The high cost of building and maintaining the infrastructure
necessary to support information is nowhere near the price schools will
play if they do not develop this strategic asset.
By the end of 1998, all students living on the campus of
Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) will have the capability to
access the Internet from their dormitory rooms. Just last spring, only
a small percentage of students living on this North Carolina campus had
such online access.
Although Dr. Joyce Williams-Green, the vice-chancellor for academic
affairs at WSSU, says the dormitory networking project represents a
noteworthy accomplishment for the small, historically Black university,
she adds that the university is struggling to stay current with the
computer networking revolution that is sweeping American higher
education.
“For us to provide a quality educational environment, we have to build a quality computer network,” Williams-Green says.
For years, colleges and universities nationwide have provided
computer labs for their students and have automated many administrative
functions with computer networks. However, a more recent wave of
computer networking, such as the WSSU effort, represents what many see
as the most expensive and most far-reaching technology initiative ever
undertaken by American colleges and universities.
Schools that serve significant minority student populations are
facing a considerable struggle to build and upgrade their campus
networks. Yet, those that fail to do so, will find it increasingly
difficult to compete for students and faculty.
For Black, Latino, and Native American students attending
predominantly White schools, there is evidence to suggest that, on
average, they come to campus with less computer exposure and fewer of
them own computers than their White and Asian American peers.
