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From: sysop@stech.UUCP (Jan Harrington)
Newsgroups: soc.college,comp.edu
Subject: Re: Access to USENET for non-comp sci majors at undergrad institutions
Message-ID: <176@stech.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 5-Nov-87 07:14:44 EST
Article-I.D.: stech.176
Posted: Thu Nov  5 07:14:44 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 8-Nov-87 12:01:11 EST
References: <901@vsedev.VSE.COM>
Distribution: na
Organization: Scholastech, Inc., Waltham, Mass.
Lines: 54
Xref: mnetor soc.college:976 comp.edu:770

>  I'm sure that most schools with
> some Usenet activity would love to give access to anyone who comes
> prepared with, say, their own workstation and disks, and also is
> willing to share say 80% of these with others on the campus (which is
> what often happens to scarce resources in a university when someone
> brings them in -- it would be a good early introduction to the academic
> world, a side of it that most undergrads are gloriously ignorant of).
> 
> My comments:
> 
>    I wouldn't be so sure...I know of many schools which prohibit their 
> students from any use of computers for non-classwork activities. In fact,
> there is a list somewhere on BITNET for sites to post who can and who
> cannot use BITNET at their respective schools. The list informs (warns?)
> the net against contacting "unauthorized" users.
> 
This most interesting discussion comes on the heels of some computer ethics
discussions that we're having at Bentley College.  Just exactly what can a
student do with Bentley-owned computing resources?   Those resources include
stand-alone micros rented to students as well as minis and mainframes
accessible through the school's broadband network.  The network also includes
access to dial-out modems (i.e., access to external networks).

For a long time, we felt that students shouldn't use computers for anything
other than assigned class work.  However, that has changed considerably since
every freshman and sophmore has his or her own micro.  Our philosophy is now
that the computer is a tool to be used for whatever the student deems
appropriate - within the limits of our ethics code (which is still under
development).  At the moment, we operate under a "no harm" rule (strictly
unwritten), which means that so long as no other person or resource is harmed,
the use is OK.  

As for external network access, we would have no problem with any student
who paid the computer use fee accessing the dial-out modems to interact with
either BITNET (a hookup is currently being arranged) or USENET (I have to
convince the people who run the VAX that USENET would be useful) so long as
the amount of traffic from that individual isn't excessive (i.e., it doesn't
prevent others from getting their news in or out).

I think it's a sign of Bentley's maturity in computing that we realize that
the computer is no longer an end in itself.  It's really a tool for managing
information and our goal is to aid students in doing so.  


Jan Harrington, sysop
Scholastech Telecommunications
ihnp4!husc6!amcad!stech!sysop or allegra!stech!sysop

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