,ocal
THE BATTALION Page
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1981
ight funds make computer classes a hassle
rica KRFMMFRir'H Dinkel said the computing 1 -M
3 it m
leave
By ERICA KRENNERICH
Battalion Reporter
Inadequate funds for student
seofWylbur, a component of the
exasA&M System computer, is
feeling the quality of instruction
Indents receive, but will not pre-
nistudents from completing re
lied projects, Dr. John Dinkel,
iead of the business analysis and
search department, says.
Dinkel said that because the
ill [diversity doesn’t own the com-
meonet ito> it must buy computer time.
Texas Engineering Experi-
ieiit Station owns the computer,
'theUniversity did own the com-
uter, it could have its computer
me free.
. a ! He said the vice president for
ndmgli ^dmuc affairs allocates money
iach college for instructional
imputer use, or student use, and
ays happy hour time from the
ttir car
et
around
enterinj
if some
■ the
1 do
xpecttl * ata J >rocess i n g Center. Happy
I ll resp
t’s what.
ven
s it
'atulate
lame. M
J, belie
)r
»ur is from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
londay through Thursday. It’s
r* irsmall student jobs, and thestu-
un '.* entsaren’t charged for their com-
J™* uting time.
Dinkel said that the College of
Isiness gets $20,500 a year for
earn for fractional computer use. The
nsiness analysis and research de-
up figll artment gets most of the money
' ‘ "cause it has the most students
ho use Wylbur.
liana 217, an introductory com-
uter course, has 1,200 to 1,500
indents each semester. Each stu-
ntreceives $3.50 for the semes-
irforcomputing, he said. If 1,500
udents enroll in the course,
250 is used each semester.
In a year, about half of the busi-
college allocation is used by
ns course, he said.
Dinkel said the computing
money is usually used up in the
first semester of the year. After
that, the department supports the
computer classes using depart
mental money.
Department money is used to
pay its bills, support faculty travel
to attend meetings and support fa
culty and instructional computer
use.
“When we get to departmental
operating expenses, not only do
we have to support instructional
use of the computer, but we also
have to support faculty use of the
computer,’ Dinkel said. “We
simply don’t have enough money
to satisfactorily cover either of
those. So we re in a conflict and
both suffer as a result.
“We don’t have enough money,
but that’s not only in (the) Bana
(department); that’s every depart
ment in the College of Business
Administration and probably in
most departments around the
University. Part of the issue in the
business college has been our
rapid growth in the last couple of
years. We’ve had enormous
growth in terms of students and
new faculty. ’
Dinkel said he assessed the im
pact that the lack of funds caused
and found the situation worse than
he thought it would be.
“The University allocation for
computing this year is exactly the
same number of dollars as last
year,” Dinkel said. “Our growth
in the department is about 16 per
cent over last year in terms of stu
dent credit hours. So we re look
ing at covering about 16 percent
more students, with increased
costs from the DPC, with the
Multi-faceted system
Four computing centers, like this one in the
Sterling C. Evans Library, are available to
Staff photo by Greg Watermann
faculty for instructional.
By JOHNA JO MAURER
Battalion Reporter
Texas A&M University stu
dents and faculty have access to
two sophisticated computers
through the Texas A&M Data Pro
cessing Center network.
Four campus computing cen
ters in the Sterling C. Evans Lib
rary, Teague Computing Center,
Zachry Engineering Center and
Kleberg serve as access points to
the main computer system.
A fifth center will open in July
in the Academic & Agency
Building.
The local network is used for
academic, research and adminis
trative purposes.
Dick Simmons, director of the
Data Processing Center, said stu
dents can use the computer neU
work for statistical analysis and
simulation routines.
students and
research and administrative purposes.
Today's almanac
same number of dollars. So each
student gets less money.”
Lack of funds does have an im
pact on courses, he said. “First,
we re forcing students to rely on
happy hour,” he said. “Second,
without exception, all of the
courses are cutting back on the
programming exercises that are
being done. Instructors simply
don’t have the resources, and they
require less of the students, which
means students are getting less ex
posure to the computer.”
Dinkel said that if a student
runs out of computer money, the
student’s files are removed from
Wylbur and he can run keypunch
cards at happy hour, which effec
tively means free computing. The
problem, Dinkel said, results
when the student has to compete
with many other students who use
happy hour, and when he has to
find a working keypunch machine.
“No student has been unable to
complete the required projects
because he’s run out of money,”
Dinkel said. “But he has been put
at a disadvantage in having to go to
cards and use happy hour.”
Dinkel said he is confident the
University will deal with the com
puter problem.
“I think it’s an issue the Univer
sity is going to have to deal with,”
he said. “Texas A&M is growing
rapidly and the faculty is growing
rapidly. There are a large number
of faculty coming from other uni
versities where the computing re
source is essentially free for in
structional use.”
He said electrical engineering
students can simulate circuitry
with one of the many program
ming systems in the computer,
architecture students can simulate
structural design, and aeronautics
students are able to simulate rock
et and airplane design.
Jack Foster, manager of the
University computer network,
said students also use the campus
network to learn the many compu
ter languages.
He said Fortran is the most
widely used language, but others
such as COBOL, PL/1, SAS, and
PASCAL also are used exten
sively.
Fpster said the Data Processing
Center has tapes with statistical
information on certain areas that
students use to analyze data.
About 600 courses use compu
ter time for problem solution. A
computer happy hour that is
offered from 6 p.m. to 10 p.rn.
Monday through Thursday allows
free usage to students for compu
ter jobs.
The computer network is used
for administrative purposes also.
The Fiscal Office, Housing Office,
Academic Counseling Center and
Student Records are among many
offices on campus having direct ac
cess to the computer for data col
lection, accounting and informa
tion filing.
Simmons said the University
computer system is the regional
center for the state computer net
work, whose users include Uni
versity of Texas at Tyler, Tarleton
State University and Texas State
Technical Institute in Waco,
Amarillo, Sweetwater and Harl
ingen.
These network users are con
nected by telephone lines to the
Data Processing Center.
Today is Friday, Nov. 20, the
24th day of 1981 with 41 davs to
On this date in history:
In 1620, a baby girl was deli-
ered aboard the Mayflower in
Jassachusetts Bay, the first white
Id born in the New England
alonies. She was named Pereg-
ine White.
In 1945, 24 German leaders
cut on trial at N uremberg before
^'International War Crimes Tri-
nal.
In 1968, an explosion entombed
78 men in a coal mine at Farming-
ton, W. Va.
In 1975, Generalissimo Fran
cisco Franco of Spain died. Also
that day, Ronald Reagan
announced his candidacy for the
Republican presidential nomina
tion in 1976.
A thought for the day: Scottish
writer Thomas Carlyle said:
“Music is well said to be- the
speech of angels.”
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