Jenny Luo / Daily Nexus

Several students have already been referred to UCSB’s Office of Judicial Affairs for selling ID cards on Facebook. Jenny Luo / Daily Nexus

With about 24 hours until UC Santa Barbara’s spring concert on Sunday, many non-students are still trying to snag a ticket. But the concert, Extravaganza, is only open to UCSB students, meaning that tickets come in the form of borrowed — or purchased — student ID cards.

Several students have already been referred to UCSB’s Office of Judicial Affairs for trying to rent or sell their IDs to non-UCSB students, and a Facebook search returned more than 40 posts either seeking or selling a student access card.

Sarah Yang, who graduated from UCSB after Winter Quarter, wanted to go to the concert but is visiting Las Vegas with friends instead.

She decided to make some extra cash by posting her ID on Facebook and received about 10 offers ranging from $20 to $50. In the end, though, Yang passed up on the money and gave her ID to a friend who needed one.

“I understand why they want to close it off — we all pay our tuition,” Yang said. “We’ve had Deltopia and we’ve had crazy riots happening and I understand why they want to keep it within the school.”

Associated Students Program Board (ASPB), the student-funded organization hosting the concert, has hired professional security for the event and instructed them to look for certain things on students’ ID cards.

“We gave them specific instructions — this is what the card has to look like, you have to make sure the face matches the card, you have to make sure it’s not scratched out to where you can’t see the face,” said Alex Levine, the special events coordinator for ASPB.

Levine said that while ASPB does have machines to scan the ID cards, she is not sure if they will be used on Sunday, but Program Board has been monitoring social media sites and referring students to Judicial Affairs.

Katya Armistead, the dean of student life, said students who are flagged as having sold their ID card will, at the very least, have to speak with an administrator.

“There’s not a set consequence. I would definitely at the very least call the student in to have a conversation,” Armistead said, adding that “it’s not a witch hunt.”

Armistead said she knows this has been a problem for years, but was surprised, this year, when she saw people pop up on her own Facebook feed selling IDs.

“It’s been a problem, it’s happened before, but I’d never seen it — me, I see it!” she said.

One first-year UCSB student, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because selling and buying ID cards is against school policy, said she sees why the students-only policy exists, but wanted to be able to bring her boyfriend.

“It’s understandable, like I get it, but it sucks, you know?” she said. “I totally understand it, but I’m still trying to get around it.”

The first-year student posted on Facebook looking to buy an ID for $15. She was contacted by someone renting out their ID for $45, far more than she was willing to pay.

“It might be worth it if it was a concert ticket, but it’s just an access card, you know,” said the student, who is still looking for a way to bring her boyfriend to Extravaganza on Sunday.

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Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs
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