Living on campus here at Keene State College is a positive experience. For freshmen it’s not only the place they live, but the place they start their lives here at KSC. For the upperclassmen, it sometimes is just a place to crash at night, after spending time in the library or perhaps their friend’s place all day.
Regardless of how much time an indivudal spends in their dorm rooms or on-campus apartments during the day the simple fact remains that their dorms are their home away from home.
Although Keene State does have very good accommodations, there is one technical issue that needs to be resolved. There is no wireless internet access (commonly referred to as Wi-Fi) throughout every dorm and apartment here.
I think anyone who has been here for more than a year can understand exactly how frustrating it can be to not have wireless internet in the place you are
residing. Students often find themselves in their new rooms, expecting to have decent Wi-Fi, but it turns out they have a standard ethernet cable, which they might not have.
Wireless internet access in dorms is, and has been, standard in many colleges across the nation. For some reason, Keene State seems to be the exception.
The reasons behind this have never been made very clear. If the school can offer wireless internet throughout the campus, in all academic buildings, and even in the Quad and the Student Center, why is it not provided where students are likely to spend much of their free time?
Having wireless in the dorms will allow students to have greater connectivity with all their devices. Many students are using smart phones, laptops, gaming consoles and all sorts of electronic devices that can all talk to and control each other through wireless internet.
Although many of the reasons to do this are purely for entertainment, they should be discounted as reasons for having Wi-Fi. The world is growing more and more connected with every year that goes by.
Lack of accessable Wi-Fi in all areas is a silly way for Keene State to be left behind, when the school has so many other benefits to put it head and shoulders above other similar schools. Keene State is left looking badly behind other schools whose whole campus has been Wi-Fi for years now.
The main reason to have wireless internet in residential buildings is to remove the need for ethernet cables. It is unappealing to spend all this money to stay in these dorms where we are still forced to be teathered to the wall through an ethernet cable. It limits our access even within our own dorms.
It can be very frustrating having wires all over your living space. Having to drag your laptop into bed with an ethernet cable attached should be unnecessary in 2011.
I fully understand that there must be some logistical reasons why they do not have wireless internet in all the residential buildings, that is not the issue.
I feel that in the day in age we live in there is no excuse not to integrate it in all residential buildings at the very least. If they can manage to give freshmen dorms such as Randall and Carle wireless access, why has it not been installed in upperclassmen dorms such as Butler and the Pondside 2 apartments? Upperclassmen buildings on campus cost more to live in, and students who live there pay the same tuition but somehow get the short end of the stick when it comes to their internet availability.
Kevin Sandler can be reached at ksandler@ksc.mailcruiser.com
