Although Computing Services took over responsibility for maintaining the College's public BlitzMail terminals from Student Assembly this summer, terminals in some of the most trafficked campus locales are out of commission, just as the Fall term is beginning.
Computing Services began overseeing the terminals because the Assembly believed that the College could do so more effectively, but of the 40 BlitzMail terminals observed by The Dartmouth, approximately 10 percent were totally non-functioning as of Thursday afternoon, and many others had broken mice or keyboards.
Most of the broken terminals were located in high traffic areas. Only one of the two in Dartmouth Hall and two of the five in Thayer Dining Hall were functioning.
Harshil Shah '09, vice president of student services for the Assembly, said that Student Assembly had given Computing Services the information it would need to fulfill its new responsibilities, but that Computing Services had not initially performed the necessary maintenance and upkeep of the terminals adequately.
"Many BlitzMail Terminals have not been functioning properly, especially in Collis and Thayer," Shah said. "Unfortunately, they were not fixed."
Shah said that while the Assembly had not received any formal complaints from students, several members of the Executive Committee had noticed that many of the terminals were not working and had attempted to contact Computing Services. He said that the members of the committee had not received a reply until Wednesday, when Computing Services sent them an e-mail informing them that the terminals would be fixed shortly.
Rita Murdoch, director of computing support and fiscal services, said that she had received an e-mail from Student Body President Travis Green regarding the broken terminals and that Computing Services was investigating the problem.
Murdoch said that there were several reasons why the terminals may be broken, chief among them being that Computer Services is fairly busy this time of year. She also said that signs telling students how and to whom they should report broken terminals had not yet been posted at the formerly Assembly-monitored terminals. She said the signs would be posted soon.
Changes in the College financial and budget systems also hindered Computing Services' ability to repair the terminals because the operating budget for the fiscal year, which began in July, was uncertain, according to Murdoch. Now that the budget has been established, Murdoch said that Computing Services will be able to more effectively maintain the BlitzMail terminals.
Additionally, many of the BlitzMail terminals were locked, and Computing Services did not have a key. The lock did not prevent Computing Services from re-imaging the computers, a process that cleans the operating system and many of the computers applications, which was completed over the summer. The lock did prevent Computing Services from performing other types of routine maintenance, however, such as replacing mice and keyboards.
Murdoch said that Computing Services had contacted an alumnus who knew the location of the key on Wednesday.
"I think there have been some computers that aren't working, and we're in the process of getting them fixed," Murdoch said. "We will go ahead and inventory [the computers] and start to look at what computers need to be replaced."
While many students said that they had noticed the broken terminals, most, such as Chelsea Liddell '11, said that it was not a large inconvenience.
"I just had to wait a little longer [to use Blitzmail]," Liddell said.
Most of the broken terminals will require only minor changes, such as upgrades of keyboards and mice, rather than replacement of the computer itself, according to Murdoch, who said that most of the computers themselves are adequate for BlitzMail use.
