No matter how many faculty and administrators complain that these ranking are flawed, none can deny that they are important in the eyes of the public. The constant scr utiny of higher education's image is going to continue so long as college tuition remains high. Likewise, college administrators will be doing their best to keep and make the best image possible. Under image-conscious Chancellor Michael Hooker's Carolina Computing Initiative, UNC is no different. Unfortunately, forcing an unnatural image on the University might do more harm than good.
Most students are uninformed about the initiative or feel that it is ill-advised.
Even the Faculty Information Technology Advisory Committee couldn't overlook the problems. Their first point, one that drove a group on campus to start People for Computational Freedom, has been consistently ignored by administrators. Their only answer to claims that they overlooked the needs of the School of Journalism and Mass Communicatio n, the Department of Physics and other departments that use Apple or Unix platforms is that these groups can purchase their non-Intel computers through usual state procedures. They forget to mention that these purchases must come from already stretched departmental budgets, and will not be as cost effective as a contract purchase and will receive no school-sponsored technical support. In theory, the IBM contract does not block UNC from purchasing other brands nor sign a contract with another company such as Apple to reduce costs when these necessary computers are bought.