To: GC community The Doctoral Students Council (DSC) has drafted this letter to bring to the attention of the graduate school community, including the offices of the President and Provost, the inadequacies of Information Resources (IR) and the Graduate Center computer network. Since the CUNY Graduate Center moved into its new location on 5th Ave. and 34th St. in 1999, the GC community has had to endure constant problems with user profiles, internet connectivity, Microsoft Outlook and remote email, and telephones and faxing. In fact, over the past 3 years, these problems have become progressively worse. These network issues are more than just frustrations. They directly affect the integrity and reputation of faculty, students, and staff. The disruptions compromise our ability to communicate with colleagues, both within and outside the GC community, and they prevent us from fulfilling many of the responsibilities of academic life. At the very least, these ongoing problems reflect a lack of professionalism and are unacceptable, especially given the newly instituted, per-semester $75 technology fee. As a respected academic institution, we should not be expected to tolerate such problems. The unreliability of the network and the inability of the Department for Information Resources to successfully deal with these issues have prompted the DSC to issue this formal complaint. It is time that someone takes responsibility, namely the Vice President for Information Resources, Mr. James Haggard, and the Executive Director for Information Resources, Ms. Gloria Barlow. After four years, it is time to finally resolve these network problems. The DSC therefore requests that IR meet with the DSC Steering Committee to discuss the following preliminary demands: - creation of an IR suggestion box or website to provide the GC community a place to voice concerns regarding IR and the computer network; - IR and DSC co-sponsored survey of the GC community regarding the most common computer needs/uses and complaints; - mandatory meetings between IR and the DSC; - a list of network and computer problems, compiled by IR, along with a proposed timeline of solutions; - a list of IR employees along with their job responsibilities, compiled by IR; - mandatory training seminars for system administrators, supervisors, and technicians; - a greater emphasis on customer service; - routine maintenance of existing computers.

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