PSU researching computer options

By KATE DAILEY
and CINDY KOONS
Collegian Staff Writers

Looking toward the future of technology, the Faculty Senate Computer Ownership and Access Committee is currently researching computer options for incoming freshmen.

John Brighton, outgoing Penn State executive vice president and provost, appointed the 10-member committee in November to create a definitive computer policy for Penn State. A student will be named to the committee shortly, said Renata Engel, committee chair.

Penn State presently has no policy regarding student ownership of computers, so incoming students often do not know what kind of technology they need, if any, Engel said.

One of the mandates the committee is considering is computer access for all freshmen, which may mean owning a computer.

"We are distinguishing between ownership and access," Engel said.

"By access, it's an implied access to non-computer lab computers," she added.

If more students owned computers, university labs could use resources to provide high-quality software such as scanners, printers and graphical design equipment rather than fulfill basic computer needs, Engel said.

The committee will present its report to the administration in May, which then will decide what actions to take in terms of a computer policy.

"Our report will consist of all information we have collected from the people we have talked to, including the student groups and faculty senate groups," she said.

The committee also examined other universities that considered such computer policies, and the reasons why they chose to accept or reject them.

In the report, the committee will offer several options and the implications of those options.

Academic Assembly was the first student group to meet with the committee.

One of the main concerns students expressed at that meeting was the financial obligations of owning a computer.

"The committee is certainly aware of and shares that concern," Engel said.

"Finance is perhaps the toughest issue in the picture, but it is not insurmountable."

Students can receive financial aid to pay for computer purchases, said Anna Griswold, vice provost of student aid, but the federal government will probably not allocate new funds for computer purchases.

"The issue of us allowing it is not a problem," Griswold said.

"But the issue of 'Is there enough money for the students?' . . . I'd say yes, but in the form of loans."

Presently, 61 percent of Penn State students own computers and 84 percent have access to a computer outside of university labs, according to a Faculty Advisory Committee on Academic Computing Student Survey.

• Other universities create individual computer requirements