FACULTY SENATE UNIVERSITY COMPUTER & ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF FEBRUARY 16, 1996
 
 
Present:  L. Ambs, D. Blanchard, B. Botch, D. Chesley, S. Cook, B. 
DeLong, J. Dubach, R. Griffin, D. Hosmer, C. Lyman, N. McIntosh, N. Sims, 
R. Talbot, M. Wingertsman.
 
Because of a mix-up over location, the meeting scheduled for December did 
not produce a quorum and was cancelled.  Minutes of the November meeting 
could not be approved either then or at this meeting, due to lack of copies.
 
Committee meeting times were set for the Spring term.  They will take 
place from 12:30 to 1:45 on Fridays, March 15, April 19, and May 17th.  
An extra meeting may be called for Friday May 3rd if needed.
                                               
Lease/Purchase 
A draft memorandum to the IT Strategic Planning Committee was 
circulated.  Chuck Lyman reviewed past and current difficulties 
encountered by OIT regarding efforts to set up lease/purchase plans with 
vendors.  The current state of the computer marketplace no longer allows 
for discounting; no financial support for student purchase has been 
forthcoming from the University.
     There appeared to be consensus that the Committee withdraw the 
Faculty Senate motion requesting approval of a lease/purchase plan 
(currently before the Budget & Finance Council) in favor of a memo to the 
Provost and Chancellor asking for a strong statement from them endorsing 
computer use as an important academic tool, together with a request for 
an undertaking from OIT to take an active role in disseminating computer 
purchase information directly to students. 
 
Dial-up Lines Update
A handout was circulated showing the effects of implementing the 
disconnect policy.  The 6-hour cutoff is successfully reducing system 
overload.  The Chair requested that the Committee continue to see monthly 
use statistics, and if possible, data on what the average connect time is, 
and how may users re-connect immediately after cutoff.
 
Analog Phone Lines
The report requested on whether the Computer Science Department will 
be able to get back some of the analog phone lines taken away from it 
was tabled until the next meeting of the Committee.
 
New Business
All items were postponed until the March meeting.
 
Respectfully submitted,
Nadia McIntosh, Secretary