The use of biometrics, like many initiatives on campus is a return to pre-COVID practices for entry into the dining halls. UNH helped pioneer the hand recognition technology back in 2003 as one of the first schools to adopt the technology. All meal plan holders are required to enroll in the system.
With biometric technology, students can access dining halls without swiping their card, preventing issues that may arise as a result of lost student ID cards. This technology uses a combination of two biometric readings, fingerprints and finger veining that result in the #1 rating in enrollment and identification accuracy.
For students worried about the privacy of their fingerprints, the technology does not actually store students’ fingerprints in a database. It’s similar to an iPhone that measures the vein pattern in your fingertips as well as your fingerprints to create an algorithm, but nothing is stored. When students scan their fingers, the algorithm will match up the same with the one they got when they signed up.
The biometric scanners are frequently cleaned and sanitized. Hand sanitizer is also available at the entrance and throughout the dining halls. Students are able to register to have their fingers scanned at Campus Services located in the Memorial Union Building, (MUB).
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