The committee charged with assessing the current PENNCard policy has decided not to support the adoption of the highly controversial visible ID proposal, initially suggested after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The visible ID policy would have requested -- but not mandated -- that all PENNCard holders wear their cards in academic buildings.
The proposal was met with resentment by students, who complained that it was unenforceable, inconvenient and a violation of their civil liberties.
In a recommendation issued last month, the Division of Public Safety Advisory Board opted against supporting the visible ID policy. Instead, the board decided to advocate warning members of the Penn community that they must carry their PENNCards or risk being denied access to University events or buildings.
"The idea is that people should carry their IDs," the chairman of the advisory board, Social Work Professor Dennis Culhane said. "Actually, it surprised us that it was not required."
Currently, the PENNCard policy states only that the card "should be carried at all times and presented upon request of any University official" and that it must be worn between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. in University buildings.
The board's recommendation will be presented to the University community and will the board will request comments. Pending necessary changes, the new policy will be enacted, although no immediate timetable has been set.
Culhane said the advisory board chose not to recommend a visible ID policy because of concerns about enforceability and a lack of information on campus security tactics.
"We recognize we needed to do a little more data-gathering and studying," Culhane said, adding that "enforcement as a policy would require having security in all the buildings checking for ID or at least some card-swiping machine."
The advisory board may address the concern over lack of data this spring.
Its next task is conducting a study of building security practices across campus.
"We want to see if there's a relationship between security and characteristics," Culhane said.
"Does having a receptionist versus a security guard influence rate of crime? Does having closed-circuit television versus ID-card swiping influence crime in a building?"
Penn's Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush, who sits on the advisory board, said she continues to support the adoption of a visible ID policy.
"I am definitely in favor of people wearing ID cards," Rush said, though she acknowledged that "there is a time and place [for] implementation of different policies and procedures."
Rush does not have set plans to make another push for a visible ID policy.
Her initial proposal met with opposition not only from the student body in general, but also from the Undergraduate Assembly. In October, the UA issued a statement against the proposal, charging that it would be virtually unenforceable, especially because compliance was intended to be voluntary.
"If a visible ID policy were implemented, students would not likely comply with it," said UA chairwoman and College senior Dana Hork.
Hork also holds a seat on the Public Safety advisory board.
The UA's statement also claimed that a visible ID policy would be ineffective, infringe upon students' personal privacy, negatively affect community relations and grant police undue license to conduct searches.
Hork said in formulating its recommendation, the advisory board took into account the negative reactions from UA members and the student body at large.
"The committee was aware of the position the UA had taken against visible ID policies," Hork said.
Hork went onto say that she thinks "the UA's resolution and the strong opposition from the student body played a very important role."
As for the recommendation the board did formulate, Culhane said it may prove helpful if it becomes necessary to more closely monitor access to University buildings or events.
"We realized that in the event that due to terrorism or threats of terrorism of some sort... that there was no policy in place that would have warned students that they needed to have an ID," he said.
