Opinions

ITS responds impressively to budget cuts

In tough economic times, the decision to remove public dorm computers confirms our faith in Swarthmore’s ITS staff

In print | September 3, 2009

As the Swarthmore College community starts yet another new school year, the global recession is still very much a sobering reality. One of its latest effects on campus has appeared in the form of a reduction in dorm computers. Even between the twin hassles of moving in and starting class, returning students have been quick to notice that, regardless of size, dorms now house only one public computer each, with the exception of Mary Lyon and Parrish Hall.

Although many realize that every department must make significant budget cuts in this economy, and that Information Technology Service is no exception, there are still mild rumblings about the inconvenience of these disappearing acts. Recession or not, some question whether the cuts need to affect students so directly, as the removal of dorm computers unfortunately has.

Before plunging into the potential complaints against ITS’s decision, though, consider some facts. Gayle Barton, the Chief Information Technology Officer, said that ITS received a mandate from administration to cut $120,000 in this fiscal year, which began on July 1. The most efficient way of achieving that goal was to reduce operating costs by removing a number of public computers from the dorms.

“Since most people have laptops, it makes the [removing of dorm computers] less of a burden on students,” Barton said. Cuts were also made in the areas of travel expenses for ITS staff to technology conferences and other similar events. “We have also moved from a three-year replacement plan to a four-year replacement plan for computers across campus,” Barton said. “This will save a quarter of what we would spend [in a year].”

Clearly, lopping 120 grand off expenditure is no easy task for any department. As anybody who has gone way over the page limit in an essay can attest, deleting words here and there is no use — heavy-duty erasing of entire paragraphs is necessary. ITS, then, was presented with an analogous situation. Since the very nature of ITS means that there are already high fixed costs, relatively drastic measures had to be taken in order to meet budgetary restrictions.

For students, however, these measures have led to fewer available computers and, further down the line, computers that are perhaps older than is optimal given the switch to a four-year replacement plan.

Since we are Swarthmore students, we cannot help but wonder — why should ITS’s costs be pushed onto we who already must pay our high tuition fees? Why does Willets, with its occupancy of 213 students, have just one computer in the dorm, a number equal to Dana and Hallowell and each of the PPR dorms, all of which have occupancies of less than 100?

These are all valid questions. But in our view, ITS has eminently more valid responses to our concerns. As it turns out, the people who support all of Swarthmore’s technology needs do in fact know what they are doing. According to ITS Software Specialist Mark Davis, they have been working to track campus computer usage. “We have been using [a technology called] LabStats since last year,” Davis said. LabStats has shown that students are largely using the public dorm computers for very short periods of time, which leads to the logical conclusion that the computers are primarily used to print papers. The five-minute sessions on dorm computers are in stark contrast to, for example, the hours that students spend on McCabe library computers, according to Davis’ LabStats information.

To address the necessity of cutting costs while keeping student inconvenience at a minimum, Davis said, “we considered that since nearly 100 percent of students already have a computer, the problem is not that they don’t have one but that they don’t know how to connect to the dorm printers. [In previous years,] most of the calls to ResTech [Residential Technology Services] have been about printing problems.” To that end, ITS has clarified its instructions on connecting to printers, and consequently, calls regarding the topic have indeed decreased this year relative to the same point in time last year.

That the decision to reduce the number of computers in dorms was not arbitrarily made is abundantly clear. Student expediency and financial reality were evidently carefully weighed against each other. Barton reveals that they considered removing the computers at the coffee bars in both Science Center and Kohlberg, but a cursory glance at statistics showed that those drew heavy traffic.

Thus, a quick trip to either venue will show that their resident computers safely remain where they were in May. Furthermore, Willets will soon be home to a PC as well as a Mac, reflecting ITS’ recognition of different dorms’ needs.

These are, after all, hard times. All across the globe, the current financial crisis is making day-to-day life a struggle for countless people. And even at other small liberal arts colleges like Williams College, computers are being completely eliminated from dorms, and printing is markedly not free like it is for Swarthmore students.

Consider the many alternatives that could have occurred: ITS could have easily raised service and repair costs, or — heaven forbid — started charging for printing. The fact of the matter is that we are, to use Davis’ words, “far, far better off than [people in] other places.”

We encourage students to speak out about any concerns they have that their schooling experience may be hampered, but in this case there seems to be little that warrants criticism.

The economy giveth, and the economy taketh away. Fortunately, we at Swarthmore have a team of tech experts firmly committed to making sure we do get to keep many of the luxuries we used to have on campus. Davis, for one, wants the campus at large to realize that “we have a director [Barton] who is dedicated to ensuring service is maintained for students.” Duly noted.