1998_05 Insight May 1998

              4
May 13. 1998
InSide
Insight FINAL EDITION
CETI could mean success, failure at CSUF
by Tim Bragg
Staff Writer
Classes in cyberspace that
once seemed a dream are becoming
a reality, but Fresno Slate may not
have (he computer horsepower to
travel Ihe information superhigh-
Fresno State will otter 20 more
worldwide web. in addition to the
14 that are offered now.
Web based and distance
learning courses are becoming an
ever increasing part of university
curriculum. But this move toward
distance learning has both facult)
and students wondering about the
future of the traditional college
campus and whether students w ill
be able lo learn as much in distance
learning classes as they do in the
regular classroom setting.
Adding to this uncertainly are
questions about whether the
university's Internet system can
handle the added work that would
come with Internet classes. A
proposal that would remodel and
expand Internet access al all
California State University campuses has run into problems on its
way to approval.
The California F.ducation
Technology Initiative, or CETI.
was originally a partnership made
up with CSU along with the
companies. GTE. Microsoft,
Hughes and Fujitsu. Despite the
departure of Microsoft and Hughes
from the partnership, officials from
CETI are currently negotiating with
the CSU to cement the deal.
The proposed initiative would
invest nearly $30 million into the
Fresno State campus alone to
upgrade its Internet capabilities. In
return for the upgrade. CETI would
become the CSU's only Internet
prov ider.
James Morris, director of
Fresno State's Information Technology Services, said he sees both
good and bad sides to CETI. On the
plus side. Morris said the university
desperately needs the service
upgrade CETI would provide. And
with Ihe current political mood in
Ihe capital leaning toward building
more prisons than schools. Morris
said this may be the CSU's best
opportunity lo remodel its Internet
On the minus side. Morris said
he is concerned that the CETI
contract would prevent the university from doing business with other
that could provide
Many faculty members have
also questioned the deal, especially
language that talked about a
"virtual university" that would
develop and sell CSU classes over
the Internet.
"College can be an
incredibly
liberating
experience, but you
have to get out and
interact"
— Warreo Kessler,
Chair of Fresno Chapter of
the California Faculty
Association
oinp
Do we make an alliance with
a company* thai could take advantage of us?" Morris said. "There's
an ethical question there."
"We're not just selling cigarettes here, we're talking about
ideas, and when you control the
How of information, you're
controlling minds." said Warren
Kessler. a philosophy professor at
Fresno State and the chair of the
local chapter of the California
Faculty Association, a union  •
representing professors.
Kessler said the faculty wants
to see more technology on campus,
but he said many faculty are leery
Fundraising auction success
for athletic department
Monica Hurtado
Staff Writer
Do I hear 600.700. do I hear
700. Going once, going twice.
Sold for $700 to the man with the
yellow umbrella.
The auctioneer and TV pt-r
sonality. John Wallace, was
speaking a mile a minute as Ik-
sold distinguishing items lo ihe
highest bidders.
gathered Saturdav.Mav 2. al IVl'e
Beiden Field for the firsl annual
Big Bid Auction.
Deena Diboil. assistant athletic director for marketing, said
the $50,000 net goal was met and
perhaps even surpassed. Diboil
said ihe) did better than anticipated despite the rain) weather.
About 400 to 5oo people' attended
the auction that Saturdav night.
"It is the kind of even) thai
people who arc fans and supporters come to. but also unique
enough for people who aren't
sports fans," Diboil said.
Things got started with a silent auction where beverages and
hors d'oeuvres were served.
Silent auction items included
collector art. family and formal
entertainment and unique dining and
Havel accommodations. Home and
garden items, personal pampering,
spoils memorabilia, clothing and
equipment, collector items and exclu-
si\e Bulldog part) opportunities were
also included in the silent auction.
Wallace, who hosted the auction,
sold a six night, seven-day trip to
Maui lor four people al a price higher
than its value.
Gar) Comes. 3ft made the winning bid of $3,200 for the Maui trip
valued at S3.050.
"We were supposed to go to
Scotland, but the guy I was supposed
10 gel the tickets from told me this
w eek w e weren't going." Gomes said.
