Not a Recreation Station

By Karlo Billy Rubia

(Vol.XXX  Issue No. 5, Editorial Cartoon)

The 30-hour use of the Internet Research Station (IRS) located at the fourth floor of the College of Arts and Sciences building per semester is one of the many benefits a Norsunian can enjoy after enrolling himself in this university. The research station provides access to students to the internet and search for random facts which are of great help to their education. The computers can be used by all registeread Norsunians for making their projects and creating presentations using the many features of its software.

However, it seems like the aforementioned are not the only reasons why the IRS is opened for students access. After overcoming the past issues on slow internet connection, dirty PCs, unaccommodating personnel, and unauthorized access to social networking sites, the personnel of the said research station are yet again faced with complaints from dissatisfied and confused students.

Aside from research purposes, the computers are also used for gaming and movie watching. During the students free time, some of them would make use of their 30-hour budget just for entertainment. Behind this scenario is the disturbing fact that the IRS personnel are allowing the students to play computer games and watch movies as long as they do not flock in one unit and make unnecessary noise. Other students whose intention of researching for their school projects and assignments are left with no choice but to wait for these people to finish playing before they can use a PC. It would just be quite disrespectful if the IRS personnel would tell a student to log-out to give way to another student.

Other students reasoned out that instead of researching for their school lessons, they would just resort to gaming and movie watching because some of the PCs do not have internet connections. This is another dilemma the IRS personnel should take into account.

In the first place, why are the IRS personnel allowing the students to use the computers for gaming and movie watching? Who gave them the authority to have those PCs opened for entertainment purposes? Did they not know what the IRS mean? Obviously it does not mean Internet Recreation Station, but Internet Research Station. The two are very much different.

With all the students airing their concern about the inappropriate of the IRS, which has seemingly turned into a recreation site rather than a research station, we hope that the personnel assigned would do something to address this predicament. We do not want the students to get discouraged with the facilities of this university which were built for the improvement of their academic performance.

This is a university which aims at empowering students through providing competent instructors and sufficient facilities. If these facilities are not properly used according to its purpose, then there is no reason for us to use it anymore.