I have attended BU — Boston University, if you can’t deal with the linguistic mathematics — for the past three years of my college career. I have used a “Terrier Card” and “Convenience Points” to pay for for my binge eating habits, to fund the biweekly method of laundering my clothes, to purchase textbooks that I barely use throughout the semester. I also use said Terrier Card to swipe into dining halls, dormitories, and secret access points along the school’s premises (eg. the shortcut into Warren Towers through the indoor parking lot from the 111 Cummington St. computer lab). Basically, my card is practical; however, it possesses more potential than its administrators realize.

For one, the Boston University campus is littered with electronic swiping stations, to ease the use of Convenience Points in its dining facilities (eg. Late Night Cafés, the George Sherman Union food court) and local shops (City Convenience). These purchasing outlets also account for cash and credit/debit cards. I want to focus on the latter of these here, and bring up the case of Boston’s CVS convenience stores. Each CVS has adopted card swiping machines that also allow for “touch-and-go” technology. Citizens Bank has specifically led a push for this sort of technology in their debit cards, with its PayPass program, where an individual may purchase an item at CVS, tap his card on the electronic reader (instead of swiping the card, inputting a PIN, and signing a receipt), and leave. The ease of use would be astounding if BU implemented the technology. Drawbacks? Yes. Cashiers would no longer be able to check if the ID being used correlated to the face of the individual using it. I don’t mean to abase cashiers, but checking IDs does not occur one hundred percent of the time. Citizens, though, does not assume that cashiers will check the debit card’s user. Responsibility remains tied to the owner of the card.

My purpose for this article, of course, it to respond to another article published in the Daily Free Press (Boston University’s student-run independent newspaper), entitled “Points could fund cab fare: student proposal.” The author, Lisa Merolla, describes the BU Student Union’s attempts to propose the ability to pay for cab fares with BU Convenience Points. Apparently Boston College currently possesses a similar system, though it remains fairly unused.

Over the past three years, I have not witnessed much advancement in the implementation of the Terrier Card’s abilities across campus. Yes, we have new swiping machines installed in the dining halls. It certainly is nice to be able to order Domino’s pizza or other entrees from Papa John’s early in the morning. However, as Merolla writes, “Some students said they would rather use their Convenience Points for more dining options.”

I agree. I lived in Danielsen Hall (check a BU map if you don’t know where the dorm… oh, wait, many BU maps don’t include Danni on its East Campus side*) for the duration of my first two years at BU. Each day I would cycle past Bruegger’s on the way to class in the morning. Last year, I passed by UBurger on my way home. Noodle Street. Lolicup. T. Anthony’s. Enough restaurants line BU’s campus that I am surprised the administration has not attempted to implement the inclusion of Convenience Points as a possible way to purchase food as these, may I say, delicious dining establishments.

* Disagree? Visit the Ziskind Lounge on the second floor of the GSU and search out the scale model of BU’s campus.

Dear Boston University,
You spent money to take a line out of our logo. Congratulations. You have united us all, by making each department’s letterhead the same. Wow. Just like before you changed the insignia. To unite us, why don’t you bring together the student population on an issue that people love to indulge in on a daily basis: food.
Sincerely,
Your Tuition-Paying Student

I don’t mean to judge *hacking cough*. What I mean to emphasize, though, is that the electronic ID of a college student in Boston carries a lot of weight. So I propose a radical step forward into the future of the university experience (and maybe someone in the School of Management can actually pull this together, since I’m just a lowly English major): the AcademiCard.

OK. Lame, you say. I spent about three minutes thinking up names for this thing. Don’t bash it yet (you should have accepted the CharlieCard already).

Boston and its outlying towns contain a good number of colleges and universities: Berklee, BC, Boston Convervatory, BU, Emerson, Emmanuel, Harvard, Lesley, MIT, Mass Art, Northeastern, Olin, Suffolk, Tufts, Wellesley, Wheelock (I’m skipping a dozen at least too). BU, let’s not unite the campus, but all of Boston. If you’re a sociable college student, I will assume that you have visited at least one of the formerly-mentioned institutions. And you’ve wanted to buy something. Of course, you lost your wallet at the frat party the night before, but thankfully you kept your ID in your sock, so you can get back into your dorm when you return home. So, for example’s sake, you’re stuck at MIT, with a BU ID and a growling stomach. You meander over to the Student Center, hop into LaVerde’s, and… your face drops. They only take MIT TechCASH.

Or, in the wonderful world of tomorrow, they accept the AcademiCard.

Imagine taking the #1 bus down Mass. Ave. to Harvard U, because you want to shop around the square for a few Christmas gifts. Your cousin goes to XYZ Community College, but you feel like giving him the chance to show off in front of everyone at the family reunion with his new Harvard University sweatshirt. AcademiCard, thank you for being so convenient. Buy clothing in Harvard Square, get lunch at the Subway on Northeastern’s campus, then come back to Shelton Hall, swipe in, and run up the stairs to pass out on the bed after an exhausting day of EASE OF USE.

The AcademiCard doesn’t have to remain limited to college campuses either. BU’s South Campus boasts an Economy Harvard next to a Dunkin’ Donuts. Why not be able to use your card there? (P.S. — MIT students can use TechCASH at Economy.) If you feel like walking down to Newbury Street and hopping into Urban Outfitters with those new friends you made over at Emerson, everyone can actually buy something with their respective cards.

Wikipedia tells me that more than 250,000 college students converge on Boston and Cambridge each school year. That’s 250,000 young adults that could start their own small economy. I submit: stop wasting time on creating individualistic privileges that not many students will use anyway (the cabbies deal with enough drunk kids every weekend, and we’re trying to make students use cabs more?). Universities have to look at the big picture. From a bird’s eye view, our schools are within minutes from each other. Why can’t we converge? We could pull an Internet and connect every college student via a series of tubes. No, scrap that. But I like the idea of a card (AcademiCard, or whatever you want to nickname it; we could even introduce uPoints) that is practical because it takes advantage of common sense.

If anything, BU, just rebuild the Taco Bell under Warren and let us use our Convenience Points there, please?