Completely Different - Hyde and Seek Computers

Locke and Demonthesis are friends brought together in a forum of discussion. Both are strongly opinionated on their subjects, yet strive to be civil and understanding in their shown practice of free speech and debate. They ardently feel this is the corner stone of our society. This week their discussion centers around the loss of the Hyde gallery cluster.

Locke: I think that everyone has been far too worked-up about the loss of the cluster in Hyde. This is one cluster among many on campus. Everyone needs to get over it and use a different cluster.

Demonthesis: It isn’t as simple as merely using a new cluster. This is a major loss to students. The Hyde cluster was one of only three major clusters on campus without classes taught in them. With that number sliced to only two, students are left searching for computers in the middle of the day.

L: The machines taken from the Hyde cluster were reallocated to the HUB cluster and the Help Desk. Clearly these should be satisfactory for midday computing needs.

D: The HUB isn’t an academic building, so obviously it’s not a convenient place to stop between classes. Hyde however is one of the most trafficked academic buildings on campus.

L: They also added public machines to the Help Desk area.

D: Who wants to do any serious work in the Help Desk area? That place is really loud and cramped. There is a constant flow of traffic passing through there asking questions and whatnot. The attendants are always talking on the phone or amongst themselves. This is not an environment where anyone can do real work.

L: Sure, the computing resources available to students are less convenient. However, we need to put in perspective why all these changes are being undertaken in the first place. The college is building a multi-million dollar science facility which will improve the quality of education at our college.

D: I understand that, but this is a project that has undergone extensive planning for at least two years. Shouldn’t space for existing services displaced by construction have been part of that plan? Sophomores and Juniors will suffer with these tight accommodations for the remainder of their academic careers.

L: The long term benefits of an improved science facility are far greater than the suffering of those few students.

D: Those students are paying their fair share of tuition to be here. They should not suffer the effects of bad planning while here. Poor planning aside, where was the student involvement in this decision?

L: That is the most significant issue here. I think that this all happened so quickly that it would have been impossible to pull together any sort of campus forum to discuss the change. Yet, at the same time, many students work for the Help Desk. ITS must have taken the time to discuss it with them.

D: How can students who work for ITS speak for the majority of the students? Is it likely that they could fully understand what issues the entire campus would have with this? Even so, I know a few people who work there and they were as shocked as everyone else. I don’t believe they were apprised of the situation any sooner than the rest of us.

L: I guess I can understand ITS not involving them. It would have been tough for the students not to leak the information. Especially considering how upset everyone has been about the change. Most of the student employees there would likely have shared bad sentiments in losing the cluster.

D: I think the lack of planning really stung hardest in this issue. If they had planned, the campus could have been properly informed with adequate time to understand the decision. Further planning may have avoided this fiasco in the first place. As an example, an alternative plan could have been proposed which would have benefited everyone better. I personally think they should have tried to add those three offices down in the Help Desk area. The Help Desk has ended up extremely cramped as it is. If they had cramped them with further offices, at least student space would not have been invaded.

L: I’m not sure three offices could be squeezed in there without eliminating the Help Desk completely. That is not an option; they are a necessary service which actually benefits the students.

D: I agree, but I still feel some alternative could have provided a better solution. Other possibilities that come to mind are losing the spiral staircase, or adding a floor where there currently is a two story high ceiling. Both of these things seem like awful wastes of space when the campus has a space deficit.

L: Those both seem far too expensive and time consuming to undertake right now. I truly feel ITS was backed into a corner as far as space was concerned. They made a hard decision, but I’m sure in the end it was the most viable one. Regardless of who is at fault, the damage is done, the walls are up. Now we need to focus on things we can do to make the loss of a favorite cluster easier for the campus. There must be something the college can do to lessen this shortfall of convenient computer access.

D: What can be done? One of the most popular clusters has been completely dismantled. The student’s have once again been forgotten in administrative needs. The whole fiasco is resulting from poor planning in ITS. In the end, they have chosen to punish students for this lack of planning.

Let us know where you stand on this or other issues by dropping an email to different@clock.plymouth.edu. If you don’t like email, take the time to write a letter to the editor. We just want to hear from you.