CIS students share improvement ideas

Tired of enduring inadequate lab time, broken computers and little funding, Shameka Ottman and Lovo Baysah joined for answers concerning poor conditions in the computer information systems department.

Ottman and Baysah were among a group of CIS students who assembled Friday to discuss problems in the department with Joe Briggs, assistant to the president.

“This is basically regarding the facilities in our department,” said Ottman, a 20-year-old junior from Gary, Ind.

“We have a number of non-operational computers and the lighting is terrible.”

CIS has nearly 650 students, but according to Ottman, a supply of approximately 150 computers – and only 80 to 90 work properly.

Baysah, 23, said when she arrived in 1999, the lab used old Macintosh computers with big floppy disks.

The lab has upgraded, but the senior from Cape Coral, Fla., said lab hours aren’t long enough for students to complete projects because lab managers do not arrive to open the labs on time. The lab is open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday thru Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sundays.

“We are the technology leg of this university,” said Christopher Moss 21-year-old junior from Murfreesboro, Tenn.

If we can’t have the basic necessities at the university level, how can we prepare for graduate school?”

Students suggested corporate sponsorships and increased lab fees to raising money for extended hours and computer repairs.

Besides adequate lab time and working computers, necessities include furniture in study areas.

“We have chairs with holes that are falling apart and tables with unequal legs,” said Chester Drayton, a 21-year-old junior from Fort Lauderdale.

Drayton wanted to know how CIS would fit into all the construction on campus.

Briggs said making a proposal for a new CIS building would take five years.

“Before we can build, we have to get the idea on our capital outlook plan and the state legislature has to give money to design and construct the building,” he said.

After students presented their concerns, Briggs encouraged students to create with solutions. He recommended students document their complaints.

“It may not happen immediately,” he said referring to the response to complaints.

“But without documentation, it becomes another group filing a complaint and leaving.”

Daneesha Davis can be reached at DANEESHA@AOL.COM.