About a year ago a student in the MA program pointed out that there was no way for a distance-learning student to get an ID Card: our security office refused to mail them and also would not let you send a proxy to pick one up on your behalf. You could only get an ID card if you traveled to a physical campus. This was egregious practice since student ID cards are necessary to get into places like research libraries, or to take advantage of student discounts; and anyway distance-learners are entitled to an ID card as a part of your tuition, sure as is any other student here. It took a long time for us to get the right people at the college to listen, but thanks largely to the tenacity of this one student they finally did. I was told this morning that the first ID card is being put in a mailer today to go to the student. So we now have a method in place [updated] for any and all distance learners in the MA English program to secure a student ID.

If you are an active MA student and you want a student ID card, here is what you do:

Using your @Mercy.edu email (only) please send a photo of your face along with your full first name, last name, and college ID number (your eight-digit CWID) to Jamie Funigiello at: JFunigiello@mercy.edu

Full photo guidelines are:

• Submit a color photo of just your face taken in last 6 months
• Have someone else take your photo – no selfies
• Submit a high-resolution photo that is not blurry, grainy, or pixelated
• Use a clear and unedited image of your face; do not use filters such as those commonly used on social media
• Face the camera directly with full face in view
• Have a neutral facial expression or a natural smile, with both eyes open
• Use a plain white or off-white background

Let Jamie know you are a distance-learning graduate student in the MA English Lit program and you would like a student ID card. He will explain the process and get you the card. And if you are in a class with Jim Kaufman you might say thanks, since he’s the one whose determination here made this happen.