Student Government Association (SGA) Senator Madison Gemma has dedicated the past month to pursue an initiative of her own: improving the Campus ID cards on campus by hoping to add “emergency contact [information] on the back of Stevens’ Campus IDs.”
The Campus IDs are the cards used to swipe into the library, pay for things with Duckbills, and get into Pierce, amongst other uses.
Gemma had the idea to add emergency contact information, such as “the phone number and hours of CAPS,” and “a number for a 24/7 suicide prevention lifeline” in mid-February, after noticing the large empty space on the back of the current Stevens Campus IDs. “By adding the emergency contacts [on the back of Campus IDs], professors and Stevens staff could easily direct people to the numbers and information,” said Gemma. “The accessibility of emergency contacts [on Campus IDs] should generally make resources more aware to students.”
In early March, Gemma arranged a meeting with Rebecca Jennings, the Director of Student Accounts, and Angela Edge, Associate Director of Student Accounts for Campus Card Services, to suggest making changes to Campus IDs. When she met with them, Gemma asked if emergency contacts could be added, to which Jennings answered that it wouldn’t be possible until the Fall 2019 semester. Updates were not possible because the Campus ID cards for Fall 2018 were already ordered; changes to those couldn’t happen.
“Jennings told me that she supported the idea of emergency contacts on the back of the cards,” said Gemma, “and that we may be able to add that information starting in the Fall 2019 semester only if we could demonstrate interest from the student body.”
To demonstrate the interest in adding emergency contact information to Campus IDs, Gemma drafted an official SGA proclamation with the intention to send it to the Campus Card office. When more than a dozen Senators sponsored the bill, Gemma obtained support from Dr. Melissa Zarin, Assistant Director of CAPS, who, according to Gemma, “agrees that these resources should be widely advertised and easily accessible.”
With support acquired from students and faculty members, Gemma sent the proclamation to Jennings and Sara Klein, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs. Klein said that “we will look at your proposal and have some internal conversations” and that “the earliest any changes would be reflected is in about a year from now.”
Gemma hopes that by next year, the conversations add emergency contact information on the back of Campus IDs will continue.
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