by Anna Lisa Garcia
News Reporter
Is it really that easy to have someone else on campus buy your lunch, even if that person is in class? According to some residents, it is.
"I am a blond-haired, blue-eyed male," said senior political science major Sean Graves, "(and) I've used a friend's board card when she doesn't have time to get lunch. She's a dark-haired Italian girl."
Aramark's Food Service Director German Reyes said employees are told to match the face on the card to the student purchasing food and other items. If the two do not match, employees are supposed to stop the purchase.
But Graves said he has yet to see the employees verify that the picture on his board card matches his face.
Food Production Manager Calvin Dunn said, "Housing has not given (Aramark) the authority to confiscate the cards."
In addition, Residence Halls Association Towers Hall Council Vice President Adam Miller said if a student gives Aramark a reasonable explanation about having someone else's board card, Aramark employees will usually allow that person to use it.
Mae Hemphill, a sophomore biology major, said Aramark should confiscate cards presented by people other than their owners. Giving the card back to a person who may have stolen it, she added, makes the situation worse.
Hemphill, who admitted lending her card to other people, said the cashiers in the cafeterias don't even look at the card.
Dann said some people have become angry and upset with Aramark when denied service after presenting a card that did not belong to them. Reyes said boyfriends want to let their girlfriends use the cards and vice versa.
"Students want to be able to lend their board cards out," Executive Director of Residential Life and Housing Andy Blank said. "It's perfectly legal."
But Reyes and Dunn agreed that students need to be more careful with their board cards. Both said they find about two or three lost board cards every day.
Dunn said he always gives a lecture along with a board card that he is able to return to the legal holder. Reyes said Aramark tries not to hold the cards for more than 24 hours. They eventually turn them in to the area coordinator's office.
Reyes also said students don't seem to understand that the board cards act as money.
Etta Hamilton, office assistant for Residential Life and Housing, said lost or stolen cards are deactivated and the student is issued another card. Students should report stolen cards to the police, she added, so they will not be charged $15 for a duplicate.
If students report the theft of their board cards to police, they can receive new board cards free, Hamilton said. To prove that they went to the police, students must provide police-assigned case numbers.
Reyes confirmed that Aramark does not reimburse students unless they provide substantial evidence their card was stolen. Residents cannot simply demand their money back if they have not made the effort to deactivate the card or report it stolen.
Dunn added that, if cards are stolen over the weekend, students are allowed a grace period so they don't starve.
Torin Berryhill, a junior kinesiology major, said he lost his board card after hours and was told by a resident adviser to purchase his supper by telling the cashier his Social Security number. Berryhill said he did as the RA advised and was able to receive his meals.
Reyes said the employees could check some other form of identification with the board card, but that would hold up all the lines.