The shutdown of the entire FAMU Campus Technology Network on Friday has impacted students who are trying to get everything done before next week’s deadlines of final projects and papers.
Saturday was the first full day of the shutdown and several students in Coleman Library seemed to have one thing in common: frustration.
“It is just stupid to have the upgrade now,” said Tawanda Green, a 28-year-old criminal justice student from Miami. Green was annoyed because she wasn’t able to access her online study guide.
Larry Robinson, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said these upgrades are to ensure a more reliable, stable and faster campus computing network environment. However, some have deemed the upgrade as an ill-timed event that has crippled FAMU e-mail, RatterLink and FAMU’s WebLUIS search engines on any computer, on and off campus, until Dec. 1.
Pharmacy student Ankit Patel was bothered because he won’t be able to handle any possible problems with financial aid records on RattlerLink.
“I’m going to have to do a lot of running around to make sure all my fees are paid and my financial aid is in order,” said the 20-year-old Fort Pierce native.
Other students complained about not being able to access e-mail and not knowing alternative computer locations to ensure project deadlines aren’t missed.
Still, Coleman library staff said preparations were made to help students during the shutdown.
“We have had signs posted since last week so students could get all their research done before the shutdown,” said Brenda Wright, associate university librarian. “We’ve also printed out the Library of Congress Classification Outline so students will still be able to locate books.”
The library staff was not the only ones preparing for the shutdown. On Friday, students were busy trying to get everything done before the 6 p.m. shutdown time.
Nineteen-year-old Shakira Robinson, a sophomore from St. Louis, Mo., was busy researching for a humanities paper due Tuesday. “I guess it’s not so bad,” she said “at least I won’t be up until 4 a.m. working on it the day before it’s due.”
Others students, too, had a positive outlook on the shutdown and look forward to the more reliable system in the future.
“If this is going to keep the system from shutting down constantly then it’s not such a bad thing said Rodney Long, a junior political science student from Dallas. “Besides it’s not like we weren’t told this was going to happen.”
The upgrade will provide FAMU with two new computer networks and a backup battery that should keep the system running more consistently.
FAMU computer officials said a good way to get work done is to use public libraries.
C. Lee Lovingood can be reached at LeeLovin2001@yahoo.com.