In response to the rising occurrences of identify theft in the United States, Elon has recently completed a transition from using Social Security numbers to access student records to using student ID numbers, also known as Datatel numbers.

"This is to protect our students, faculty and staff," said Chris Fulkerson, director of Campus and Instructional Technologies. "It’s a problem because you want something that identifies a person that is unique and there really is no other single, national identifier."

The Datatel system is comprised of a series of integrated records. Every student, faculty member and organization that interacts with the university is given a unique Datatel profile which, until recently, contains and could be accessed by a Social Security number. Fulkerson explained that Elon has phased out using Social Security numbers as a way of accessing student profiles and now only allows the last four digits of the

numbers as a way of accessing student profiles and now only allows the last four digits of the numbers to be displayed because of the possible security concerns.

Most departments on campus, including the Registrar and Bursar’s offices, will only be able to view the last four digits of each student’s Social Security number.

Some departments, including payroll and the Office of Admissions, will still have access to a student’s full Social Security number. Fulkerson explained that the transition was not easy to execute.

"Blocking the Social Security numbers was not the issue," Fulkerson said. "The difficult part was deciding who needed to see the information and allowing them to have access to it without letting everyone in the department have access as well."

Discussion of the transition began in a committee that met over the summer to discuss information security issues. Since then, the Datatel transition has been planned and implemented.

Students will now be asked for their Datatel numbers in place of their Social Security numbers when filling out certain paperwork on campus. Organization rosters, for example, will no longer ask students to sign up with their Social Security numbers.

Fulkerson said that Elon is in line with many other schools in the state that are also transitioning away from using private information for record keeping purposes. He said the move is a preventative measure for the university and that no particular incident has sparked the need for a change.

"People need to be more careful with their personal information," he said. "We’re just trying to be responsible here."