Terry Glenn is a cowgirl

- The Whitworthian

Students now have easy access to off-campus meals with the touch of
a finger.

Whitworth College has recently installed the IMYE system, which
allows students, faculty and staff to buy meals on- and off-campus,
without cash or student ID card.

Each time a student makes purchases through IMYE, the student scans
their fingerprint to authorize payment. Pirate Bucs cannot be used
to pay for the account, even though IMYE is partnered with Sodexho.

Students and parents can create an account at http://www.imye.com,
where they can manage and transfer funds.

"It's an interesting way for students to be able to access
off-campus vendors," said Jim O' Brien, Sodexho General Manager.

IMYE creates a more convenient and secure way for students to pay
for meals on- and off-campus.

Gonzaga University started using the service last year. Charles
Wesley, general manager of dining services at Gonzaga, said there
have been some technical problems such as slow computer service, but
IMYE has been working to clean up the glitches.

"Feedback is good. [Gonzaga students] think it's cool that they
don't have to bring their wallets to downtown venues," Wesley said.

Sodexho met with student life representatives last spring and
proposed installing the IMYE system on campus. The IMYE system has
already established a partnership with Gonzaga, Spokane Falls
Community College and Spokane Community College.

Students at Gonzaga responded well to the new program, said Wesley.
The Faculty at Gonzaga, however, have felt uneasy about privacy
issues.

Students can use the account to purchase at both Sodexho, the caf
and the Mind and Hearth. Off-campus locations include: Pizza Hut,
Tomato Street, Papa John's, Bruchi's and Coldstone Creamery.

Although the technology has been in place at a number of off-campus
locations since the end of last year, business managers have not
noticed a significant rise in the number of customers utilizing the
system.

"We started using this last year, but not many people did it. But
this year things have kicked up," said Cecilia Jansson, Assistant
Manager at Papa John's.

All of the technology flukes in the system have yet to be worked
out. Some businesses used a dial-up Internet connection, which
slowed down the scanning process. In response, IMYE installed land
access Internet free of charge.

IMYE recently sent repair crews to Tomato Street in order to fix
some bugs in the system, which has already been up and running for
the past year. Tomato Street wants to make the IMYE system more
accessible to customers.

"[The IMYE repair crew] is supposed to have something that can be
brought to the table," said Steven Germain, manager of Tomato
Street.

Germain said if the IMYE system does not register a finger print,
students can use their student ID number.

IMYE has integrated several security measures to protect its account
holders from theft. The scanner translates each individual's
fingerprint into an algorithm that the machine recognizes, instead
of the fingerprint itself. There is also a series of fire-walls to
protect the accounts. No files containing the account holder's
personal information are kept on file.