Letter: Nate Cochran on Eaglemail

Dear Editor:

I spent six days and eighteen hours without access to my email. Why? So that I would have to memorize a new website in order to access it. No more Hotmail.com, Outlook.com, or Live.com. It is Outlook.com/eagles.csc.edu. Or. Else. I spent a week without access to my email so that the top left corner would have a Microsoft logo instead of a CSC logo. So that my email account can have file sharing (that it already had, and was pointless) and a messenger (that it already had, and was pointless.)

I pay thousands of dollars per year for an institution that spends my thousands on ugly pointless statues, that can find millions to build and upgrade its facilities, but can’t find a comfortable chair or a computer that runs faster than 800 MHz for a radio studio that could make good use of such things. An institution who has an IT department which consists of several slightly-trained monkeys. That disables my email for a week to “upgrade” it. That forces me to download and install software which runs 24/7 in order to log onto their wi-fi. Guess what, guys. I’ve been connected to your network without the Bradford Agent for months. Your security is a joke. Your website is barely more user-friendly than a heroin needle, and your bureaucracy would confound Hermes Conrad.

It’s okay, though. I get it. Sometimes a piece of mission critical equipment gets fried and it takes you five days to replace it. You shouldn’t be expected to keep a backup of that on the shelf. It’s not like the entire student body will notice when their online courses, the main website, and the on-campus internet are all down. Sometimes you’re given money to spend in pursuit of art. You don’t need to give it to the art faculty for facility upgrades. Throw it at those three bronze things in front of Admin. They’re supposed to inspire us, after all. […]

Sometimes you just CAN’T hire someone who lives in Chadron to teach an online class. No worries. I can wait three weeks out of my eight week course to hear back from him. I’m sure he just never saw my emails or heard my voice mails. Sometimes you just need to tell all the clubs who have off-campus bank accounts to move all their funds on-campus. I’m sure that it was imperative that those same clubs move their money back off-campus. You know, so that nobody else needs to get fired, right?

By the way, I think it was a great idea to buy that light-up billboard on Main Street. The company who sold it to us said it will last for years. Apparently it has a full gigabyte of on-board storage. Imagine it! With technological wonders like this, we truly have finally reached 1990.

—Nate Cochran,

Senior, 

of Chadron