Internet problems may not be high on the list of student complaints this year, but it was once a contentious topic. Unreliable internet is bad enough, but imagine losing it and not knowing when the internet will return. Such is the reality highlighted in this Dec. 7, 1995 article.
The Point Park College computer Internet has been down since Thanksgiving because of high operation costs and to up date the computer system itself.
The last monthly telephone bill was $911.24 and “maybe half of that is in the budget,” said systems administrator Barry Ference.
The high bill is due to the fact that the processing site, which students call every time they log onto the Internet, is in Turtle Creek, a toll call from the college. The school is in the process of changing to a closer site in Green Tree, which will eliminate toll call costs.
Another problem is the amount of time spent on the Internet by students. “Students log on for hours to play games and we [the Computer Science Department] can’t support it [financially],” Ference said.
Many students agree with Ference about abuse. “You see the same people in the computer lab hour after hour,” said accounting major Amy Thompson. “Instead of having just a time limit, they should have a personal limit with your ID number,” said the sophomore commuter.
Before the Internet can be set up again, a new Unix system will be installed. With the implementation of the Unix system, the lab will offer more computers with access to the Internet at about half the system’s previous cost.
The new system, which is still in the planning stages, will possibly allow students to have access to their own personal account for E-mail, rather than the public account in which “every one could read everyone else’s mail,” said Ference.
There are still unresolved issues in the computer, primarily involving cost. The Unix system itself costs approximately $75,000, plus “we have to release what we already have and pay for more memory, paper and basic operation costs,” said Ference.
Since students from all majors use the lab and may want E-mail accounts, a lab fee might be implemented. “We as a department cannot pay the bills of the whole school,” said Ference.
Despite the temporary closing of the Internet in the computer lab, the college is not totally without entry. In the library, there are two public workstations with access to the Internet. They can be used “only for library assignments … because the library budget is bearing the cost,” said librarian Joan Hamby.
In addition, the library offers Netscape, in which students can sample the Internet, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Some students expressed dismay over the temporary loss of the Internet in the computer lab. “I think that it’s the school’s fault for not researching the costs of the Internet,” said sophomore Will Wood. “We all pay a lot of tuition, and I don’t think they should take it out on us,” said the journalism and communications major.
