By Dale Bell

GRINNELL, IA—In a move that has been lauded by the Grinnell Administration as “a brilliant approach to today’s security problems,” Grinnell Administration has announced the expansion of Duo Mobile, the college’s multi-factor identification app, into every aspect of student existence. The rollout, which will take place over the coming months, vastly expands usage of the app on Grinnell’s campus.

“What were they thinking?” asks Molly Van Eyck ’26. “I was getting home pretty late, but my P-card wouldn’t let me in. My phone kept buzzing asking me to put in the six-digit code. I was so drunk I ended up getting it wrong three times. I tried to text a friend to let me in, but I ended up messaging the marine recruiter—and now I’m shipping out next week.”
 For more information, the B&S spoke to Chester Duo, the lead programmer spearheading the Duo Mobile expansion:

“Identity theft is a real problem. Student, teacher, the lead programmer spearheading the Duo Mobile expansion for Grinnell College: these are all identities that are stolen every day. We live in a world where it is impossible to tell if someone is who they say they are. For hundreds of years Duo Security has innovated in the field of identity authentication. My great-grandfather, William Howard Duo invented name tags. I intend to follow in his footsteps and revolutionize authentication again.”

With the expansion in scope, Duo has also announced a commitment to new methods of identification. Along with the classic six-digit code, it appears that several other methods are in the implementation phase, including facial and fingerprint recognition, security questions, riddles and blood tests.

“I guess it kind of makes sense?” says math major Greg Gregson ’26, “I was trying to use the running machine at the Bear, but Duo popped up on my phone and asked me to solve an integral. When I forgot to include + C, it locked me out.”

Major-based Duo security questions have been reported around campus, with History majors reportedly being quizzed on important dates, English majors asked to apply literary analysis to poems, and Sociology majors asked to match colored blocks with their respective spellings. Some however, have had more unsettling experiences with the security questions:

“I don’t remember answering any of the security questions they’re asking me,” says Ichabod Chen ’25. “I was trying to open the door to the dryer to get my laundry and my phone was just going off. When I opened it, there was just this question asking who my first kiss was, and it really wouldn’t let me get my laundry until I entered her real name. How did they know? I got another one later that said ‘how will you die’ and gave me three options – I chose ‘of old age’ and now I’m locked out of Outlook.”

Some students have even had Duo authentication alerts pop-up with no prompting:

“Like everyone on campus, I love Duo Mobile. But I think this might be taking it a bit too far.” Says Matthew Camden ’27. “I was driving the other night when my engine turned off on the highway – just died. All the lights in my car went off too. When I pulled out my phone to call for help, all I saw was this message on the black screen. ‘Who are you.’ It was pretty eerie, but after I entered my six-digit code, ‘We are satisfied’ popped up on my screen and everything turned back on. How did they even do that?”

At press time, the Grinnell Administration was reportedly testing a new Duo feature that would authenticate students before they could make important, and potentially disastrous, life decisions, such as declaring a major, deciding whether to break up with their significant other, or eating from Plat at DHall.