Skipping out of chapels early, but still getting scanned for credit, is a tactic so ubiquitous it has earned its own term — sliding and gliding. But Chapel Accountability is seeking to put a stop to sliding and gliding by hiring more ID card scanners.
This semester, students attempting to slide and glide via the rear exits of Chase Gymnasium will be confronted with chapel scanners. They hold on to students’ ID cards to allow legitimate bathroom breaks, but students have to return for their cards and return to their seats. This prohibits sliding and gliding during the “big” chapels held on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Those who do leave from the rear exits are “de-scanned.”
Exit scanners to discourage sliding and gliding
Jonathan Wyatt, Chapel Accountability coordinator, confirmed that the exit scanners are a new countermeasure as of this semester.
“Students have been sliding and gliding ridiculously,” he said. The exit scanners are a response to such behavior.
“That’s why, for the past two years, we’ve had exit scanners at the front,” Wyatt said. “But students were leaving through the locker rooms and the back entrances, so this year we hired on more [exit scanners] to help students in their integrity that way.”
Wyatt made sure to stress that this is less about enforcement, and more about holding students accountable to the commitment they agreed to in attending Biola.
“There are students who — when things get tight and they look at the end of the semester and haven’t done their [chapel] make-ups — are willing to compromise,” Wyatt said. “Part of the presence of the exit scanners are to help students continue in their integrity. All of us are tempted to slide and glide… but we want to be there to encourage students.”
Student response to extra scanners
Student responses have been mixed. According to Wyatt, some students do appreciate the extra enforcement.
“The exit scanners definitely get some pushback, but they’ve also had a lot of encouragement — a lot of students saying, ‘Oh, that’s really cool that you guys are doing this,’” Wyatt said. “It’s been positive and negative.”
Senior Paul Doyle finds the scanners excessive. “It seems a little bit like a control maneuver,” he said. “I don’t think it should be necessary for us to have, you know, full security lockdown for something like chapel.”
Doyle also shared skepticism about the effectiveness of extra scanners.
“I think people that are going to slide and glide are going to find another way to do it anyway… and it creates more anger by the students.”
Chapel Accountability says that no further new, preventative measures are “coming down the pike” beyond the exit scanners.
