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IT tents provide Internet assistance for students

First-year Max Tongtae visits the IT Services Tent Wednesday afternoon.
First-year Max Tongtae visits the IT Services Tent Wednesday afternoon.

Natalie McKerjee, Senior Staff Writer

First-year Max Tongtae visits the IT Services Tent Wednesday afternoon. (HILARY DANIELS | The Miami Student)

With every new school year come the burdens of settling into student life.

One of these burdens that is constantly an issue at Miami University is the simple task of connecting to the Internet. This year, Miami has decided to set up Information Technology (IT) tent around campus in hopes of providing assistance to students who are struggling to access Websites.

According to Cathy McVey, director of strategic communication for Information Technology Services, the plan to have the tent arose before this year's Internet complications and was established to accommodate the large amount of students who have issues connecting to Miami's MU-WIRELESS network.

"At the beginning of every year there are always issues with students trying to connect to the Internet, so we thought we would set up tents around the residence halls and allow students to ask questions," McVey said.

McVey said while the tent is geared more toward the wireless realm, it is also available for students with other questions.

"There are people from the networking and from the support staff," McVey said.

Miami senior Jessica Stringfield said because this service is centered on the residence halls and underclassmen, there could be issues with younger students receiving too much assistance from the university.

"Parents literally do everything for their kids now, which can be a very bad thing when they get into the real world and life requires them to do simple things," Stringfield said. "It's like the ancient saying, ‘If you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he will eat for the rest of his life.'"

According to McVey, while the tent is located around residence halls, all students are invited to utilize the services. Students are also welcome to register in a drawing for one of two Flip cameras that will be given away.

The IT tent is visiting each quad, and a schedule of the hours and locations is available as a BlackBoard announcement.

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