Juli Bongiorno | Executive Editor

- “Would you like to see St. Mike's completely wireless? What are you willing to pay for wireless Internet? Do you think that wireless is good or bad investment? -Would you rather see money spent elsewhere?”

- “Open meeting to all students to hear information about Sprint providing wireless Internet on campus. Come with your questions!!!”

There was a certain buzz on campus in response to these e-mails sent last week to the St. Michael’s community. Unfortunately the buzz was not so much about St. Michael’s getting wireless; it was about the first e-mail, which asked students how much they were willing to pay for wireless. We were all under the impression that $39,900 would just about cover it.

That wasn’t the only surprise coming our way.

Last week students and faculty were urged to join the ongoing wireless Internet conversation between Sprint and St. Michael's. The Student Association hosted Sprint at its weekly meeting, and students were encouraged to attend another meeting on Wednesday. Unfortunately, when people got to the meeting, they quickly realized the conversation was mostly about Sprint trying to sell more cell phone plans on campus.

You see, Sprint is doing the college a favor, they are investing half a million dollars in a wireless infrastructure on campus. In return the school has to get a certain amount of sales from the students from either cell phone plans or wireless cards. Why does this sound less like a favor and more like a shoddy business deal?

The wireless data card will cost each student $50 a month, according to the current negotiation. That’s $600 a year tacked onto our tuition. As of right now, this service and fee would be optional to any student. Unless of course, the school doesn’t meet its sales requirements, which are paying off the generous investment of Sprint. Then the college could start requiring freshmen to switch over to Sprint cell service or require us all to buy wireless card service, as a means to meet the requirements. That sounds convenient.

Never fear fellow Purple Knights, Bill Anderson, chief information officer, is trying to strike a better deal. He wants to negotiate one which guarantees that sales requirements would be met. This ideal situation can be brought about by either by driving the price of wireless cards so low that it is simply included in the tuition of every student or the school sharing the cost of building the infrastructure with Sprint.

If Sprint can get a plan together for this fall, a voluntary pilot program could begin. The school would use the year to test out student opinion and decide whether the service would be able to stay voluntary and still meet the requirements.

Anderson is less concerned about students switching to Sprint cell service, he says. As the college and Sprint develop a stronger relationship, students might be included to switch their service, he hypothesizes.

“I’m not sure Sprint even gets it,” Anderson says.

As of right now, Sprint seems more concerned with selling cell phones. In fact the only information they handed out at the meeting was about their different student plans, and at the Student Association they were giving them away as prizes. It certainly seems like they are selling phones, with a promise of a wireless Internet infrastructure on the side.

Students need to make it clear that they will not be pawns in a business deal. Communicate to the college and to people like Bill Anderson that we want a deal, not a steal for Sprint. While we revel in the possibility of having access to better technology, it won’t be at the current projected cost. Sprint walked through the door with a pitch that benefitted themselves and tried to sell it as mutually beneficial. Let’s go back to the drawing board and work towards one that benefits us all.

St. Michael's College
Box #1776
One Winooski Park
Colchester, Vt. 05439
magazine@smcvt.edu