Students give new prox cards mixed reviews

They're the cards that open doors — literally. Everyone has come to know the proximity card — popularly shortened to 'prox' — that gives access to dorms and meals, and serves as identification on campus.

So students returning to check-in for new room keys might have been surprised and even disoriented when they were handed a new prox as well.

Over the summer, the University replaced all of the standard white proxes with orange and black tiger-striped counterparts, citing a need for technological improvement.

"You're seeing both a new card and a new reader," said Elisabeth Dahlen, director of the TigerCard office. "It's a better technology."

However, not all of the student body reacted as enthusiastically. When asked whether they preferred the old prox or the new one, most students immediately responded on the grounds of aesthetics.

"The new ones are kind of tacky and very orange," Lauren Kapsky '05 said.

On the color front, some pointed out, the new proxes show some genuine school spirit.

"They are more distinctly Princeton," Brian Kirk '06 said, adding, "It's a tossup between traditional and flashy and sleeker."

Some students were easier to please. "The new ones are more shiny and have holograms," Tyler Brown '06 said.

And several were more pragmatic about the change. "They do the same thing. It's about function for me," Sarah Washabaugh '05 said.

But several students said they noticed the new cards are not up to par at times.

"The prox card readers don't work from as far away, and it takes longer for the system to register," Kirk said.

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Brown was even more frustrated with his new card's performance.

"They don't work. Sometimes I have to take it out of my wallet, which is a big inconvenience. But the looks more than make up for it," he said.

Dahlen said the new proxes shouldn't take require any more time than the old ones to work properly.

"There are always some bad cards," she said.

Dahlen instructed any student who feels his or her prox is not working properly to come to the TigerCard office, located on the A floor of the New South Building.

"We can tell quickly whether a card is dead," she said.

She explained one reason for inconsistencies in prox performance as a mid-project change in authority for instituting the new cards. Responsibility shifted from Public Safety to the TigerCard office.

"We are feeling the problems from changing over," she said.

She described the goal of the changeover as creating a "one-stop shopping approach," preventing students from having to go from department to department to fix a prox-related problem.

Nevertheless, there will always be those who long for the way things were.

"Some change is bad," Jen Buchan '05 said, "I miss the old one."