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Thank you, OSU

Halee Fisher
The Commuter

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Homework deadlines and increasing GPA pressure make the inevitably
approaching finals week stressful enough for students. But what if the
only internet access you had available wouldn’t allow you to use their
college resources for “soon to be due” homework? Due to the current economy crisis, my family, like many others, had to
shut off the internet completely, resulting in higher stress for
students. With the Benton Center closed on weekends, and the public
library only allowing an hour’s time on the computer, the pressure of
deadlines are high, so I decided to go to the Oregon State Valley
Library. Expecting to get done in a few hours, I sat at the computer, ready to
do some homework. I complained at the front desk that Microsoft
Word wasn’t working and she (refusing to give me her full name) rudely
replied, “Only those who are OSU students have the privilege to use
that resource, you’ll need to find it somewhere else.” Irritated and shocked, I sat and thought about exactly what she had
just told me. Many other students I and are going to LBCC in order to
transfer to OSU; but how do they expect us students to get good grades
when we’re not even allowed access to any resources that we need? “We cannot let anyone other than student or staffs have access to
Microsoft due to political reasons,” said Sherry Thomas, an employer
of Oregon State University. “Political reasons?” I thought “Don’t political leaders state regularly
that education is one of the nation’s top priorities?” I did some
investigating and found nothing of the sort about politics refusing
access to the public from needed resources. Although, what I did find was a statement from the core of our
political standing, the
U.S. Department of Education wesbite, saying “Our higher education system is very
accessible and helps students succeed once they get there.” As you can see, politics have nothing to do with the reason why OSU won’t let any
“non-students” use common resources that anywhere else, if open,
would gladly allow. My interpretation of the whole situation is
nothing to smile about. Thank you, Oregon State, you helped oh so much.

Comment

Just to comment on the article: I believe it was poorly written (grammar, spelling, etc) and unnecessary finger pointing. As a student we have to find resources available to us above and beyond the norm. LBCC has the Forum Computer Lab that is open on Saturdays and Sundays. Yes, it’s a drive from Corvallis, but again, as students we have to do what we have to do in order to get it done. The reason the Valley Library doesn’t let the general public use the Microsoft Office is because they have to pay for the license and they are within their right to limit who uses it. As OSU students pay student fees, they have in a way paid towards those licenses. We as non-OSU students may not like it, but that’s the way it is. Why is OSU any more responsible for you not getting your homework done than you are yourself? You aren’t any worse off than many other students that have had to deal with not having a computer in your home that haven’t griped because OSU doesn’t let you use their software.

— JR · Mar 11, 04:54 PM · #

LBCC has used OSU transfer students as cash cows for over 20 years to balance the budget…OSU has a steady stream of potential revenue provided by LBCC….all of this at a time when the vocational base of LBCC has been torn apart…this symbiotic relationship has helped LB and OSU meet their financial needs…the least OSU can do is allow shared library resources…both are taxpayer supported institutions.

— Jamison Lee · Apr 8, 12:26 PM · #

Commenting is closed for this article.