Union waits to act on possible ResNet closures

After foggy information surfaced over the weekend about the possibility of Boston University cutting down resident computer lab services, the BU Student Union chose not to declare its opinion on the matter.

Instead, at last night’s General Assembly meeting, Union President Matt Seidel said the advocacy body wants to host a town hall meeting either Wednesday or Thursday of next week at which Union members can discuss the issue with fellow students, administrators, Office of Information Technology employees and ResNet employees.’

Some students, who attended the meeting specifically to talk about ResNet labs, expressed concern that the Union’s approach is a slow one that does not take advantage of the group’s power.

‘I like the town hall approach, but it runs the risk of the administration taking action before students actually have the chance to challenge it,’ College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Aura Lunde said after the meeting. ‘They say that they speak for the students. If they have such direct contact with administrators, they should use that to exert pressure and publish what their proposal is.’

Lunde said she would like to see BU keep a 24-hour lab as well as establish print-only stations. She said she would not mind seeing some smaller labs removed.

Seidel said Union needs to collect the correct information about what is happening before it pushes for anything specific. He said the advocacy body does not want to lobby for maintaining a 24-hour lab, for instance, when the administration’s plan might call for many improvements to printing service, but only a 23-hour lab.’ ‘

‘If we just wait for a little bit and make sure we get all the facts and after we know everything make our stance, we are going to be in a much better position to get something done,’ Seidel, a CAS junior, said.

Justin Williamson, a ResNet employee who attended the GA meeting, said even people who work in the labs are not sure about BU’s plans and are eager to hear what students think.

‘We want to know what is the most basic level of service that ResNet needs to provide,’ Williamson, a CAS senior, said.

During the meeting, several Union leaders spoke out about the importance of Union being involved in the university’s ResNet decision.

‘We’re still being left out of the conversation right now,’ Union Academic Affairs Committee chairman and Union presidential candidate James Sappenfield said. ‘We’re the representatives of the student body, and we haven’t been included on this.’

The ResNet situation reminds Seidel of BU’s decision last year to replace the Taco Bell under Warren Towers with a Starbucks Coffee Company, he said. Students were not told about that change until after construction workers broke ground.

‘The BU administration needs more transparency,’ Seidel said. ‘They have a pattern of taking student opinion as an afterthought.’

Some administrators did discuss the ResNet labs with the 14 student members on the Council of Student Leaders yesterday. Sappenfield is a member of the group that meets monthly to talk about student issues, and he said Housing Director Marc Robillard and Associate Dean of Students John Weldon presented the range of possibilities.

At the Student Leaders’ meeting, Robillard and Weldon said anything, from the elimination of printing labs to the creation of one central lab to paid printing to improved technology services such as access to more software or creating technologically enabled meeting rooms, is being discussed, Sappenfield said. Nothing has been finalized.

Nearly 1,300 students have signed an online petition to keep the ResNet labs open, and more than 2,200 have joined a Facebook group with the same goal in mind.

Seidel said he wants to make sure the BU community has the chance to speak up on this issue before anything happens.

‘We all agree on the basics,’ he said. ‘If there are going to be changes, we want to make sure that the students’ voice is being heard.’