Too little, too late

ITD's plan does not solve allocation problems

Diversity is a valued aspect at this University, and the administration has demonstrated its commitment to maintaining a racially and ethnically diverse student body. And yet, the University's Information Technology Division is less tolerant of students' diverse needs. ITD eliminated the freedom previously available in the basic computing package to allocate specific dollar amounts to students for each computing service, many of which are only used by a fraction of the student body. In an attempt to alleviate the difficulties caused by this change, ITD has more than doubled the number of pages that students may print and has made available additional dial-in hours. But these changes do not correct the original problems in the basic computing package and come too late in the term for their benefits to be fully realized by the student body.

ITD's new computing package allows each student to print only 120 pages before charging them eight cents per page. This number is ridiculously low and has been exceeded by the vast majority of the student body. But ITD's addition of 180 pages to student allowances will not greatly aid the situation. The 180 pages are to be used between last Friday and April 30. Only those students with final papers rather than final exams will need to print anywhere near that many pages in such a short period of time. If ITD believes that students print that many pages in such a short period of time, why is the allocation for the entire semester so unrealistically low?

Additionally, ITD will cease to charge students for dial-in access between the hours of midnight and 3 p.m. for the same two weeks. These hours come too late in the semester to be fully utilized as well. ITD has conveniently waited until most of the student body has already CRISPed and students have already spent hours searching the incredibly inconvenient online course guide. Most students will be studying during the next two weeks - not spending hours each day online. The addition to the dial-in allocation will only benefit a small portion of the student body.

These new allocations, courtesy of the Office of the Provost, do not solve but only temporarily alleviate the problems caused by the present computing package. The fatal error of the package is the lack of flexibility for students. Students who live in residence halls or log in from Angell Hall do not need dial-in access and should not be forced to pay for services that they do not require. Instead, they should be allowed to divert those dollars unused in other portions of the computing budget toward areas in which they are falling short, such as printing. The previous system allowed such flexibility, but according to ITD, was too expensive to maintain. So, instead of realizing that the benefits of a flexible system are worth the added costs, ITD increased its funding by charging students for services that they are not using. Whatever the case, students are being charged for services that they are not using under the present system, and ITD is mistaken if it believes that its basic computing package is sufficient and is satisfying the needs of the student body. The computing needs of students are varied and diverse - the University should not limit the options tuition-paying students have when they boot up a computer.

04-20-98