Assurance

[Brett Bieber <>]

Hi,

On Thu Feb 05 2015 at 4:33:32 PM Wessel, Keith <> wrote:

We’ve got a group on campus working to implement preferred names for students, staff, and faculty. Often, especially with our international students, a student will want to use a preferred nickname instead of their legal first name.

 

I don’t recall anything specific from the assurance profiles applying to the use of preferred names, especially on ID cards, and that’s where the question lies right now. Is there any guidance or restriction from the profiles for using a preferred first name in addition to or in place of a legal first name on university-issued ID cards? Our group’s suggestion right now is to have the preferred name on the front of the card and the legal name on the back. But we don’t want to go down a road that’s going to make bronse/silver more difficult ahead.

Our card office and Identity & Access Management Steering Committee struggled with the same question as we worked through adding preferred student names. I don't believe there was anything related to assurance in that discussion, but more of a question of our responsibility, when the card is used and accepted as an ID, if the "legal name" must be printed.

A major sticking point was whether or not the campus ID card was a "Government Issued ID," and plenty of concern over whether we would issue an ID to an undocumented student. When we do move to formal proofing requirements for Silver, verifying a government issued ID will be required, so undocumented students may not be able to obtain a "Silver" credential. Thankfully, students are not in scope for our Silver effort.

Where we came to rest was that the campus ID card is for internal use only. If an external entity wants to view it as a "Government Issued ID", they've implicitly trusted our identity proofing effort, and the information on the card.

To facilitate personal identity preferences (transgender students, privacy etc), we're moving forward with the same process you described, preferred name printed on the front of the card, legal name (verified by a government issued photo ID) on the back. Only the services that need to know the legal name, and have been approved by the IAM Steering Committee & Registrar will have access to the legal name.

Items that came up in our discussion were entry in to dorms (showing ID with legal name vs preferred name) and whether the records match, verification of ID when picking up a package labeled to legal OR preferred name, proctored exams where the ID is verified before the exam can begin, etc. In many cases, having the an up-to-date photo is more important than the name printed on the front or back.

Hope that helps, and good luck with the effort.

-Brett