Dear University of Montevallo,
I wish I could say that this letter would be a happy one showing off everything you have done for me. The University truly has done so much for its students and its important to not lose sight of that. However, while I’m writing this, there is a major problem on campus. There is not a single person, student or faculty, that has access to the Internet.
This is not a new issue. I have been a student at the University of Montevallo for three years. In that time, there has been a constant outcry for new Internet. The connection, when we do have one, is extremely slow in some spots on campus. I realize that there are thousands of students on campus, all connected at the same time. However, this is not an excuse for the lack of care for this part of our lives. We as students need the Internet to accomplish almost every assignment. There are not many hand-written assignments hitting our desks in 2016. We have research, quizzes and tests to accomplish on a daily basis. The 21st century is a century of new technology. We, as a world, have grown to rely on the Internet to do most everything in our lives. On this campus, we are no different. Why are we still being ignored when we as students ask for help?
Recently, there was a town hall meeting that discussed the Internet on campus. The excuse for the lack of good connection was that there were too many people trying to use the Internet at one time and that too many downloads were being done at the same time. One huge reason the Internet exists is for downloads. Professors send out downloadable content for study and research purposes constantly and without the Internet, there is a lack of communication about these documents. Downloads are a necessary part of our school lives.
I realize that some of these downloads are not school related, but not everything in a student’s life is school related. There are other aspects of our lives that need to use the Internet for downloads. The morning I’m writing this letter, I missed an Internet meeting simply because I could not connect to any network. This meeting was not for my social life or school related event. This meeting was for a future job opportunity. My future, that I’m building from this University, was put on hold simply because all networks were down. This is unacceptable. This was an unfortunate coincidence that the networks went down, the same morning I was supposed to have my meeting and I realize that. However, The network connection needs to be reliable and quick.
This is an outcry from your students, once again, Montevallo. How much more do we have to beg before serious action is taken? We as students develop under your care. Without the University, our futures would be much different. It is time to take those futures more seriously, Montevallo.
Sincerely,
One voice of many
