TOPIC | Installing Wi-Fi campuswide
OUR VIEW | Pierce College needs to make Wi-Fi available across campus.
Nearly everywhere we go, we are connected. In the 21st century, there is no place to hide from technology. That is, unless you are at Pierce College, a place that lags behind a basic technological innovation: Wi-Fi.
At Pierce, students have to dash to small areas that give Wi-Fi signals, found in places like the Freudian Sip. It was discovered that the Fine Arts Building recently added Wi-Fi, but the area is infamous for the long flight of stairs students must ascend to reach it.
Students already have a hard time climbing those stairs with just their books. Imagine carrying a 5- to 9-pound laptop in the process, just so you could view the latest homework assignment.
Not even the legendary Rocky Balboa could tackle such a feat.
So, why don’t we have a wireless network like other colleges? California State University, Northridge, has a campuswide service. Los Angeles Trade Technical College, an LACCD school, also has a similar system.
How can we boast our advancement, yet still force students to run like hunting dogs sniffing out Internet signals, while our neighbors only need to press a button?
One problem could be the understaffed Information Technology department, which can barely handle the troubled Pierce e-mail account system. Many professors have abandoned the system as if it were a sinking ship.
Also there is the issue of student abuse. If there was a system like that of CSUN, students could access it from anywhere – including the classroom. Yet, do professors not already trust students to be responsible with their Internet-capable cell phones?
A student pays for the privilege to be part of a class, and it is his or her choice if they wish to pay attention.
Professors have no problem giving out “F” grades to students who have earned them, and instructors can outline their own disciplinary action for abusing the Internet.
If CSUN students can be responsible enough to use Wi-Fi appropriately, then why not Pierce students as well? Our desire to learn should be enough of a deterrent to keep us from exploiting the system.
Pierce may lead the district in campus size, with a student population totaling more than 21,000, but this technological setback may leave us in the Stone Age.