Elon students need Phoenix Cash protected from theft

Who do you call when you lose your Phoenix Card and don’t want someone else using all of your Phoenix Cash and meal dollars? The Phoenix Card Office isn’t open on the weekends or after 5 p.m.on weekdays.

Campus Security can give you a temporary Phoenix Card to give you access to your dorm, the library and other campus facilities. But they can’t connect the card with your meal plan or discontinue your original Phoenix Card, still attached to your meal plan, Phoenix Cash and your identity.

Unlike major credit card and check card companies, Elon does not have a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week service to place stops on lost or stolen cards. This creates a problem in protecting the money students have placed on Phoenix Cards while students wait to have a new Phoenix Card processed.

While one may think that it is difficult to use a stolen Phoenix Card, as all Phoenix Cards carry the owner’s photograph on the front, there are many ways someone could do some damage without ever handing over a card to a clerk.

Phoenix Cash can be used for copies in the library, laundry in residence halls, cokes and snacks in machines across campus, among other things. And far too often, the clerks at campus and community stores just fail to compare the photograph on a Phoenix Card with the face of the person handing it to them.

In addition to causing monetary loss for an individual, someone using a stolen Phoenix Card has access to particular residence halls and facilities such as Campus Recreation, the ability to check out books under the card owner’s name and the possibility of representing themselves as an Elon student in situations that may be compromising to others should the fraudulant card holder not be an Elon student. Phoenix Cards are checked at the doors of fraternity parties and campus events in attempts to provide security for Elon students. Such security could be breached should a non-Elon student obtain a lost or stolen card.

Last month, The Pendulum included a special issues story about identity theft. The article focused on protecting one’s personal information including name, social security number and other identification numbers to prevent financial and identity frauds and crimes against an individual.

Elon needs to provide a system for students to protect them in the event that they lose their Phoenix Card or have it stolen. This practice could save students money, protect other Elon students and provide students with the good practice of reporting the loss or theft of important identity and credit cards.