The TCU Senate is not giving up on its push to extend wireless Internet access to more areas on campus.
At Sunday's meeting, the Tufts Community Union Senate unanimously passed a resolution encouraging the administration to fund the extension of wireless service by next semester.
A University site survey conducted last April determined extending wireless access to the Academic and Residential Quads and the President's Lawn would cost $12,000.
The co-chairs of the Senate's services committee, sophomores Alexandra Pryor and Evan Dreifuss, drafted the resolution. The senators are also looking for financial aid from the University's Alumni Association.
Pryor said talk of extending wireless access has circulated for the past few years, and the Senate has been discussing the issue seriously since at least last spring.
She tried to discuss the issue with University Vice President and Chief Information Officer Amelia Tynan, but failed to get support. Tynan was unavailable for comment Tuesday.
"Wireless is not their first priority," Pryor said. Pryor said the Senate resolution was a way to "try something new" to convince the administration of the issue's importance to students.
Pryor and Dreifuss said it was unclear which specific areas on campus the $12,000 would fund. They phrased the resolution cautiously, saying the survey "assessed the feasibility and cost of extending wireless Internet services to exterior areas such as the President's Lawn, the Academic Quad and the Residential Quad."
Wireless access is currently available in the University's libraries, the campus center, Dowling Hall, the F.W. Olin Center, the ASEAN Auditorium and most other rooms at the Fletcher School and the lounges of Tilton, South, Houston and Carmichael Halls.
The resolution cites a "lack of dedicated financial resources and institutional support" as the "primary obstacle" to extending wireless access.
The two senators are looking to the Alumni Association for funding. Pryor said these discussions were in their "very early stages." Pryor and Dreifuss met with Director of Alumni Relations Tim Brooks and Associate Director of Alumni Relations Jonathan Burton Tuesday evening.
Before the meeting, Brooks said he and Burton view the extension of wireless access as a "very important next step in making every space on campus a 'campus classroom.'"
He said, though, the Alumni Association was not yet ready to commit to funding the extension because it does not want to interfere with any University plans. "We are checking within the University structure to see what plans might be in place, to make sure we're not moving ahead on something that is in the works," he said.
Pryor and Dreifuss also plan to meet with the Student Issues and Activities Committee of the Alumni Association to get financial support.
The Senate resolution addresses additional issues surrounding an extended wireless network.
One such issue concerns students who create their own wireless networks by purchasing wireless receivers that pick up signals from existing networks. The use of receivers can jeopardize students' privacy and security, Dreifuss said.
Dean of Students Bruce Reitman said students who create their own wireless networks often do not have security systems, and anyone in the vicinity can gain access to the networks.
"That's a new form of information theft," he said.
Another problem, Reitman said, is that student-created networks can interfere with University networks in the same area by disrupting the signal.
The last issue raised in the resolution is the argument that the University's "competitive edge is diminishing as a result of its inability to remain technologically up-to-date" with other universities.
Dartmouth College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have wireless access throughout their campuses. It is important for Tufts "to be as good as the good," Pryor said.
Prospective students often ask if there is wireless service on campus, Pryor said, and in order for the University to continue attracting students, it should stay as technologically up-to-date as possible.
"But it's not just about maintaining a reputation," she said. "College is about academics, obviously, but it's also about experiencing a campus community."
For Pryor, this project is only the first step. "Our eventual goal is to make the entire campus wireless," she said.
