Yes, you really do need your ID.

Today, for the first time this semester, I actually turned people away for not having their university student ID with them when trying to get into the lab.l The official rule, as far as I'm aware, is that we are supposed to check for IDs on every student from the hours of 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. What I usually do is quite far from it.

Usually I tell people that they need to have their IDs, they tell me they forgot it and could I let them in anyway, then I do and tell them to bring it next time. Luckily most people either only ever come to the lab once, or just learn to come before 11 p.m. I know several users who make an effort to be here before the doors lock, often at about 10:45 p.m. for whatever reason. My guesses include a disliking of confrontation, not actually being an NAU student, or intents to stay here the whole night, with a possible trip to the couch for a nap.

I've got users of all three of those types. One person that comes here, I'm told, is actually just here so he doesn't have to be at home, and uses his cousin's UID. Another person is actually an NAU student, but he has a tendency to fall asleep on the couch for long periods of time, as though he were mainly here because he doesn't have anywhere else to go. Other people who sneak in right at 10:50 are usually here for honest, academic intentions. They need to use a program they don't have at home, or they need to work on a paper. Or at the very least, they're actual NAU students who do have somewhere else they could be, and aren't causing problems for anyone else.

At any rate, the real point of this post was to go ahead and say that today I did turn someone away on the basis that they lacked an NAU ID today. It was two people, both obviously NAU students, one having an ID and the other not. It wasn't overly unfriendly, I just had to repeat myself, "I'm sorry, I can't let you in unless you've got an NAU ID, and no, you can't use his." After another moment or two, the two said they were going to go ahead and go, and I wished them a good evening.

My closing thought is that I think we might need a sign on the door saying "Don't even bother to ring the doorbell if you don't have your own NAU student ID with you."