UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
THURSDAY
SEPTEMBER 3, 1998
UCO DPS Officer receives award 4
CLASSROOM CHANGES LA students lost 17
OUT OF ORDER
STEVEN SAYS
Call boxes not working 6
No apologies 19
THE SAVAGE TRAIL Prof publishes novel 8
ENTERTAINMENT Fall movie review 20
The Student Voice Since 1903
Privacy legislation to prohibit use of Social Security as form of identity
Skin and UCO student Chris Storm Walker paints a Native American scene on the cover of a teepee sprawled on the lawn north of Broncho Lake. (Photo by UCO Photographic Services)
By Madhumathi Krishnamurthy
StaffWriter
Bones... A teepee frame was built by Broncho Lake as part of the Multicultural Expo during UCO's first ever Stampede Week. (Photo by UCO Photographic Services)
N
ew legislation before Congress, suggests that UCO could face the possibility of not being able to use Social Security numbers for student identification purposes. Under the Privacy Protection Act, Congress would prohibit the use of Social Security numbers for identification by various institutions. If passed, the legislation will become law on Jan. 1, 2000. That deadline would leave Try of the university IvERs--010_, only 16 months 1 CENTRAL -----.44,144= to update all its records, and establish another form of identification which can be universally acknowledged. "The issue has been raised, but I am not aware that it has been discussed very seriously," said Jerry Legere, assistant vice president for Enrollment ManagementRegistrar. Problems are anticipated if this Act does go into effect. The most significant is that of changing the entire student information database, Legere said "It would require a lot of planning, work and effort, and certainly involve a lot of cost because this would be a major change for the institution," Legere said. The most difficult aspect of this change would be timing. With the millennium just around the corner, the university already has major changes to deal with said Rob Jordan, assistant director for programming services. V See SOCIAL SECURITY, Page 4