Have you seen it?

It’s the new ISUCard, a.k.a. the “I Suck Card”, or the even more lewd “I SUC ard.”

With our new I.D. we will get so many new services here on campus.

The university has put a cash-to-card machine at University Book Store in the Memorial Union for students to put a maximum of $50 on the cash stripe. The cash stripe is the smaller stripe, and although it has no pin number, students can buy stuff at the book store with it.

This summer ISU will install vending machines where students can use their cash stripes, plus more cash to card machines. This makes our I.D. cards like cash. Cool beans, man. All this is possible without having to open an account at Deathstar Bank of Ames, er, I mean Firstar.

Part of this whole process is that as of June 7, the day ISU quits using the old I.D., students will no longer be able to charge books and other items at University Book Store to their university bill.

Major bummer, dude. All this is possible thanks to Floyd Ballein, owner of Campus Book Store, and the Iowa Board of Rejects, er, I mean Regents.

The story is long, but let me explain it to you in a nutshell. Two years ago the university implemented a plan to let students charge up to $500 at University Book Store using their I.D. in order to provide equal opportunity for students to get books for classes.

Mr. Ballein complained last fall that the students who shopped at UBS could charge items to their U-bill, but they couldn’t at CBS.

So it was brought up at a Board of Rejects meeting, and without hearing any input from ISU students, faculty, or UBS, they instructed ISU to resolve the issue before the next meeting.

On November 29 the Government of the Student Body did pass a resolution advising the university to keep the UBS charge to the U-bill.

Despite this, in December, over the Christmas break when no one would really notice, it was announced that the ability to charge items at UBS to the U-bill would end June 7. This fall, when students buy their books, I am sure they will notice.

Instead of giving CBS customers the ability to charge to U-bills, the university decided to take away the option from UBS and replace it with the ISUCard, which has a $300 line of credit only for those who open an account at Deathstar.

This does not allow equal opportunity for students to get books and supplies for classes. Books and supplies are required like fees and tuition for classes.

Many students cannot always afford to get books at the beginning of the semester for many reasons, one being that their checks have not arrived at the university by the start of the semester.

The only way left to buy books is with a credit card or do what ISU wants them to—open an account at Deathstar.

Is Iowa State and the Board of Rejects promoting credit cards? Goodness knows that enough students get into credit card dilemmas as it is. I’ll just give out the number for the financial counseling clinic at 1085 Elm Hall now for the students who will end up in credit trouble: 294-9533.

The decision this is based on is what Warren Madden, ISU vice president for business and finance, called the “unfair competition statute” which is Chapter 23A of the Code of Iowa. If we took this by the letter of the law we shouldn’t even have dormitories at ISU because it is competing with property management companies.

But there is a clause that allows for exemptions for “goods and services that are directly and reasonably related to the educational mission of the institution or school.” It goes even further to say “sale of books, records, tapes, software, educational equipment, and supplies.”

I’m not a lawyer, but I read Chapter 23A and it says nothing about an arrangement for charging supplies being unfair.

If it is unfair, by the logic used, students who live in dormitories should have to pay the entire semester’s living expenses at the start of the semester without any credit because it is unfair to local landlords.

So now 24,000 students have to give up a needed service at the nonprofit University Book Store for the personal wealth of one man, Floyd Ballein. Is this ridiculous or what?

With the old system students didn’t have to apply, and transactions were quicker than they will be this fall. If students are wondering why the lines are so long, they can thank the Board of Rejects.

If a student uses the ISUCard at UBS it will cost them nothing, but the store will have to pay an 11 cent charge per purchase plus a two-tenths percent charge on the total of the purchase.

This whole process will eventually cause books, high priced as they already are, to cost even more.

Students at the University of Iowa have been able to charge books at their book store for years, and although they don’t have off-campus competition, it is still singling out our university.

I tried to talk with someone from the Rejects, namely Wayne Richey, the executive director, but they are impossible to reach.

I spoke with Madden about this. When I asked him whether he’d like to see the Board of Regents change its decision and keep the UBS charge program he said, “Iowa State ran it, and it worked satisfactorily. I’m hoping that it will be a satisfactory alternative. We’ll have to see how it works out.”

Three years ago, prior to the UBS charge program, the problem arose that students who didn’t want to use a credit card couldn’t always afford books and supplies at the start of the semester. The same problem will arise again next fall.

If your professor wonders why you don’t have your text books or your art supplies, tell him or her that it is the Board of Rejects’ fault.

Tim Frerking is a junior in journalism mass communication from Pomeroy.