Top secret missions in liberal arts

I suspect that the college administration has concocted a nefarious moneymaking scheme with the makers of magnetic card readers.

In the past, you've truly needed your college ID for three things: your cafeteria meal plan (they swipe the card when you enter), to get back on campus after a certain hour at night, and to verify your identity with security if you needed them to unlock your room for you. The second and third things really only apply occasionally (number of times I've locked myself out in my entire career here: three). And that was pretty much fine, because when you attend (or work at) such a ridiculously small institution, you at least recognize people. You might not really know them, but you recognize them as a part of the college.

Lately, the college has been increasing the importance of carrying your ID. In the fall, the front doors to the dorms will ostensibly switch from a key to a swipe-card system. Personally, I foresee lots of doors being propped open and/or simply left unlocked, as they are now.

You already need to have your ID for them to swipe when you go down to the gym. In the past, you just needed to sign in on a clipboard; now they've got a fancy computerized setup.

And now I just got a notice informing me that (at least during the summer), you'll need to present your ID in order to pick up your paycheck. In the past, you went down to the office, initialed next to your name on the list of paycheck-getters, and they handed you your check.

Keep in mind that this is a school with student body of less than 500. During the summer there's only a few dozen student employees. During the school year obviously there are more, but still. I'm confident that the staff has it in them to be able to recognize when someone's not the person they say they are; it's pretty hard to disguise your identity in this small and isolated of a community.

It all seems to me like ridiculous for-show measures, or some sort of insane attempt to modernize things that really don't need any modernization.