Information Technology Services and UNC Housing and Residential Education have recently decided on a plan to extend high-speed Wi-Fi to all students on South Campus.
This is a brilliant, tangible project to make students’ lives easier in the midst of the booming use of internet-dependent schoolwork.
UNC’s free Wi-Fi is a must-have for most students to meet University expectations. Many students’ assignments, readings and syllabuses are found online via Sakai.
ResNet officials say the project has been made possible through one-time funding support from within the University.
Pending the installation of these South Campus Wi-Fi routers, students have only been able to access wireless internet in often-noisy common rooms located on each floor of every residence hall. Internet may only be accessed within dorm rooms via ethernet cables.
South Campus is the sometimes-unpleasant home of thousands of UNC students. Living there can be an alienating experience in itself.
The dorms are less attractive, inside and out, than their North Campus counterparts. The freshmen who live there are known for their uncanny ability to be loud at any moment, without exception, in addition to their late-night marauding. Bottom line: The South Campus struggle is real enough without internet woes.
It’s about time we did something to spruce up the South Campus experience. Students hear far too often about budget cuts and tuition increases without witnessing any kind of improvement. It’s little things like this that will impact students’ day-to-day lives in a big way.
Perhaps most importantly, the timeless South Campus dream of easily Netflix-accessible rooms seems to be just over the horizon.
