If machines are not upgraded in a department, it may be that the department has other priorities. Nor de we have a sense of what the university's technology priorities might be. Other sources of funds that are sometimes mentioned are student fees and the Capital Campaign. Regarding the first, Dr. Newman said that fees generate enough money for an upgrade project, but he objected to using more of the student fees money for items that do not directly benefit the students. As for the Horizon Campaign, Newman said that it is difficult to raise money for what is perceived to be operating expenses.
Donors prefer to fund a building or lab.
Newman did mention that the Law School got its computer stations for student carrels through a special legislative appropriation, so that appears to be another possible source for funding. Dr. Newman indicated that the administration is aware of the need for adequate computing equipment on campus. As indicated above, funding is a major question. Also, there is no good information on the state of the existing equipment on campus. An inventory of the number of computer workstations was done by departmental survey in 1994 with projections for needs in 1999.