The Student Senate voted Wednesday to remove students' Social Security numbers from all university documents to protect students from identity theft.
This bill would prevent professors from using Social Security numbers on Scantron tests and for attendance-taking purposes.
Although this seems like common sense in an era when an identity can be stolen with a Social Security number matched with a name, the implementation of this bill may not be so simple.
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First, the bill is hard to define because it would have to go through academic departments, the Bursar's office and the Financial Aid office -- all departments that must have Social Security numbers on file.
Obviously when student loans are a concern, a student must be identified by Social Security number. But in class, some professors believe it is necessary to distinguish between two students who share the same name.
Who -- and what criteria -- will determine which departments or offices are allowed to use a Social Security number as an identifier? This should be in the legislation.
Also consider that different offices could have different identification numbers for the same student, which could easily result in error. If the new identification number also uses nine digits, a mix-up could cause major confusion. Solutions to this problem should be written in the legislation.
No student wants to go through the hassles and financial ruin of identity theft, so most would agree that the removal of Social Security numbers from documents would be a good idea.
SGA is on the right track by pursuing the issue. However, this legislation lacks details that would push the University Senate to actually implement it.
Without specific requests for how the Student Senate wants the current process changed, the legislation will flounder.
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