Terry Calhoun, IT Trends Commentator
Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)
University of Michigan

U B SAFE – A Hypothetical Resource for College Internet Denizens

As the parent of three teenagers (my oldest is now 20, but my youngest is 14) I have learned how terribly frustrating it can be to harp on something, maybe for years, and be ignored – and then find my child fully accepting of the same information or guidelines coming from someone else. But I finally did learn, and sometimes now I set up situations (very sneakily) where they hear stuff I want them to hear and accept and would say myself if I thought they’d listen, but they hear it from someone else.

With respect to a lot of the stuff we wish our student computer users on campus would listen to us about, or learn from us, there are a growing number of outside resources for younger people that higher education IT staff can modify or recreate and use in a similar way. The FBI’s “A Parent’s Guide to Internet Safety” is one; i-SAFE is another. I wish there were similar efforts aimed at the slightly older children we call young adults who populate our campuses. If there were, you could be sneaky and find a way for your student government to broadcast links to these to your student body. Or, I bet you could spend one staffer’s time for a couple of days and figure out some viral marketing method to spread the word.
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Nano-Lightning Heats Up with Cooling Technology

Mechanical engineers at Purdue University are developing a new type of liquid cooling technology using nano-lightning to create tiny wind currents.
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Interactive Web Site for Duke University Chapel

novelProjects launches Duke University Chapel’s new 150+ page interactive Web site inviting visitors to experience the new features. The new site was designed to be functional and aesthetically pleasing without sacrificing content.
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Glitch in Wayne State Banner System

An automatic warning message informing students that their accounts were on hold was erroneously sent to more than 1,000 WSU students, resulting in a deluge of frantic phone calls. The cause was failure of the system to recognize older promissory notes in Perkins loans.
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Feds Close Haskell U. Internet Access

A federal judge in a lawsuit (relatively unrelated to Haskell), shut down Internet access for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and thus for Haskell—fearing that their computer system was vulnerable to hackers.Now they're trying to restore it, but so far can't.
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Click2learn and Docent to Merge

The merger reflects, in the world of corporate learning, the similar consolidation that is going on in the world of more academic learning software and systems. The new name of Hockey Merger Corporation will be SumTotal Systems, Inc.
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Traditional Institutions in S. Korea Under eLearning Threat

A solid IT infrastructure and an overall emphasis on the value of higher education makes Korea a leader in online education. Digital education and cyber learning will break the digital divide and expose students to an array of affordable classes.
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Personal Info at U. of California Admissions Site Exposed

Names, phone numbers, social security numbers, and more, about perhaps more than 2,000 students were visible to applicants until a parent reported the problem and the system was shut down.
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Michigan Computer-Hacker on Trial

Ming Na, a Michigan graduate student is charged with 23 counts of computer hacking. The Attorney General’s office accused Na of obtaining private, unique user names and passwords of more than 60 students and several professors from August 2002 to April 2003. Na claims that the illegal deeds were actually done by a mysterious Mr. Wong in China.
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Universities in Forefront of Intellectual Property Barriers

Should institutions be protecting intellectual property, to the tune of forbidding students to share their classroom notes, or offering it freely, like MIT's Open Courseware project. Attitudes vary.
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Beagle Virus Strikes Cornell University

Despite several levels of protection, users at Cornell got hammered by the new virus, but not as badly as with Sobig and Welchia. Cornell is still unsure of how many students were affected by this virus.
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San Diego State University Server Infiltrated

Following California state law, SDSU is notifying nearly 200,000 individuals that their stored personal data may have been stolen after hackers used a financial aid office server for illicit file sharing. This is the second security breach putting computerized personal data at risk.
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University Networks Targeted by RIAA

Part of its continuing drive to drive away music piracy, the RIAA filed lawsuits against 89 people who are all suspected of file-sharing music. Twenty-one university networks are involved and include Stanford University and UC-Berkeley.
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Stanford U. PC Users Asked to Download Security Patch

In order to better secure Stanford U. and to prevent a flood of viruses, students have been asked to download the latest Windows security patch. An estimated 2,000 computers on the Stanford U. campus will need this installation.
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U of Texas Grid to Expand Research Resources

IBM Corp. and The University of Texas at Austin have plans for a grid-computing project that will open up additional resources for researchers at the nation’s largest university campus with more than 50,000 students and 20,000 faculty and staff.
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U. Georgia’s B-School to Provide Online Learning

The expanded resources will add live, Internet-based classes to the Terry Evening MBA program, the Executive MBA program, and its customized MBA program for IBM Business Consulting Services. This new collaboration will alleviate commuting issues and improve the overall academic program.
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ERIC Gets $34.6 Million Upgrade

The Education Department will spend $34.6 million to overhaul its nearly 40-year-old bibliographic database known as ERIC. The new search engine will help create electronic mechanisms for acquisition and copyright clearance.
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