This summer, the University of Florida will begin requiring all students to at least have access to a computer. This fall, Virginia Tech University will become the first large public campus to require all students to own a computer and Western Carolina University will make computers mandatory for freshmen. UNC-CH's move comes at a time when improvements have been made to the campus computer network and facilities. The current complement of about 500 computers in 15 central computer laboratories will not go far enough to accommodate all students as faculty members continue to tap technology to enhance appropriate classes through multimedia and interactive texts, Moore said. The labs attract more than 500,000 visits per year.
Some students now wait in lines.
Another key goal that will be reached before 2000 is the wiring of UNC-CH's 29 residence halls. Completion is scheduled in January 1999, giving about 7,000 on-campus residents direct access to the campus computer network and the Internet. Last summer students made more than 500 inquiries about buying personal computers through ResNet, a housing-related technology project. Those developments also help account for the Carolina Computing Initiative's initial goal to put computers on the desktops of every faculty and academic staff member in the College of Arts and Sciences and have all of its buildings properly wired, both by 2000, Moore said. Related new academic initiatives are planned in the College of Arts and Sciences, said Dr. Richard J. Richardson, provost.