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Despite the University of Louisville being a public university, by paying tuition, U of L students receive a number of special privileges not afforded the rest of the public.
The right to use on-campus computers is one of these. In the same way that non-students are forbidden from using our weight room, sitting in on classes, buying discounted software from the IT store and buying discounted season tickets, they must also be forbidden from using our computers.
A number of homeless persons have been using the computers in the Ekstrom library. This has made a number of students uncomfortable. It is simply unsafe to have non-student strangers aimlessly wandering around the campus, and the fourth floor of the library can get pretty empty at times.
Currently, the burden is on the staff at Ekstrom to confront non-students who use the computers, a position in which no student or staff member should be put.
To prevent the homeless from using the various computer labs around campus, U of L needs to install software on these computers that would require a valid ULINK I.D. and password to sign on. Indeed, this would allow the University to see what individual students accessed, but this is no different than the required procedure for using the campus-wide Wi-Fi network. Just as university snooping has not been an issue with that system, it wouldn’t be with this new software either.
University housing has already made the transition into using password protected internet systems. Each resident must input their ULINK I.D. and password before using their computer.
The Internet is an invaluable resource, and the homeless should certainly have access to it – just not at U of L. The Louisville Free Public Library system grants the homeless access to their computers, and there are four such libraries within a five-mile radius of campus, or about a 15 minute TARC ride.
If we’re going to let them use our library, we should also let them sleep in the hallways around campus and play basketball in the SAC. This is a preposterous recommendation, of course, so the administration should take the next logical step and put its students first.
