Last spring, Josiah Carlson '02 downloaded 45 movies off the Internet in three weeks. He had to stop because he ran out of hard drive space. He also felt bad for the computing staff, who were barraged with complaints about slow Internet speed.

Information Services, the department charged with overseeing the entire campus network, has been struggling to increase bandwidth and control demand. Downloading a movie uses so much bandwidth that it can slow down the connection for everyone trying to use the Internet. {more}

The college is in the process of equipping almost every classroom with $10,000 worth of audio-visual and computer equipment.

Fifteen out of 55 classrooms on campus are currently dubbed "smart" classrooms, which means they are equipped with some of the most sophisticated audio-visual equipment available, including a video and data projector, DVD/VCR player, stereo sound system and a hookup for a laptop computer. The computer is not included in the $10,000 price tag. {more}

This February marks the 26th annual Black History Month, and some organizations on campus are determined to pack the weeks ahead with plenty of substantive events, including lectures, stage productions and debates.

"I think it is really good for the whole campus to see an observance of Black History Month and to have the opportunity to learn about black history," said Anthony Gonzalez '02, one of the leaders of The Black Liberation Affairs Committee. According to their Web site, BLAC is devoted to fostering a "greater understanding of the issues and ideas that touch Africans and African-Americans through cultural, political and social programs." {more}

One event that Assistant Chaplain Pat Malone experienced during January stuck out in his mind. A grappler, a machine with mighty claws that picks up heavy rubble, hit Lieutenant Roenzo Sangiori into a pile of rocks. Had it not been raining, neither the rocks nor Sangiori would have budged. Thanks to the mud on and around the rocks, this rescue worker survived an otherwise fatal situation at Ground Zero. His message from the hospital bed was, "Let them know we are hurting!" {more}

In January, Macalester received a grant of $1.7 million from the Freeman Foundation to support Chinese Studies in the Asian Studies department. The grant will create a wider swath of course offerings and faculty positions in China-related fields as well as new opportunities for students, according to college officials.

Macalester was introduced to the Freeman Foundation Grant in February 2001, when the college was invited to submit a proposal for support of Asian Studies. The Freeman Foundation, based in New York, awards grants to U.S. colleges and universities to strengthen their Asian Studies programs. {more}

Macalester should reconsider budget priorities and its definition of "smart"

At a time when some departments are facing budget cuts, and the poor economy may threaten the ability of some students to pay for their education, paying $10,000 per classroom to equip each room with technology that many professors will not even use seems a bit excessive (see article).

The school plans to spend tens of thousands of dollars a year to install equipment that it cannot properly maintain. CIT is already having a hard time servicing the desktop computers on campus, according to its Web site:

"The number of desktop computers owned by the College is high and continues to grow. At the same time, we have not increased the number of professional staff to service and support these computers, nor can we reasonably expect to do so in the near term." {more}

All up in the West, but not of it

If you opened your eyes last year, you might have seen stirrings of controversy over African-American Studies at Macalester's would-be rival, Harvard. I take the time to offer an opinion on that controversy because it's Black History Month, and AfAm is a pretty important part of learning that history, and because there's not a submission this week to provide someone else's opinion (hint: send me something!) so here you go. {more}

Until I got to the editorial "A frivolous lawsuit," under "Our Perspective," that appeared in the same issue of The Mac Weekly as the article about me, I thought that The Mac Weekly had done a fair and balanced job reporting on a personally sensitive subject, that unfortunately, the rumor mill made necessary. {more}

There is something about being an ordained minister that is laden with all kinds of cultural assumptions - being holier than thou, never having sex or if so, only in the puritanical version - never to be enjoyed, serving as a moral police officer, being a sleazy TV evangelist, or protesting at abortion clinic, or having a "call from God." Whether any of these assumptions and the vast number of others out there in the popular culture are true, the last one carries with it the decisive imprint of ministry. {more}