It’s not just for Facebook anymore.
The Internet has become an integral part of the college experience both socially and academically.
Professors communicate vital information through e-mail. Sakai and Blackboard are used for posting, turning in and grading assignments.
The day of the occasional online quiz has been transformed into the day of students taking classes online and only going into the classroom only for tests.
Clearly, Bradley requires students to depend on the Internet. This leaves us with one question: Why can’t students depend on Bradley for it?
Wireless Internet is still only available in the lounges of residence halls. However, because of TVs and furniture set up for large group gatherings, students cannot depend on a lounge to be quiet for schoolwork.
Although students can connect to the Internet in their rooms through Ethernet cords, these are not provided by the university and have become out-of-date.
Wireless Internet is provided in the Cullom-Davis Library, however students’ frustrations that the library is not conducive to overall needs is no secret.
What is clear is that if Bradley wants to pride itself as a leader in education, it needs to make wireless Internet available to all students now. What’s not clear is why it hasn’t done so already.
That’s why we strongly support Student Senate’s resolution to make campus wireless by Fall 2010.
While this is no easy feat, it will have to be done sooner or later.
Going wireless isn’t the direction of the future – it’s the present, and we’re lagging behind.
After all, many students are carrying the Internet around with them in their pockets. BlackBerrys and iPhones have revolutionized technology, but they can’t be depended on for schoolwork. They simply show how easy Internet access has become.
We strongly urge the administration to push senate’s resolution through, because these days a wireless campus is not an accessory, it’s a necessity to thrive in the format of education for which we’ve been presented.
