Opinion: The NYU Daily Screener is redundant
There is no reason why we should have to show our Daily Screener and NYU ID to enter university buildings.
The Daily Screener is a form developed by NYU to track the vaccination status of students and staff. However, given the information-carrying capacity of NYU ID cards, the Screener appears redundant and wastes people’s time. (Staff Illustration by Manasa Gudavalli)
September 8, 2021
Despite NYU accepting the most diverse class in campus history, there are a handful of universal experiences among the student body that transcend race, gender and class. One of those experiences is the annoyance we all feel when we’re forced to show both our Daily Screener and our NYU ID when entering campus buildings. At face value, this may seem like a minor issue; but our student body is frustrated with this redundancy, and our voices should be heard.
Created in response to COVID-19, the Daily Screener is a form that NYU students fill out to receive a “PASS,” “FAIL” or “LIMITED PASS’” based on their vaccination status — or, if they’re unvaccinated, the results of their Binx test. The Daily Screener results dictate whether they’re permitted to enter campus buildings.
While filling out the Daily Screener is essential to the maintenance of campus health, being required to display it when entering campus buildings is superfluous.
There is some sort of connection between our NetID and Daily Screener: a message is sent to our school email accounts after filling the latter out. Therefore, our student IDs can convey the results of our Daily Screener. Instead of requiring us to show our Daily Screeners to campus employees on our phones, the NYU administration should develop a system through which our status is visible whenever we scan our IDs to enter buildings. Our IDs can display our meal plans, Dining Dollar balances and personal information. Surely they can display proof of vaccination or the status of our COVID-19 tests, too.
Little inefficiencies compound unto themselves and create issues that impact the entire student body. The massive lines to enter Silver and the dining halls are, in part, caused by the fact that campus employees are forced to check both our phones and IDs. The average American enjoys just over five hours of free time per day. If NYU adds our Daily Screener status to our ID results, they will allow every student more free time — a rare resource that dwindles with each passing day of the semester.
It’s worth noting that NYU instituted a vaccine mandate to protect the health of our university community. Around 93% of our American student population and 72% of our international student body are fully vaccinated; that number rises every day as international students receive doses approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organization, which may have been inaccessible in their home countries. Our rigorous culture of masking and NYU’s discretionary testing capacity further contribute to our safety on campus. Keeping our Daily Screeners and Student IDs separate, however, does nothing to protect our health.
It’s time to marshall the resources and innovative spirit of NYU to the benefit of every student. President Andy Hamilton and NYU leadership should direct the university to display our Daily Screener status through an ID scan as soon as possible.
Contact Kevin Kurian at [email protected].
Special Monkey • Sep 17, 2021 at 12:16 am
This is a great point. One would think with technology being what it is today, this would be simple.
So why does one need to show two different identifiers?
It’s possible these systems are not compatible with each other.
The turnstile system:
– may be unable to report to the user why they were denied
– may be unable to make an entry decision based on more than one criteria – like is ID valid vs. is ID valid & is screener green, yellow, or red
– may be unable to make decision based on where turnstile is located, e.g. this is the library so yellow is not admitted, unless they work there
– may be unable to talk in real time to the screener data system or may not be able to have its own internal schema altered to include screener data
– may be unable to be updated in real time – you completed screener x hours ago but the turnstile / ID system doesn’t have your data yet
All of this in reality may be possible. But I would expect it might be easiest to achieve for those who have proven vaccination.
For these (green) people, assuming the screener data can be integrated into the turnstile / ID system, expired at midnight, and updated in real time after midnight – they could complete their screener daily and reasonably expect a turnstile to let them in.
For those with yellow status, I assume this is limited pass? – I think it would be quite a bit more challenging to achieve this type of conditional entry.
Effectively, only those who are green and with valid IDs can pass.
Yellow, red (or no screener) would not be admitted, or would in the case of yellow (limited pass) would have to speak to the guard to convince their situation warrants entry.
Young Jun Lee • Sep 9, 2021 at 8:43 pm
100% agree. I think the Student Health Portal and its vaccination data are tied to our net ID, so maybe when we scan in, the computer should automatically inquire to the NYU servers on whether or not somebody was vaccinated. The Daily Screener is just passing on a burden to students, even when most of us already went through the hassle to prove our vaccination status before the semester started.
Eileen Barrett • Sep 9, 2021 at 6:32 pm
Hi Kevin, I appreciate your point. I am wondering if it has to do with the strict HIPPA laws regarding the confidentialityof health information.. Since ID cards are used in more settings and situations, there might be less control over who can get access to your medical information. Hence the separate mechanism.. I have no idea if this is the case. It must be frustrating for everyone.
Be well