CIS attempts to connect to College

Since the beginning of this semester, numerous problems have arisen from the Office of Computing and Information Services's inability to communicate with students and other offices of the College. For example, many students found, upon moving in to their doubles or triples, that there were not enough ports in their Ethernet jack. The fault here lies not only with CIS, but also with the Office of Residential Life. One would hope that these two offices would be able to communicate with each other regarding simple logisitical issues. While it would be nice to dismiss this case as an isolated occurrence, there are numerous other examples that suggest otherwise.

Despite these occurrences, however, CIS is on the road to improvement with the addition of Bret Ingerman, the newly appointed vice president, who has promised to improve communication between his office and the College community. But whether Ingerman can make good on his promise remains to be seen.

The Vassar community revolves around its heavy reliance on internet and network access. Thus, CIS's policy regarding the disabling of network access is perhaps the most disturbing issue of all. If CIS suspects that a computer is spewing out viruses or receives notification from the Recording Industry Association of America that the computer is sharing copyrighted material, the procedure is to automatically block that computer from the Internet or network. Current CIS technology does not associate such occurrences with an individual computer, or even location. This system thus blindly cuts a wire without any official notification to the user.

The major problem with this policy boils down to communication. Individuals who have had their network access partially or fully disabled by CIS are clueless as to what has happened. Their computer might not be able to access the Internet, or they might be barred from the network, or they may be able to connect to the Internet, but not from a specific jack. With this current system in place, the student is left clueless. Since CIS is unable to determine whom to contact, it is not until individuals take the initiative to contact CIS that any communication begins.

One of Ingerman's initiatives is to institute an all-campus computer registration to take place sometime after October Break. This registration system would allow CIS to associate a name, dorm, and room number to every computer on campus, which would effectively solve the current issue of CIS blindly blocking network access. But CIS does not have the best track record with all-campus projects, as anyone who remembers having to lug their computers to CIS last fall can attest. But Ingerman promises that this system will be much simpler as students will be able to register their computers from their rooms.

Ingerman also spoke at length about creating forums to facilitate communication between CIS and the College community. He proudly claims that this type of initiative has worked well at other places he has worked in the past. Ingerman envisions a multi-pronged campaign to increase the visibility of CIS in student affairs, including study breaks and a conversation dinner at ACDC. After consultation with VSA President Joe Wildfire '05, Ingerman is slated to speak to the VSA Council this Sunday, Oct. 3. Ingerman was originally scheduled to speak with the VSA on Sept. 26, but he did not attend that meeting.

The problem of communication permeates this campus; perhaps a bit of fresh blood, in the form of Bret Ingerman, will work to alleviate this issue.

Unsigned editorials represent a two-thirds majority opinion of the editorial board.