TheOnlineBeacon.com
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Volume 90 • Issue 6
Wi-Fi Issues One Week After The Storm Continue Despite Fixes
BY BRIAN RHODES STAFF WRITER Students are still having issues with Wi-Fi in the residence areas despite the upgrades made over the summer. Several students in Berkshire Towers (BT), Hoosac Hall, and the Townhouses have reported slow and intermittent Wi-Fi connection. BT resident Rachel Mancour ’19 voiced her displeasure with the service, pointing to connection and speed at the problem. “It’s very annoying,” Mancour said. “The speeds are inconsistent and sometimes it will go off for a couple of minutes or even hours.” Murdock Hall’s Computer HelpDeck urges students to approach them for assistance, but students have been unwilling to to visit lately according to Ian Bergeron, associate dean of information technology. “The biggest problem we have in this is the communication from students, we’re not getting it,” Bergeron said. “We hear from a handful of students when I think there are more out there who need help.” Instead of going to the HelpDesk to fix their Wi-Fi
problems, some students are using Wi-Fi hotspots from their phones to get a connection, like Mancour. “A lot of people use Wi-Fi hotspots [instead of BlazerNet],” Mancour said. “Sometimes I’ll look at the available Wi-Fi networks and I’ll see multiple hotspots.” According to Bergeron, Wi-Fi hotspots and other networking devices such as signal boosters and extenders can cause interference with BlazerNet, causing problems for multiple students. “We find that there’s a lot of inexpensive devices out there that provide Wi-Fi or extend Wi-Fi or promise to do all sorts of things with it,” Bergeron said. “They don’t necessarily work the way you’d expect when you’d connect them to a network like [BlazerNet], and they cause more problems than they’re worth.” When asked why she had not contacted the HelpDesk yet, Mancour said that she feels discouraged because of how widespread the Wi-Fi problems are. “It’s a whole building problem,” Mancour said. “I don’t know how they could help anyone individually if everyone is experiencing the problems.”
PHOTO BY NICHOLAS WEBB
A branch from a Norway maple, near Smith house, broke off in a wind storm on Thursday, Oct. 17. The tree did not cause damage to any surrounding property. Like Mancour, Hoosac Hall resident Laura Corsi ’22 has experienced problems with the Wi-Fi. Corsi was not able to use her laptop for the first month of the semester due to connectivity issues, forcing her to resort to other means of accomplishing her assignments. “This semester, I racked up my phone bill because I couldn’t get connected to the Wi-Fi no matter what I did, so I just used my data,” Corsi said. “I didn’t use my laptop; I used my phone for everything.” After a month of Wi-Fi issues, Corsi went to the Help-
Desk and received help in fixing the issue. “[The HelpDesk] is how I finally got connected to WiFi,” Corsi said. Bergeron and Bean argue that not going to the HelpDesk intensifies the problem, claiming they cannot easily fix an issue if there is no communication about it from students. “Every call that has come into the HelpDesk regarding Wi-Fi has either been addressed and we have a resolution, or we’re waiting on the student to tell us if what we did worked or didn’t,” Bergeron said.
“That’s what we’re here for,” Bergeron added. “Once you call the HelpDesk, we’re not gonna let this go until we have your problem solved.” Townhouse resident Jenna Berg ’22 has also had issues with Wi-Fi reliability, experiencing connection issues with certain devices. “I have noticed that in the residence areas, the WiFi works better on my laptop, but almost never on my phone,” Berg said. Rather than going to the HelpDesk, Berg chooses to
Wi-Fi, Page 8
Fall Family Weekend
Students, Families Reunite For Fun Weekend BY NATALIA GIACOMOZZI STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY NATALIA GIOCOMOZZI
Students with their families attending Family Fest over the weekend . This was the first time students met with their families since move-in day this semester.
MCLA’s annual Fall Family Weekend came into full swing from Friday, Oct. 18, to Sunday, Oct. 20, bringing students and their families together on campus for the first time since Move-In Weekend. Events ranged from viewing the theater department’s production of the play “Miss Julie” to attending the Family Carnival and Chowderfest in Venable Gym. The Students Activities Council (SAC) also hosted Nugz Night, a buffet that served chicken nuggets from various local eateries. Director of Student Activities Jenn Labbance was unavailable for comment. For Chloe Mascitelli ’22, her favorite part of Family Weekend was the mechanical pumpkin—a festive spin on a me-
chanical bull—present at the Family Carnival and ChowderFest Saturday, Oct. 19. “It was a lot of fun and my whole family did it together,” Mascitelli said. “However, I thought the carnival as a whole was weird for younger kids.” For future Family Weekends, Chloe suggested more activities and events for siblings in middle school and high school. The carnival included tables for drawing arts and crafts, laser tag, an area for posing for pictures taken by SAC, and well as free chowder and mechanical pumpkin. According to Bradly O’Dell ’22, the Student Government Association (SGA) was responsible for providing the chowder, whereas SAC was responsible for organizing the activities in Venable. Bradley noted that at some point during the carnival, he even tested out the mechanical
bull for himself. “Overall, the events sponsored by both SAC and SGA had been created as family-oriented and fun for all ages,” Bradley said. SGA President Dean Little ’21 did not respond for comments. The MCLA website provided a schedule of events on campus and a list of places to visit off campus. Suggested places to visit included Mass MOCA, the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Whitney’s Farm Market in Cheshire, and the Mt. Greylock State Reservation in Lanesborough. Families were able to register online for Family Weekend and were encouraged to donate clothes to the school’s clothing drive for the North Adams community, in the Campus Center Marketplace once they arrived on campus.