Long, dark walks to the Robert Bell Building could be reduced by a University Computing Services (UCS) proposal to open four additional computer labs on campus 24 hours a day.
Currently, only the lab in the Robert Bell Building, Room 134, is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In Student Government Association legislation co-sponsored by UCS, four new labs - spaced out around campus - would also be open.
Loren Malm, Assistant Director of Security, Policy, Systems And Assessment, said the greatest advantage of opening new labs would be the convenience and safety they would provide students. By spreading them out around Ball State, students would not have to travel across campus late at night.
UCS keeps track of lab usage and students have been using them more frequently, Malm said.
"In the last few years the number of students using labs has gone up," Associate Vice President of Information Technology and Associate Professor of Art Philip Repp said.
"I was surprised by that myself, I would have thought with wireless and so many students having their own computers lab use would have declined, This is telling us to pay attention to that."
SGA President Steve Geraci said it is important for the technology in the labs to be available at all times to Ball State students.
"Especially during midterms and finals we students have a lot going on; there are lot of projects due and lots of presentations," Geraci said. "There is a not a place on campus where you can practice for a presentation after the computer labs close. It's important academically that students have access to those sorts of resources."
To open additional labs, UCS has to work with the Office of Facilities, Planning and Management to find ways of opening labs while keeping the buildings secure. Though it will be fairly simple to do this in some buildings, others could need additional planning and work. Besides the cost of making the facilities safe and available, UCS will also have to hire lab workers. Malm was not as concerned about staffing the labs as preparing them.
"There are considerations beyond the hiring of a person to sit in a lab," Malm said. "It may be easier in some buildings than in others. We have to look at the funds available and see what we can do."
SGA is voting on legislation to support the UCS proposal during the weekly Wednesday meeting.
"Right now, Information Technology is looking for feedback and we are really glad to get the feedback," Malm said. "We want to do whatever we can to make it easily accessible for students. When there are areas we have requests like these we want to do anything possible to meet those needs."
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