Boston University has begun requiring students to show a digital badge indicating they’re up to date with COVID-19 testing and symptom screening to gain entry to campus dining halls, libraries, and other facilities, school officials said.

BU officials said the policy, which went into effect Thursday, was necessary due to “declining compliance’’ and a “worrisome increase in the daily numbers of cases of the virus among our student body, as well as our staff, over the last week.’’

In a letter posted Tuesday on the university’s website, Boston University president Robert A. Brown and Kenneth Elmore, associate provost and dean of students, reminded students they must also continue to follow protocols for testing, screening, and social distancing, as well as be ready to show the badges on their phones.

“We hope this will be a reminder to everyone of the importance of daily symptom attestation and testing for keeping our campus safe,’’ they wrote.

According to a report in BU Today, a dozen students were suspended after they participated in at least one of three parties held Oct. 3 at off-campus residences in Allston. Five others who attended the parties were placed on deferred suspension for the rest of the academic year, according to the report.

University officials told BU Today that mask-wearing and social distancing were disregarded at the parties, and that a physical assault occurred at one when one student threw a beer can that ricocheted off a building and into another student.

Officials said there was no evidence any of the students involved had COVID-19 or that the coronavirus was spread at any of the three parties.

The digital badges are not new; students and employees at BU have been using them since the start of the semester. But they will now need to be shown to access the dining halls, libraries, the George Sherman Union, and other spaces on campus, officials said in the letter.

According to the COVID-19 policies posted on Boston University’s website, students who are up to date with testing and daily screening receive a green-colored badge that appears on their mobile device.

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