In the fall semester of 2022, Union University began requiring students to scan student identification both in and out of chapel to meet new university chapel policy requirements.
The Office of University Ministries (OUM) asks that students scan in for chapel before 10:10 a.m. to receive credit for attending. Students must attend at least 14 chapels per semester to fulfill chapel commitments. Students who fail to scan in and out do not receive credit for chapel attendance unless otherwise notified.
In previous years, the university has registered attendance by filling out scantron bubbles, scanning student IDs and, most recently, using the Spotter mobile app, which allowed students to register their attendance from within the chapel using location services.
According to Todd Brady, vice president for university ministries, problems with Spotter reliability in recording attendance provoked the change back to ID scanning.
Brady believes that the change may help better fulfill the university’s goal for accurate chapel attendance.
“Part of the Union experience is that you are receiving Christ-centered education,” Brady said. “Chapel is a part of that experience. If we say that chapel is an integral part of the educational experience here, then let us make it as user-friendly as possible, as accurate as possible.”
The OUM has already identified limits to the current system, both in the limited number of stations to scan IDs and the struggle of software to register barcodes. Currently, the OUM is working with the IT department to remedy these issues as they appear.
Jo Wafler, a senior social work major and mobilization intern for the OUM, has seen both the student and logistical side of the new system.
“I think it’s a positive for us to take that initiative and responsibility upon ourselves in a small way,” Wafler said. “We set aside time twice a week to experience God and to worship through song and to sit under the preaching of the word of God. I think this new scanning policy ensures that more people will get to experience that.”
In the future, the OUM hopes for even more efficiency in registering attendance and asks for the continued patience of the student body. Brady also encourages students to stop by the OUM office with any questions or concerns.
