The Council can raise the issue, endorse it and take it forward legislatively for all universities. Seventy percent of the schools in the Commonwealth are disadvantaged and do not have access to the same services of the more affluent schools. The Department of Education has been working toward putting an infrastructure in place that would help alleviate disparity. We're hoping the results of the Council's efforts will be a statewide infrastructure to assist in such situations. Secretary Upson met with First Lady Roxanne Gilmore concerning a similar issue.
Companies have a hard time giving away their technology.
The Council can propose a policy to address this issue and lead the way for all schools. Mike Thomas commented on the benefits of input from all Council members to develop a good mix. The Council is in the best position to thoroughly discuss hot-button items and their impacts before they get into the legislative arena. For example, the archive process and how to treat email in the context of archived records. A special Web site will be provided to point to these kinds of topics and to engender discussions between meetings.