It’s a good thing UCLA made the newly redesigned
BruinCards a mandatory commodity for the academic year, because new
IDs just happen to be the most pressing need of students right
now.
Let’s ignore the fact that replacing the estimated 37,000
BruinCards in circulation will probably cost a substantial sum of
money ““ because the BruinCard office apparently has ignored
it, too. In fact, a BruinCard official told The Bruin that the
total costs of the operation have not yet been tabulated, an odd
move for an institution that has emphasized cutting expenses in the
face of shaky state budget funding.
But surely if there is one area UCLA should blow a chunk of cash
on, it is replacing ID cards ““ even though it seems the
original BruinCards (which are being deactivated Dec. 31)
didn’t really need to be replaced to begin with. Supposedly,
the new card has better encryption, but we’re still waiting
on a report detailing a rise in BruinCard thefts that would justify
the security boost.
And let’s also ignore the fact that these new BruinCards
don’t even have the school colors on them ““ well,
except for that tiny, almost indiscernible strip of gold. But
really, who needs to reflect school pride on an ID card? We’d
much rather see Royce Hall on our BruinCards so we can wow our
relatives by showing them how the building is designed
asymmetrically.
It was also a stroke of genius for the BruinCard office to name
its swap meet a “fair” ““ even if the most festive
part of it appears to be the balloons around the line students,
faculty and staff have to wait in.
Nevertheless, this editorial board wholeheartedly endorses the
idea of turning “fair” into a euphemism for
“stand in line.”
Just imagine if Disneyland, for example, picked up on this
tactic; tourist complaints about long lines would evaporate once
they realized they were in fact standing in the three-hour-long
Space Mountain “fair” or the 10-minute
“fair” for the bathrooms. Clearly UCLA has hit upon yet
another dazzling solution to one of its most pressing problems.
But undoubtedly, the biggest improvement to the BruinCard is the
addition of UCLA’s dashing new logo, which cost the
university $98,000 and produced something along the lines of
“UCLA” in an italicized font. We’ve been dying to
have a wallet-sized version of that logo to carry around, and now
we’re satisfied.
But in all seriousness, the redesign of the BruinCard is a waste
of UCLA’s resources. And making students, faculty and staff
wait in line to get them is a waste of all of our time.
At the risk of sounding antiquated, we liked the BruinCard as it
was. It’s a bit old-school, but not everything has to be
razzle-dazzle.
Phasing out the BruinCard gradually instead of raking them all
up in one blow would have been more considerate. And at the very
least, it seems as though UCLA could have let us keep the old ones,
even if it’s just for sentimental reasons ““ but try it
and you’ll get charged $21.
So while it’s too late to do much about it, take this as a
last defiant cry to the university before we go stand in the
“fair”: Paws off our BruinCards.