Harvard Drops Photographs On I.D. Cards

Members of the Class of 1980 won't have to queue up for I.D. pictures at registration today thanks to Harvard's decision this summer to drop the photo on undergraduates' bursars cards.

The shift to less costly non-photo cards will enable the University to reissue student I.D.'s every year, reversing its recently adopted practice of validating undergraduates' cards for four years.

I.D. Cards Today

The move simplifies production of the cards--allowing mass manufacture at a cost of about 20 cents a card instead of $1.50--and means that freshmen probably will receive I.D. cards in their registration packets today.

The decision to drop the cards, which was made by the director of the Office of Fiscal Services, R. Jerrold Gibson '51, also signals a renewed effort by that office to test computer-linked I.D. card readers that would serve the checking function