Opinion: USF slow to connect

A Times Editorial

USF slow to connect

E-mail. Chat rooms. Instant messaging. Doesn't anyone just talk anymore? Apparently not at the University of South Florida. Officials waited until recently to clue in students, faculty and staff about a difficult decision made earlier this year to start charging those off campus to access the Internet through a campus phone-modem service.

The service, previously provided for free by the Academic Computing and Information Technology Departments and the Health Sciences Center, will cost $5.99 a month starting July 1. The move will cover just the cost of the telephone connection and will save USF $184,000 a year -- less than 1 percent of the $20-million in cuts administrators expect to have to make due to reduced state funding to the university.

The decision to charge for the service has been widely discussed by the heads of the three funding departments, said Tony Llewellyn, director of Academic Computing. But little word was spread about the pending action while administrators conducted a search for other low-cost Internet options. USF's student newspaper, The Oracle, reported a story in February about the cut, but many students said last week that they hadn't heard anything about it.

Llewellyn said the departments considered ending the service a year ago when all departments were asked to make similar budget cuts, but they opted to make cuts in other areas, including a staff position.

Under the circumstances, charging for the service is one of the least severe of the options before the university, Llewellyn said. The change will affect 7,700 people -- about 15 percent of USF students, faculty and staff. Use of the dial-up service has been declining in recent years, with most USF Internet users already subscribing to another service provider, such as AOL, or preferring high-speed connection services.

Now that a deal has been struck witha provider compatible with the USF system, officials have created a Web site (www.usf.edu/accessusf) to explain the circumstances and are planning to meet with a few student and faculty groups to discuss the alternatives. Facing tough financial circumstances, USF officials made a tough but understandable decision to charge for the Internet service. But with more budget cuts looming, administrators would do well to create their own high-speed connection -- to communicate more effectively with the rest of the university community.