the devices]," he said.

David May, director of hospitality services at the University of New
Hampshire, said he is pleased with the results of the hand geometry
identification device the university uses to identify students when
they enter the dining halls.

May said the system was installed in the fall of 2003, when the
university switched to a new unlimited dining plan, giving students
unlimited access to dining halls.

"We felt that the [dining hall workers] could not be accountable for
correctly identifying all the students who entered the dining halls,"
he said.

May said the new system makes sure that only students with the correct
dining plans are entering the dining halls.

"There is a keypad and a flat form that has pegs and [the student]
sticks their hand down and squeezes the peg confirming that yes, they
have the dining plan or no, they do not," May said. "If they do in fact
have the dining plan, the light goes green, and it allows the student
to enter the turnstile."

May said when the system was first implemented, students had trouble
correctly squeezing the pegs, but since then, the system has proved to
be a great success.

According to May, dining hall workers at the entrance to the dining
halls sanitize the machine every 15 minutes to prevent the spread of
illness. There are also hand sanitizers at every station.

But Anne Layden, a junior, said students get sick from the devices all
the time because many do not use the hand sanitizer lotion provided at
the station.

Layden said the machine looks "futuristic," like something from the
movie "Gattaca."

The hand geometry system is easier for students because they do not
need to remember to bring their ID cards around campus, she said.

Boston University spokesman Colin Riley said that though biometric
identification technology can be very effective, the university has no
plans to install such a system anywhere on the Charles River Campus.

"The university certainly recognizes and understands it, and if the
situation arises in the future where it is needed, it will be looked at
very closely," he said.

Riley said the university has very effective 24-hour security in place
on all university dormitories and a strong support system from campus
police and Boston Police, so there is no need for a biometric
identification system right now.

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