While members of the Iowa State community are in the process of getting the new ISUCard identification card, some people say it has problems.

But university officials say these fears are unwarranted.

Kenneth Madison, an associate professor of history, said he has several reservations about the ISUCard, and because it is not mandatory for faculty to get a card, is not planning to get one. Madison dislikes the fact that the card can contain money which can be accessed through a magnetic stripe system, like an ATM card. He fears the card will be a target for theft.

“I don’t see how an employee of the university can be forced to carry something that can have monetary value on it,” he said. “The stripe is on the card whether you want it or not. That makes it a target of theft.”

Joan Thompson, ISU treasurer, said it is not mandatory for card holders to have an account, and they do not have to put money on the cash stripe.

She said, “The card holder needs to protect their card just as any other card, or a set of keys.” The card, she said, will be used in the future for access to buildings on campus.

Warren Madden, ISU vice president for business and finance, said new vending equipment will be installed this summer, and the card will also be used for the library copy machines and at the food court of the Memorial Union. He expects laundry facilities will begin to use it eventually.

He said people will be able to put money into a machine for use around campus, but the card is just like cash.

“You have the same problem as money. The card is like cash and people need to take care of it like they take care of cash.”

Madison also said he suspects the new numbers on the card are a bank account numbers which will allow Firstar Bank to get greater profits through card holders.

But Madden said the university had been legally advised to stop using social security numbers on ID cards, in order to comply with coming federal regulations for use the social security number.

Thompson said there is no bank account number on the card.

“There’s more risk of someone committing fraud with your Social Security number than these randomly generated numbers,” Thompson said.

The new card will use randomly generated numbers for identification. But the university will still use social security number in databases and class lists.

Firstar was the only bank to bid for the card, although all financial institutions of Ames were contacted for a pre-bidding conference last summer, Thompson said.

“The banks that didn’t bid said they didn’t know how to price the product,” she said.

Bidding took place during the two months leading up to the December announcement of the bank who won the five-year bid.

“The only bank willing to take the risk at that time was Firstar,” Thompson said.

Dan Mangan, Government of the Student Body president, said when he sat down with the treasurers office and local financial institutions last summer to discuss the card, “I told them we wanted maximum convenience and maximum security.”