"I needed a back up plan." Gomes and
his wife will go to Maui to celebrate
a friends fortieth birthday.
hems up for bid at the live auc-
lion included a diamond ring, a cruise
lo Ihe Mexican Rivera, a trip to Hawaii, airline tickets good for anywhere in the continental United
Xiaies. a soda vending machine and
usage of a luxury sky suite at a San
Francisco Giants baseball game.
Healing hands of California donated one year of one hour massage
therapy — S2.600 valued package
that sold in less than one minute for
$1400, Diboil said many people and
businesses donated items that they
would have normally had to pay
for.
"The donations made really
cut our expenses in half— maybe
more." Diboil said.
• Diboil said the auction, which
has been in planning since January of 1998. is not a new idea. It
is something that universities
across the nation have been doing
to help balance the budget.
Diboil said the cost of funding athletic intercollegiate sports
has gone up.
"The department is looking
for new. innovative sources of revenue to operate the program."
Diboil said. "You learn from others who have succeeded and failed
and not start from scratch. Hopefully we can now help other
people like others helped us."
Diboil thought that most
things went pretty well, but like
any first time event, there were
things which could have been improved.
"Trial and error," Diboil said.
Diboil said she was very
thankful to those who came out
and supported the athletic department regardless of the weather,
and she hopes that the people were
of CETI because they feel the
companies involved want something in return for their investment,
and that the urge for profits will
interfere with the teaching of
students. He said the state should
consider offering a public bond
measure to build the new technology and leave private corporations,
and their interests, out.
"We need the technology but
when you privatize you lose some
public independence, some public
control." Kessler said. "If we did
anything other than bond, we ought
to look for public incentives for
investment that make the funding
independent of the vendors so we
didn't have the inevitable conflict of
interest between |the vendors need|
to make money and university's
mission."
Kessler said he questions
whether classes over the web are
academically sound and said the
move toward distance learning
threatens the ideals of learning that
most faculty hold dear about the
college experience, the idea of
getting out of your house and out
into the world.
"College can be an incredibly
liberating experience but you have
to get out and interact." Kessler
said. "You take a kid and say, 'You
can stay at home, behind closed
doors, and all you have to do to get
on the web with Fresno State is you
don't have to go out and talk with
your parents.' Kids would be
delighted with that, but what are we
giving them?"
Morris said that CSU has
requested any language about
marketing classes over the web be
taken out of the CETI contract, but
he said more and more universities,
and Fresno State, classes will be
offered on the web since many
students cannot afford travel to
university campuses to take classes.
"[A recent academic article)
said that the college campus as we
know it will become obsolete in the
21st century because the Internet
can provide the same thing more
efficiently." Morris said. "But I
think there will always be a place
for the regular college campus."
Fresno Stale has already leaped
off the campus by offering fourteen
classes that arc cither taken
partially or entirely on the worldwide web. in subjects ranging from
art to nursing to science. Sam
Wilkcrson. a fellow in Fresno
State's Academic Innovation Center
who helps coordinate and develop
the university's web class offerings,
said the Internet can be a valuable
tool for helping students learn, but
she cautions that it is not for every
student, or every class.
"My experience is that students
work harder, their exposed to more
material and they have much more
interaction with both their instructor and other students when they
take classes over the web,"
Wilkerson said. "But there will
always have to be lecture classes
because there has to be some
structure there for students who
need more discipline."
Janclle Peterson, a student
currently taking a nursing courseon
the web at Fresno State, said shcV
able to work on her class at her own
schedule, even at 2 a.m., if she
wants. But she agrees there are
some downsides to the courses,
including problems with Fresno
State's equipment.
Wilkerson said the network at
Fresno Slate was down a total of 17
days during this semester. When the
network is down, the students
taking web classes can't work on
their assignments.
Morris said that CETI would
upgrade the campus's Internet
network to the point where it would
eliminate most of those problems,
but CETi would not do anything to
install any actual computers in
computer labs. Morris said more
than half the computers on campus
labs arc obsolete.
Morris said the future of CETI
will not be decided until the fall •
semester, since faculty will be off
campus. But he said the CSU needs
to gel into the information age
soon, or it could be left behind.
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