Yesterday, David Balenti waited in the intramural sign-up line for over two hours, only to find out the sport he wanted was cancelled.

“I waited since 7 a.m.,” the visibly frustrated fourth-year biology student said.
Balenti was one of the hundreds of Western students waiting in the hours-long line at the Western Student Recreation Centre on Monday morning.

“It’s a crazy line-up,” Gareth Cunningham, manager of Campus Recreation observed.

These lengthy lines — an annual tradition during intramural sign-ups — have prompted some to wonder if there is a better way to do things.

“What they should have done is have sign-ups by team or gender,” third-year criminology student Vicky Montgomery suggested. “Or register for certain sports on a different day.”

BY THE LOOKS OF THIS LINE, I’D SAY NICKELBACK MUST BE IN TOWN. Registration for intramural sports opened today with people lining up as early as 5:30 a.m. to submit their teams, according to Campus Recreation Manager Gareth Cunningham.

Cunningham is pushing for an even more convenient solution: online registration.
Unfortunately, switching sign-ups to an online format has been a tough process, Cunningham said.

Western has certain standards for compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. Unfortunately, Campus Recreation’s software vendor — the program that would facilitate online registration — does not meet them.

The PCI Data Security Standard was created by the major credit card companies in order to protect customers’ information.

These companies require merchants and service providers to meet certain minimum standards of security when they store, process and transmit cardholder data.

The software vendor that Campus Recreation selected several years ago to begin a transition to online registration is not PCI compliant, Cunningham said – despite being used by other universities and municipalities. As such, Western said no to its usage.

“We’re a bit stumped about what the deal was,” Cunningham said. “It’s been a thorn in the side for Campus Recreation ever since.”

However, Western’s administration is striving to be proactive in protecting customers’ safety.

“The PCI standard is a global standard … this is not a self-inflicted Western policy,” explained Lynn Logan, chair of Western’s Bank Card Committee. Logan’s committee advises and makes recommendations on all matters associated with transactions on campus involving bank cards.

“Our banking partners are requiring us to implement these policies to protect the merchants and consumers,” she said.

Campus Recreation is in the process of finding a new software vendor to meet PCI standards. This is proving to be a lengthy process and 16 to 20 weeks would be needed for implementation when one is found.

Cunningham made it clear Campus Recreation understands the frustration students go through when registering for intramurals – and recognizes the desire for easier registration.

“I used to work at [Wilfred Laurier University’s] campus recreation department and I was part of the process of switching from lines to online registration,” he said. After the switch, roughly 80 per cent of students used the online registration right away.

“Clearly, it’s what students are looking for.”

However, students at Western will have to be patient for the time being.

“It’s outside Campus Recreation’s hands,” Cunningham said.